News & Updates

Baseball on the Border Summit in El Paso, Texas

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Chamber President & CEO Jerry Sanders and Vice President Paola Avila traveled to El Paso, Texas for the Baseball on the Border Summit, which featured an exhibition game between the San Diego Padres and El Paso Chihuahuas. As the relationship between the United States and Mexico continues to be a pressing issue within the presidential primary race, the summit was an excellent opportunity for border community leaders to discuss strategies for shifting the national dialogue to positive cross-border relations and promoting cross-border interests.

Moving forward, the Chamber hopes these established connections will make strides in elevating trade, investment, and growth along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Chamber Attends COTUCO Tourism Plan Presentation

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The Chamber participated in an event releasing the tourism plan for the Comite de Turismo y Convenciones de Tijuana (COTUCO), which contained a large emphasis on promoting the CaliBaja region. Business representatives from both sides of the border were present to support President Francisco Villega’s binational vision.

As part of the event, Chamber staff inaugurated Tijuana’s new tourism attraction, Dinner in the Sky, a lifted platform 45 meters above ground where guests are able to enjoy a four course meal and wine and beer tastings from local top chefs. For more information, view the full story on SanDiegoRed.Com. (Spanish)

Grand Opening Of Kumon Math and Reading Center of Point Loma

Kumon

The Kumon Math and Reading Center of Point Loma successfully celebrated the grand opening of its new center on March 12, 2016.  Kumon of Point Loma is located at 3960 West Point Loma Boulevard, Suite C, San Diego, CA 92110.  Attendees for the ribbon cutting ceremony included the Point Loma community residents, current Kumon students, and the San Diego Chamber.

Come visit the center and discover why Kumon is the largest, most successful Math and Reading Program in the world!  Kumon offers a self-paced, individualized academic enrichment program to help children become focused, motivated, self-reliant, and ultimately develop a love of learning! Kumon also teaches students how to master math and reading concepts before advancing to the next levels. More details and how to enroll here.

 

Chamber Helps Announce UberPASSPORT Service to Mexico

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Chamber Vice President Paola Avila, participated in a press conference announcing Chamber member, Uber’s new UberPASSPORT service from San Diego to Mexico. For the first time, travelers may now use the ridesharing app to travel directly to Tijuana, making San Diego the first “cross-border Uber city” in the world. The Chamber looks forward to watching this new service boost business and tourism in the area, and increase growth of the overall border region’s economy.

For more information, view Uber’s full press release here.

Chamber Hosts “Beyond Traffic” Roundtable with the Federal Highway Administration

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In partnership with the Otay Mesa Chamber, the San Diego Regional Chamber hosted a roundtable discussion with Federal Highway Administator Gregory Nadeau to discuss the border region’s growing freight economy. By 2045, San Diego’s freight economy is expected to grow by 65 percent which requires a large investment in infrastructure in order to support the increased demand of transportation of goods and services. The meeting was an opportunity for business and policy representatives to share ideas, insights, and experiences to improve freight movement and strategies to raise the conversation to the national level.

San Diego is the first border city to host a freight economy meeting with the FHWA; additional meetings will be scheduled along the border region. For more photos of the meeting, visit the Chamber’s Facebook photo album.

Member Spotlight: McKinney Advisory Group

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McKinney Advisory Group is a full-service real estate firm that focuses on the representation of clients in order to optimize the value of their real estate assets. McKinney Advisory group is an Achieve Your Vision company that prides itself on finding customized solutions, providing a comprehensive approach, and building relationships for long-term business success.

What We Do

McKinney is comprised of a team of advisors with multiple specialties including: brokerage, tenant representation, asset management, portfolio management, investment analysis, and development. McKinney represents clients worldwide in all stages of acquisition, disposition, and financing of commercial real estate.Damian McKinney Headshot

About the Founder & CEO

Damian McKinney, Founder & CEO, has over 35 years of experience in commercial real estate. Damian represents Corporate America’s best interests working with decision makers to leverage real estate and proficiencies towards bottom-line savings. His understanding of the current economy and experience in multi-market real estate transactions allows Damian to be an innovative advocate on behalf of his clients.

Giving Back – The Why Behind What We Do

McKinney Advisory Group commits to donating 10% of its annual profits to charity. We believe that the more success that we have professionally, the more responsibility we have to support our community.

Non-profit organizations nationwide benefit from our team’s participation on Boards of Directors and from personal contributions. We give back to our local community in many different ways, including walking for charitable causes, gardening at homeless shelters, and providing meals for homeless teens. By working with like-minded individuals, we find that the charitable giving of time, talent, and treasure are not mutually exclusive, but intertwined.

To learn more about how McKinney Advisory Group can add to your company’s bottom line, please visit our website at www.McKinneyAdvisory.com.

McKinney Advisory Group
12250 El Camino Real, Suite 220
San Diego, CA 92130
858-519-3240
Linked In | Facebook | Twitter

Ken Gronbach Discusses Business in the Face of Rapid Change

GGSS_KenGronbach1The Chamber hosted a lively Good Government Speaker Series with expert demographer and futurist Ken Gronbach. During the discussion, Gronbach explained how the United States’ rapidly changing demographics will affect the global economy, and examined strategies for businesses to stay relevant.

A few interesting takeaways:

  • The United States has a “barbell” demographic with many, young liberals on one end and many, older conservatives (i.e. baby boomers) on the other. The last time this happened? 1964.
  • Successful businesses will watch trends in demographics and meet the gap, particularly with housing, “deathcare,” and technology (especially cyber-security), among many others.
  • To stay ahead in one’s industry, workplace diversity is the new name of the game.

We’re extremely grateful to Ken Gronbach for taking the time to speak with us, and to everyone who attended and took part in our engaging discussion. For more photos, visit our album on Facebook or check out the Chamber’s Twitter.

For those unable to attend, the following video is a visual interpretation of Ken Gronbach’s philosophy:

 

San Diego Regional Chamber Meets with Tijuana’s Business Leadership

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Along with Vice President of International Business Affairs, Paola Avila, Chamber President & CEO Jerry Sanders attended a meeting with the Consejo Coordinador Empreserial (CCE) in Tijuana and was featured as the meeting’s guest speaker. CCE Tijuana is an alliance comprised of each of the city’s economic development organization presidents; the meeting was an excellent opportunity to introduce the Chamber’s international policy work and discuss possibilities for cross-border collaboration.

Moving forward, the Chamber anticipates working closely together with Tijuana’s business leadership, particularly during the upcoming trade delegation to Mexico City.

How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Can Benefit Your Business

ACTION ALERT: On May 18, the U.S. International Trade Commission released an economic report analyzing the likely impact of Trans-Pacific Partnership.We urge all members to take a moment to learn how the TPP will benefit their business and sign-on to the Chamber’s open letter of support.


 

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a free trade agreement between twelve Pacific-Rim countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.

TPP maintains free trade between these countries by eliminating all tariffs and trade barriers, establishing protection for intellectual property, and introducing mechanisms to settle investor-state disputes, among other measures. (Read the full details on Medium.)

What This Means For San Diego

Although San Diego is the 17th largest economy in the United States, it ranks only 61st in terms of export intensity. With considerable growing industries such as the life sciences, cleantech, IT, and maritime, TPP presents an opportunity for San Diego to expand its foothold in the global marketplace and create more jobs in the region. (As of June of this year, 110,000 San Diego jobs were directly supported by international exports and foreign investment.)

Furthermore, with six of San Diego’s largest trading partners represented (Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and Signapore ), TPP’s elimination of trade barriers gives San Diego direct access to 500 million consumers, representing a total GDP of almost $12 trillion.

We Need Your Help!

The Chamber strongly urges all members to sign on to our open letter of support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. With your help, we can open new markets, create new jobs, and strengthen our regional economy.

Member Spotlight: Buckboard Catering

Buckboard LogoA corporate event is a time for team building, improving productivity and employee morale. Allow Buckboard Catering & Events to be a part of taking your company function to the next level by providing an exciting and delectable menu for you and your employees that infuses variety, flavors and innovation at every turn. Whether in an important meeting with coworkers, planning a company holiday party, or company training sessions we can provide menu options, from grill to gourmet, that will tantalize and thrill all in attendance while being cost effective for any budget.

There is a reason why many companies throughout San Diego County count on us as their full service catering and event planning source to provide them with impeccable service and irreplaceable food quality that will continue to impress even after the event is over.
We have created an online ordering system that allows the user to browse our menus and get quick quotes 24 hours a day. Our repeat clients even create their own contracts and send them to us.

Corporate events is not the only thing we do – we’re here to help with any of your social parties, from birthday parties to weddings, and will work within your needs and budget.

Contact: Fadi Shihadeh, 858.748.1617, fadis@buckboardsd.com

 

Grill to Gourmet