Kaiser Permanente Makes $25 Million Pledge to California Governor’s Housing Fund

Kaiser Permanente announced it will be a first private sector contributor to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s newly announced fund to combat homelessness in the state, committing $25 million to the effort.

The pledge supports Kaiser Permanente efforts statewide and builds on a $200 million investment that the organization announced in recent years to support community health — mainly focusing on affordable housing. It also complements ongoing sustainable rapid-housing programs and efforts to strengthen systems that can end chronic homelessness.

Newsom announced the creation of the $750 million California Access to Housing and Services Fund in a preview of his 2020-21 budget on January 8, calling on corporate and philanthropic organizations to contribute to the fund as well. The fund will focus on prevention and early intervention by paying rent for individuals experiencing homelessness or on the verge of losing housing; supporting local governments to develop additional low-income housing units; and helping stabilize board-and-care facilities that house multiple people.

“Chronic homelessness has been shown to cut 27 years from the average life span and is associated with communicable diseases such as hepatitis and typhus, increased hospitalizations, and frequent readmissions,” said Kaiser Permanente Chairman and CEO Greg Adams. “Safe and stable housing is key to a person’s physical, mental, and social health, so we applaud the governor’s plan to address homelessness. Our investment in the fund aligns with Kaiser Permanente’s overall strategy to preserve affordable housing and prevent displacement of existing residents, while addressing the root causes of homelessness in our communities.”

The California Access to Housing and Services Fund is the cornerstone of Newsom’s budget proposal, which allocates more than $1 billion to address homelessness. Funds will be given directly to local providers throughout California by the Department of Social Services, providing flexibility to allocate resources to address communities’ varying needs.

“The homelessness crisis impacts every community in California and it’s on all of us to step up and lean in to find solutions. Just 9 days after challenging California’s philanthropic and private sectors to partner with the state, Kaiser Permanente answered the call,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom. “I thank Kaiser Permanente’s leadership for meeting this moment head on with $25 million and joining with local and state efforts to get Californians off the street and into housing and health services.”

Affordable housing and homelessness are a significant focus of Kaiser Permanente’s mission to improve the health outcomes of the 68 million people who live in the communities the organization serves. Overall mortality rates among people experiencing chronic homelessness are 3 to 4 times that of the general population. Homelessness increases the level and amount of care the health system must provide, even as it limits how successful that care can be. Common conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma are nearly impossible to manage without housing.

“As a nonprofit integrated health system, we have strived to create total health for our members and our communities, and we know without a place to call home it is nearly impossible to maintain health,” said Cynthia Telles, PhD, Community Health committee chair for the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals Boards of Directors. “Kaiser Permanente has moved beyond hospital walls to improve the lives of people in the communities we serve.”

Kaiser Permanente’s work to combat homelessness includes a successful initiative with Bay Area Community Services to house 515 Oakland adults above the age of 50 and battling chronic health conditions, and a partnership with Community Solutions to enact system change that will end chronic homelessness in 24 communities that Kaiser Permanente serves.

Kaiser Permanente Rebuilding Healthy Communities Together

Since 2017, Kaiser Permanente has invested more than $13 million dollars as part of its long-term commitment to help rebuild and support wildfire and flood recovery efforts. We acknowledge the importance of basic needs, such as housing, education, and mental health support, in the long-term health and viability of our community. This is why we are prioritizing essential needs of the communities we support at a neighborhood level.

Kaiser Permanente’s community health funding is addressing housing, economic security, community infrastructure, and mental health and wellness needs. Here are a few examples of the nearly 40 projects to date:

 Burbank Housing supports affordable senior housing at the Journey’s End site
 Catholic Charites for the Caritas Village emergency homeless shelter
 UndocuFund provides funding for eligible undocumented Sonoma County residents affected by fires and floods to pay for essential expenses
 United Way of the Wine Country for assistance to residents impacted by the Kincade fire
 Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation to assist low-income farm workers economically impacted by fires
 Coffey Strong for rebuilding the community park in the Coffey Park neighborhood (note: the funding went through the Sonoma County Parks Foundation)
 County of Sonoma to extend Crisis Counseling Program for fire victims
 Santa Rosa City Schools for funding of the mental health services for children and families when the school district is not open
 Santa Rosa Community Health Centers for funding the Sonoma County

Resilience Initiative expanding for mental health groups in English and Spanish While most of our recent Fire Recovery support has landed in Sonoma County due to the extraordinary need, community health funding also continues throughout the year in San Rafael and Marin County. We would particularly like to acknowledge the efforts of our Marin County colleagues as their consistent support has made our crisis-driven efforts in Sonoma County possible.

Comcast Internet Essentials: A Record-Setting Year

Each year, we strive to make Internet Essentials bigger and better than it was the year before.  2019 was no exception, and it’s going to be tough to beat.  In August, we announced the most sweeping eligibility change in the program’s eight-year history.  We are now offering the life-changing potential of an Internet connection to all low-income Americans, wherever Comcast offers service.  We also crossed a major milestone – having connected, since 2011, more than eight million low income Americans to the power of the Internet at home, roughly 90 percent of whom were not connected prior to joining the program.

The expansion opens the door to the transformative power of the Internet to millions of additional households – including those with disabilities and all seniors, regardless of whether they live in one of our pilot markets, and adults without school-aged children.

The benefits to connecting low-income people with disabilities are arresting.  According to research, people with disabilities are about three times more likely to say they never go online.  They’re also nearly 20 percentage points less likely to subscribe to broadband at home.

As I reflect on the end of the year, I’m proud of all we accomplished together – our employees working hand in hand with our with our non-profit and governmental partners.

I think we can all agree that the Internet is the most important technological innovation of the modern age. It has fundamentally changed the way we learn, work, live, shop, play, and communicate.

The cruel irony of the digital divide, however, is that the more broadband technology advances, the further behind it leaves people without a connection at home – who happen to be the very people who would most benefit from the equalizing potential of the Internet.

Since 2011, Comcast has invested more than $650 million in digital skills training, benefiting nearly 9.5 million people, so they can better understand the benefits of being connected and learn how to take advantage of the world of opportunity that the Internet provides.

In that time, Internet Essentials has provided 100,000 heavily discounted and subsidized laptop or desktop computers – when we are not giving them away for free.

While all these statistics are amazing, they can be mind-numbing.  The real impact of the program is felt through the families and individuals whose lives have been positively affected.

As I traveled the country this year to talk about the digital divide and Internet Essentials, I met so many students, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities whose stories broke my heart, but also gave me hope.

This expansion is the culmination of an audacious goal we set eight years ago, to meaningfully expand Internet access and significantly close the digital divide for low-income people. This doesn’t mean our work is done, however. We now have the opportunity to form new partnerships with organizations that reach populations we’ve never served before and the possibilities are endless.

But don’t just take my word for it. Watch this video to see just how exciting it can be when people are given the opportunity to participate in the digital world.

https://corporate.comcast.com/stories/internet-essentials-a-year-in-review?utm_source=Inf_CorpComms&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=IE2019_Recap_General

Buck Institute for Research on Aging Sets Stage Develop Clinically Relevant, Senescence-Based Biomarkers of Aging

Senescent cells, which stop dividing under stress, are long- recognized drivers of multiple diseases of aging. Mouse studies have shown that targeted removal of these cells and the inflammatory factors they secrete, known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), has beneficial results on multiple organ systems and functions.  Success in the laboratory has given rise to companies and research projects aimed at developing either senolytics, drugs that clear senescent cells, or senomorphics, drugs that suppress the SASP. But drug development and clinical utilization require simple, reliable biomarkers to assess the abundance of senescent cells in human tissues.   Publishing in PLOS Biology, researchers at the Buck Institute have extensively profiled the SASP of human cells and have generated a curated database available for use in the field.

“The stage is now set for the development of clinically-relevant biomarkers of aging,” said Judith Campisi, PhD, Buck professor and one of the senior authors on the paper. “This will speed efforts to get safe and effective drugs into the clinic and, in the long term, could enable physicians to give patients a clear read-out of how well, or poorly, their various tissues and organs are aging.”

“The complexity of the SASP, which is typically monitored by a few dozen secreted proteins, has been greatly underappreciated, and a small set of factors cannot explain the diverse phenotypes senescence produces in vivo,” said Basisty who describes the SASP Atlas as a comprehensive proteomic database of soluble and exosome SASP factors originating from multiple senescence inducers and cell types. Each profile consists of hundreds of largely distinct proteins, but also includes a ‘core’ subset of proteins elevated in all SASPs.

“The work points out how different inducers of senescence and different cells types result in different secretomes,” said Campisi. “For the first time we have the capability of measuring the burden of senescent cells in vivo and making educated guesses on how they became senescent and how neighboring cells are being affected.”

“Proteomics allowed us to take a totally unbiased approach in this project and is the perfect example of how you can utilize high-end technology to move forward with biological questions,” said Birgit Schilling, PhD, senior co-author and assistant professor and director of the Buck Institute’s Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Center. “Our hope is that the SASP Atlas will facilitate identification of proteins that drive specific senescence-associated phenotypes and catalog and develop potential senescence biomarkers to assess the burden and origin of senescent cells in vivo.”

This initial research at the Buck utilized senescent human lung fibroblasts and epithelial cells from the kidney. Results were validated by comparing them with markers of aging found in plasma from The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), America’s longest-running scientific study of human aging which is maintained by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and involves more than 3,200 volunteers. “Our research shows that we all age differently,” said Luigi Ferrucci, MD, the Scientific Director of the Intramural Research Program at the NIA and one of the co-authors of the study.  “The development of senescence-associated biomarkers will allow us to identify factors that drive aging and disease in specific tissues and will hopefully lead to early detection and interventions that will prevent disease progression. We are pleased to partner with the Buck Institute in this effort.”

Citation: A proteomic atlas of senescence-associated secretomes for aging biomarker development. PLoS Biol 18(1):e3000599.

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000599

Other Buck Institute researchers involved in the study include Abhijit Kale, Ok Hee Jeon, Chisaka Kuehnemann, Therese Payne, Chirag Rao, Anja Holtz, and Samah Shah. Vagisha Sharma, from the University of Washington, Seattle was also a collaborator.

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging (U01 AG060906-02, PI: Schilling; P01AG017242 and R01AG051729, PI: Campisi) and a National Institutes of Health Shared Instrumentation Grant (1S10 OD016281, Buck Institute).  N.B. and O.J. were supported by postdoctoral fellowships from the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research.  A.K. was supported by the SENS Foundation.  V.S. was supported by the University of Washington, Seattle Proteomics Resource (UWPR95794).

Judith Campisi is a scientific co-founder and shareholder of Unity Biotechnology Inc., which has licencing rights to certain patents filed by the Buck Institute.

https://www.buckinstitute.org/news/stage-is-set-to-develop-clinically-relevant-senescence-based-biomarkers-of-aging/

Buck Institute for Research on Aging’s Role in Moving Science Forward: More Details on 500% Lifespan Extension

An amazing study with Buck co-authors reporting a nearly 500% increase in lifespan of the nematode C. elegans got a lot of buzz around the web earlier this month. In humans, this is the equivalent of living 400-500 years! This is rightfully big news. Buck professor Pankaj Kapahi remembers fielding reporter calls the first time his lab made this discovery and published in Cell Reports —back in 2013!

In that study, Di Chen, a postdoc in the Kapahi lab, created a worm with mutations in two different cellular pathways known to influence aging and lifespan. One mutation, in the daf-2 gene, is part of the insulin signaling pathway and extends lifespan by 100% in C. elegans. Another mutation, related to the TOR (Target of Rapamycin) pathway that regulates cellular growth and proliferation, typically extends lifespan by 30%. If you’re doing the math in your head, you might expect these two mutations to add up to 130% extension when combined. However, there is a synergistic effect and lifespan in these mutants increases 454%! This is particularly exciting because these pathways are shared with mammals, so this work has potential relevance for human biology.

Insulin signaling and TOR are among the most interrogated pathways in aging research, but combining mutations to get these stunning results is not straightforward; there are multiple ways to mutate these genes, and each tweaks lifespan differently. Says Kapahi, “All credit to Di [Chen]. You’d be shocked to look at all the lifespan experiments he did. It’s a really colossal amount of work and it’s a reward for all the hard work he did.”

Nearly 500% lifespan extension was big news back in 2013, too. Kapahi remembers Jay Leno joking about it on the Tonight Show, and Francis Collins, the director of the NIH, covered it in his blog.

So why is this news now? It’s because we’re finding out how this double mutant gets this amazing lifespan extension, and it gives us new clues into how signals throughout the body coordinate to determine lifespan. And the growth of this project all stems from collaborations started at the Buck. Di Chen, the former Kapahi postdoc, is now an Associate Professor at Nanjing University in China. He, along with Aric Rogers, another former Kapahi postdoc and now an Assistant Professor at the MDI Biological Laboratory, and Kapahi, continued to develop the project to investigate how these two combined mutations can lead to such an incredible result.

The paper in 2013 found that the synergistic lifespan extension of the combined daf-2 rsks-1 mutants is modulated by activity in the germline (reproductive cells).  Specifically, signals sent from the germline of these mutants go to the intestine and lead to upregulation of DAF-16 (the human equivalent is known as FOXO), a transcription factor known to be important for longevity.

The new work starts to fill in the details of this process, and points to mitochondria, those canonical cell powerhouses that lie at the heart of so much aging research. In the daf-2 rsks-1 mutant, production of a protein called cytochrome c is greatly reduced in the germline cells. Reduced cytochrome c in these cells sends a signal to the worm intestine, which leads to both the upregulation of DAF-16 discovered in 2013 (modulated by the protein AMPK) as well as processes that promote mitochondrial health. Both mitochondrial fission and the mitochondrial unfolded protein response increase in the intestine in response to these signals from the germline. Improved mitochondrial health has long been associated with extended lifespan in model organisms from yeast to mice (and almost certainly people, too).

There is still a lot to learn. Kapahi likens the synergistic longevity processes to a symphony that gets louder and louder. “If only one musician is playing a tune it falls apart if the musician is lost. But if you have an orchestra then the song continues even if one musician stops playing. The tune of a song is like cellular homeostasis that ensures we have good health in the face of damage accumulation”

Kapahi is thrilled by the science. “It’s great to see how our footprint is being continued in distant lands and things that started here at the Buck are having long-lasting effects. Projects born here are spawning and leading to new knowledge.” Kapahi’s own lab continues to investigate these mutants and expects to publish something related to dietary restriction (another well-characterized intervention that extends lifespan) soon. The ultimate goal, he says, is to be able to extend this work into mammal because “we all have questions about the limits of human healthspan and lifespan”. Perhaps these mutant worms will be able to give us a few more answers.

https://www.buckinstitute.org/news/more-details-on-500-lifespan-extension-highlight-bucks-role-in-moving-science-forward/

Sonoma State University’s New Business School Dean Jean-Francois Coget

Jean-Francois Coget, Ph.D., was hired last month as the new dean of the School of Business and Economics at Sonoma State University. He currently serves as associate dean for academic programs at the Orfalea College of Business at California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo.

Coget, who begins his duties in July, is a native of France and former officers in the French navy. He talked with the Business Journal about how his background prepares him for new directions for Sonoma State’s programs, which include the Wine Business Institute.

You have an interesting background, having moved 20 years ago from your native France to California. What brought you to the states, and specifically California?

I came to California to attend UCLA’s Anderson School of Management’s Ph.D. program. I had applied to a few universities in the U.S. and landed there because they accepted me with a full scholarship. I had never been to California before, but it was love at first sight. I never left, and feel forever indebted to the state of California for having offered me so many opportunities. Ever since, I have focused on giving back.

Why did you decide to focus your career in higher education?

I have always been enamored with books. I was a good student and had fun learning. I never thought to stop going to school as long as I could, which brought me to a Ph.D. program. I was specifically interested in psychology and business.

Having experienced less than motivating work environments through my various professional experiences, I wanted to contribute to making the workplace a more enjoyable place where people thrive. This led me to pick the field of Organizational Behavior as my specialty. I’ve researched topics such as the role of emotions and intuition in decision making, leadership, and creativity. I see all of these as related to bringing humanity back to the workplace, which is one of my life goals.

How would you describe the difference in approach to business between France and the U.S. (or just California)?

People in the U.S., and especially in California, are more entrepreneurial, less formal, and have more of a can-do attitude. I like that very much – it fits my personality. However, the French have some advantages too – they tend to be more systematic thinkers, have a wider general culture, and more sophisticated tastes and cultural references, which can be handy in some industries, such as the luxury, fashion, food, and wine sectors.

You officially begin your new role on July 1. What will be your first order of business?

The goal is to identify passions, opportunities, common values, needs and issues so as to discover a vision that can speak to the widest range of constituents.

I want to meet with all the relevant stakeholders and listen to them: faculty, staff, students, alumni, community members, and business partners. The goal is to identify passions, opportunities, common values, needs, and issues so as to discover a vision that can speak to the widest range of constituents. Given my interest in creativity, I am curious about whether focusing the school on business and creativity would resonate.

This angle might fit the school’s strength in Wine Business, interest in entrepreneurship, and open up new possibilities in industries such as beverage and food, experience management, and even management of the arts, which would leverage the Green Music Center on campus.

I also see great potential in developing the school’s accounting program and have already started mobilizing my contacts in the industry to that effect.

What were some key takeaways from your interview process at SSU that sealed your decision to accept the position?

SSU’s values of diversity and social justice, sustainability and environmental inquiry, connectivity and community engagement, and adaptability and responsiveness really resonate with me.

I saw evidence that these values are lived on campus, including at the top, with President Sakaki and Provost Vollendorf’s leadership. I was also really encouraged to see diversity on campus, among the student body and staff in particular. Women hold many of the leadership positions at SSU, which I think is a rising trend, and one we will see a lot of benefit from. Overall, I was inspired by the culture of openness and the potential to take the School of Business and Economics to the next level.

What are your priorities for the school of business? How do they align with how the school currently operates, and in what ways will they differ?

I plan to form a vision and amend the existing strategic plan only after holding deep consultation over the first year, so I don’t want to have priorities that are too solidified at this point.

However, key priorities I see now include streamlining existing graduate programs, and exploring avenues to increase enrollment in programs that have the potential for it, such as the wine business and accounting programs.

I also plan to connect with the community and identify areas of interest and potential for fundraising. The wine business program is the crown jewel of the school and will continue to be a prime element. However, there are other areas that could emerge as strengths for the school, such as entrepreneurship and accounting. I could also see the possibility of extending the school’s focus into areas such as experience management, beverages and food, and even maybe management of the arts. None of these are imperatives, just possibilities I’d like to explore with the various stakeholders of the school.

Do you know yet what your budget will be? If so, what is that figure?

Around $5 million in state budget, and an endowment of $3.2 million.

I understand you managed a $22 million budget at Cal Poly. What were your spending priorities and how might they differ at SSU?

The lion’s share of the budget in higher education is spent on faculty and staff’s salaries. I expect it to be the same at SSU.

Nonetheless, the OCOB at Cal Poly has twice the budget per students as compared to the SBE at SSU, thanks in part to a generous $20 million endowment from the Orfalea family. This has allowed OCOB to spend money in scholarships for underrepresented students, and develop strong student services that have helped increase professionalism, graduation rates, and ultimately placement for students. There won’t be as many funds for these at SSU. It is an opportunity for fundraising, and some creative strategizing.

You have some time before you officially start your new role. When and where in the North Bay area do you and your family plan to relocate? (Please also tell us a bit about your family.)

My wife, Lilly, two sons, Tristan – 8 years old; Max – 2 years old; and two dogs plan to relocate in Santa Rosa. We hope to place Tristan as a student at the Santa Rosa French American school, which would be a wonderful way to maintain my family’s connections to my French roots. Santa Rosa is also close to SSU, which will come in handy for me as I will have many engagements at and around the school.

What are your thoughts about the lack of affordable housing in much of the North Bay region? How will this impact your approach to recruiting students and faculty to the School of Business and Economics?

We face the same challenge in San Luis Obispo. It is a very difficult situation for which I frankly don’t have a clear answer.

Resolving the California housing crisis is a bit over my pay grade. Nonetheless, I think that one way to get over this hurdle is to create a vibrant community that is attractive enough to incite faculty, staff, and students to see the higher cost of living as a fair exchange for the culture and lifestyle it affords.

I have made the choice to be in California over the last 20 years, moving from LA to SLO, and now the North Bay Area. These are some the most beautiful and dynamic regions in the world. The cost of living reflects that, but I feel it is a worthwhile trade. That said, we also need to keep tuition affordable for students, which involves keeping operational costs down and offering scholarships to the students who need it the most. Professorships and other forms of additional stipends can also be leveraged to attract the best faculty.

You oversaw 110 faculty members and 15 staffers at OCOB. How many faculty and staff will you be overseeing at SSU?

It’s going to be a bit smaller. I understand there are currently 84 faculty in total, including 33 full-time faculty, and about 21 staff members.

What changes do you think are needed in the types of degrees and/or programs offered by business schools to adjust to today’s business world? How did you specifically address those needs at Cal Poly?

Business Schools are lucky in that, like other professional schools, they provide clear career outcomes and skills. This should help them weather to some extent the projected decline in enrollment, the so called enrollment cliff, which will hit in full in 2025.

Nonetheless, business schools need to continue to be innovative and focused on industry needs. Specialized Masters are a growing market. Business Analytics skills are in demand, but so are specifically human skills that cannot be automated, such as creativity, emotional intelligence, story-telling, and leadership.

Education will need to adapt to an increasingly diverse population of students, especially Latin-X students in California. Online courses will become an essential area of expansion. Climate change and the environment are also imperatives that we cannot ignore and must be included as part of business education.

At Cal Poly, I was involved in the creation of a specialized Masters in Business Analytics and the addition of Tech-related specializations to the traditional MBA program, the strengthening of Business Analytics offerings at the Undergraduate level, and a deepening of Cal Poly’s Learn by Doing signature pedagogical approach through industry projects among other means.

Any closing thoughts?

I am very excited to be joining the SBE at SSU. I see a lot of potential there – like a diamond in the rough. The people I’ve met so far are wonderful. There will be some issues and hardships. There always are. But I am confident we can build a thriving community around the SBE and help the North Bay Area thrive and contribute its potential to California and the world.

Redwood Credit Union Celebrates 70 Years of Service

Redwood Credit Union (RCU) is proud to announce its celebration of 70 years of service to members. Originally formed by seven County of Sonoma employees as an affordable means to make bridge loans to fellow employees between paychecks, the credit union has grown to offer full service personal and business banking, as well as financial services beyond banking such as financial planning, insurance, and even an auto sales center.

Founded in 1950 as Sonoma County Employees Credit Union, in 1982, that entity merged with Santa Rosa Public Employees Credit Union and was renamed Redwood Credit Union to reflect its growing presence in the Redwood Empire. In 1997, RCU expanded its field of membership to serve anyone living or working in the five North Bay counties of Sonoma, Marin, Mendocino, Lake, and Napa. And in 2000, RCU received approval to serve residents and businesses in the three additional counties of San Francisco, Solano, and Contra Costa.

The credit union now has 19 locations throughout the North Bay and San Francisco, and is the 43rd largest credit union in the U.S. and 8th largest in California. RCU has been named one of the top five healthiest credit unions in the nation for six consecutive years by Glatt Consulting, an independent firm that measures credit union health against 17 metrics of strength and growth.

“Though we’ve grown and added many services and locations over the past 70 years, helping people has always been at the heart of what we do,” said Brett Martinez, RCU President & CEO. “We’re thankful for our 353,000 members, and through their loyalty and participation—as well as the dedication of our 700 employees—we have a solid foundation to continue providing affordable financial services and support to our communities for many more decades to come.”

About Redwood Credit Union
Founded in 1950, Redwood Credit Union is a full-service financial institution providing personal and business banking in the North Bay and San Francisco. RCU’s services include checking and savings accounts, auto and home loans, credit cards, online and mobile banking, business services, commercial and SBA lending, and more. Wealth management and investment services are available through CUSO Financial Services L.P., and insurance and auto-purchasing services are also available through RCU Services Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of RCU. RCU has over $4.9 billion in assets and serves more than 353,000 members with full-service branches from San Francisco to Ukiah, plus free ATM access nationwide. For more information, call 1 (800) 479-7928, visit redwoodcu.org, or follow RCU on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for news and updates.

Star Staffing Hosts Talent Summit

A conference designed for HR and Talent Acquisition self-starters, forward-thinkers, and dreamers.

You’re only as great as the talent you hire. Getting the right talent with the right skills in the right positions requires strategy and innovation. Help your organization maintain a competitive advantage by gaining the tools and resources you need to enhance your talent and HR strategy.

2020 Speaker Lineup

Katrina Kibben, Three Ears Media – Personalization in the Age of Automation

We’re in the age of the machines. We are now using voice assistants, chatbots, recruiting machine learning technologies, and so much more in our daily lives. You’d think that all these things would make recruiting easier, right? Of course! However, out-of-the-box machine automation doesn’t make our lives easier. In fact, it speeds up a terrible experience that makes candidates feel ignored and unimportant. In this session, Katrina will teach you practical ways to make the most of simple automated interactions to create a candidate experience that is helpful, but most importantly, human.

You will learn:

  • How to utilize automation without losing the human touch
  • Strategies to stand out in the hiring process
  • How to create candidates who will become your best brand ambassadors
  • Tips to customize your message and reach the right audience

Alison Crawford, Uber – Diversity and Inclusion: Rethinking your Recruitment Strategy

Most HR Leaders know that a diverse team brings more creativity, innovation, and ultimately, more results. It makes sense that different perspectives and backgrounds on a team contribute to newer and more diverse ideas to solve challenges and propel innovation. But, the topic of diversity and inclusion goes beyond just business results and performance… and, it doesn’t happen on its own. It is important for companies to actively seek and recruit candidates from a variety of backgrounds to ensure they’re not inadvertently creating an identical workforce.

Alison will help you connect the dots to bridge the gap between a diverse workforce and one that is all-inclusive. You will gain strategies and insights needed to reduce bias, shift exclusive workplace habits, and transform workplace culture to create a better, more productive workplace environment.

You will learn:

  • Strategies to attract a diverse workforce
  • How to develop Employee Resource Groups that support the 4Cs of all types of organizations [culture, careers, commerce, and community]
  • Benefits of blind screenings and implementation of the Rooney Rule

Heather Bussing, Employment Lawyer & Analyst at HR Examiner – How to Effectively Use Your HR Data

The quality of your data matters more than ever…. so, make it count! The subject is inescapable and is changing the operations of almost every industry — from hospitality, to healthcare, and even to HR. Continuing advances in HR technology mean that HR data analytics are only going to get more useful, sophisticated, and universal.

All technology solutions, even Artificial Intelligence (AI), are created by humans. Thus, AI has the potential to be influenced and impacted by human biases. Solutions designed to produce bias-free outcomes in HR processes like hiring or compensation need to continuously be evaluated to ensure that these outcomes are, in fact, being attained. Heather Bussing, Employment Attorney, works in the thick of risk management focusing on biases around the use of HR technology. She will explore the issues associated with technology and the way it can either perpetuate or help reduce bias.

You will learn:

  • What data to track and why
  • How to use data to improve engagement and retention
  • How data can uncover compliance issues such as bias and sexual harassment
  • How to talk with C-Suite about bias and technology
  • What to do when technology that is supposed to eliminate bias actually makes it worse

KEYNOTE

Margaret Graziano, KeenAlignment – Elevate the Effectiveness of Your HR Team

The 21st Century workforce presents a unique set of challenges to HR managers and leaders. You’re called upon to lead multiple generations of people with diverse backgrounds, values, work ethics, and perspectives when it comes to how they do their job. Statistically, over 70% of your workforce may be burned out, disengaged, and doubtful of their own ability to contribute in a way that matters.

As a leader in HR, you need to be able to address these challenges, remove obstacles, and initiate changes that improve the employee experience, increase engagement, and optimize your workforce. At the same time, you need to convince executives that your initiatives have the power to not only increase employee engagement but to increase customer satisfaction and net profits as well.

You will learn:

  • How to create a crystalized vision of an empowered career in strategic HR
  • Strategies: to identify and remove obstacles within your organization; and, to introduce initiatives that increase employee productivity and profit
  • How to develop communication skills that will gain buy-in, inspire people to take positive action, and make the Executives pay attention
  • Steps to determine which priorities will give you the greatest return on your investment of time and energy
  • The difference between culture and climate — and how each impacts the employee experience and your authority as a leader

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/talent-summit-the-future-of-work-tickets-76967492843

Sonoma State University and Santa Rosa Junior College Joint Program Offer Wine Production Track and Bachelor’s Degree Transition Options for Their Students

The Wine Business Institute in the School of Business and Economics at Sonoma State University in partnership with Santa Rosa Junior College launched a new bachelor’s degree transition program to serve the community. The first of its kind in the region, the program combines well established strengths of two of the San Francisco North Bay’s leading institutions of higher education to provide state-of-the-art education for residents interested in careers in wine production and management. The new bachelor’s degree transition program will be available to SRJC and SSU students beginning fall semester 2020. More

information can be found at http://sbe.sonoma.edu/undergraduate/bs-business-administration/wine-business-strategies-concentration.

“The transition program serves the needs of both students and employers. It provides the educational roadmap and curriculum expansion students seek and produces graduates who possess comprehensive knowledge of both the business and production of wine,” said Dr. Kevin Sea, director of the Wine Studies program at SRJC.

The joint program will provide a four-year degree transition pathway for SRJC viticulture and enology students and expand SSU’s wine business program to include a wine production track. SRJC students can complete their general elective and wine production coursework at SRJC to earn their associate’s degree before transferring to SSU to complete their upper division business and wine business classes to earn their bachelor’s degree. You might need to check them out in the event that you are searching for excellent ID. Use IDtop from IDToprovided that your financial plan is on the top of the line. These IDs are not modest and just for individuals who need to stay away from dangers of getting found out with one.p. It comes with scannable features. Likewise, SSU students already pursuing a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in wine business strategies will be able to enroll in SRJC enology and viticulture courses to fulfill requirements for the new wine production track.

“The new joint program between SRJC and SSU is the perfect foundation for students interested in the wine industry,” said Kim Stare Wallace, president of Dry Creek Vineyard in Healdsburg, CA. “I look forward to having a whole new pool of qualified candidates for a wide variety of positions.”

“We received overwhelming wine community support for the development of this bachelor’s degree transition program,” said Dr. Liz Thach, MW, Distinguished Professor of Wine at SSU. “We have a number of students requesting more wine production-related coursework, and several of our wine business alumni have transitioned into winemaking or wine production roles.”

“We’re thrilled to be expanding our undergraduate opportunities while strengthening our longstanding ties to the SRJC through this creative partnership,” said Sonoma State President Judy K. Sakaki. “It’s because of innovative programs like this that Sonoma State has the highest two-year transfer graduation rate among the 23 CSU campuses, and we are proud of that fact.”

For more information on the new joint bachelor’s degree transition program, please contact Dr. Liz Thach, MW at SSU (Liz.Thach@sonoma.edu) or Dr. Kevin Sea at SRJC (ksea@santarosa.edu).

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About the Wine Business Institute

The Wine Business Institute in the School of Business and Economics at Sonoma State University is the first in the United States to offer an undergraduate degree (since 1998), an MBA (since 2008), and an Executive MBA (since 2012) focused on the business of wine. Today, our degree and certificate programs serve the wine industry and those aspiring to be a part of it.

About Santa Rosa Junior College

SRJC was established in 1918 and has since provided quality education to more than one million students. SRJC is known for academic excellence, superb faculty and staff, comprehensive student services and beautiful facilities. This treasured community institution enrolls approximately 37,000 students annually. SRJC is dedicated to removing barriers to students’ success and making higher education accessible to all.