How the winners are chosen

The nominations include those submitted by our readers, previous honorees and our editorial department.

The achievements and contributions of the nominees made the selection process difficult. Undoubtedly, many of this year’s nominees will be named winners in the future.

Winners were chosen based on many factors, including leadership roles in the organization, business-related innovations, vision and community involvement.

Award-winners

2017

• Kristina Derkos, senior vice president of administration, Redwood Credit Union, Santa Rosa
• Denise Dutra Maloney, director of business development, The Dutra Group, San Rafael
• Katie Evans, vice president of operations, La Tortilla Factory, Santa Rosa
• Judy Sakaki, Ph.D., president, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park
• Julie Silk, environmental compliance program manager, Keysight Technologies, Santa Rosa
• Regina Sullivan, M.D., MBA, CPE, medical director, maternal child health, obstetrics/gynecology, Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center, Santa Rosa
• Robin Wenzel, senior vice president and senior relationship manager, Wells Fargo Bank, North Coast Regional Commercial Banking, Santa Rosa

When given the option of research projects to support, Buck Impact Circle members recently pooled their resources and chose to invest $120,000 in research aimed at exploring the protective effects of a ketogenic diet on the complications of diabetes.

“The Impact Circle is one of the most exciting and rewarding programs at the Buck,” says President and CEO, Eric Verdin, MD. “It brings donors close to the scientists they support and it provides invaluable start-up funds for early stage research projects.”

Here’s how the program works: Each year Impact Circle members are presented with a number of projects that focus on “dream big” research projects – collaborative efforts between Buck labs that are not far enough along to qualify for government funding. Faculty “pitch” their projects to the Impact Circle, and members vote on which project to support. A $5,000 donation guarantees one vote and is the entry point for the Impact Circle; this year a Buck Trustee, who wishes to remain anonymous, matched contributions from new members who joined prior to final voting, enabling the group to hit an all-time high in support.

“My wife and I so enjoy being part of the Impact Circle,” said Dayton Coles – he and his wife Sheri are long-time members of the group. “We get to know the scientists and it’s a thrill to be able to make a difference in their work.” Past Impact Circle projects have led to successful applications for federal funding and have resulted in high impact publications. “There’s great comradery in the group and it’s one of the best ways to keep on top of the latest research,” he said.

This year’s project could lead to new therapeutics

This year’s Impact Circle project is a joint venture between the Kapahi and Verdin labs, focusing on the complications of type 2 diabetes. The work could lead to new therapeutics for conditions including cardiomyopathy, neuropathy, chronic kidney disease and Alzheimer’s.

The science is aimed at AGEs (advanced glycation end products). AGEs are toxic molecules that form when the reactive by-products of sugar metabolism attach themselves to proteins and DNA.  AGEs affect nearly every cell type and are a normal byproduct of metabolism – they are not usually a problem for those who eat a healthy diet. As might be expected, AGEs are a real issue when blood sugar levels are chronically elevated, as in diabetes. The increase of AGEs may explain why diabetes is one of the biggest risk factors for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.  And it doesn’t help that AGEs accumulate with aging.

A perfect collaboration

The project is a perfect marriage between the two labs. Working in simple animals, the Kapahi lab has developed unique expertise in AGEs, and the Verdin lab has special know-how in mouse metabolism.  “We are very excited to move our basic research in worms and flies into mice,” said Buck faculty Pankaj Kapahi, Ph.D. “We are very grateful to the Impact Circle for backing a project that will provide evidence to support clinical trials of metabolic interventions to prevent or maybe even reverse diabetic complications.”  Scientists in the Kapahi lab showed that enhancing fat metabolism reduced AGEs, reduced neurodegeneration and extended lifespan in the simple animals. Significantly, researchers identified the cellular pathway involved in both sensing and repairing AGEs.

The Verdin lab brings its experience studying ketogenic diets to the project.  Ketogenic diets are extremely low in carbohydrates and high in fats – in mice they shift metabolism from sugar to fat. The Verdin lab has already observed that a ketogenic diet extends lifespan and preserves cognitive function as mice age – this project will take it to the next step. “The Impact Circle support will allow us to understand why a ketogenic diet works,” said project co-leader John Newman, MD, PhD.  “We’ll be able to measure the accumulation and clearing of AGEs and identify molecular targets for drug discovery that could prevent dementia in both diabetics and non-diabetics. This work in mammals is an essential step on the way to the clinic.”

The skinny on ketogenic diets

Low carbohydrate, high fat ketogenic diets promote the formation of ketone bodies which are created in the liver and pass into the brain, replacing glucose as an energy source. The ketogenic diet is currently used to control epileptic seizures in children. Its neuroprotective effects in mice have piqued the interest of some consumers who want to get a leg up on maintaining brain health.

But ketogenic diets are hard to follow and maintain; this project may help provide some help in that area.  Newman, who is also a practicing geriatrician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, will test compounds that promote ketone body production in both diabetic mice and normal aging mice.  “We want to see if these drugs or ketone body compounds act as signals that turn on fat metabolism and clean AGEs. Maybe the treatments will be sufficient to provide protection so that going on a stringent diet won’t be necessary,” he said.

In the meantime, avoid AGEs! 

Both Kapahi and Newman say keeping blood sugar at a healthy levels will go a long way to protect against production of toxic AGEs.  But both warn that AGEs can also be consumed directly in the food we eat.  Charred meat is loaded with AGEs – as is almost any food that has been fried or heated to a high temperature.  (John Newman aptly compares AGEs to soot left from a wood burning fire.) Unfortunately, AGEs taste good, making them hard to resist. Kapahi says it’s a dilemma for both humans and for those simple animals.  “When we give worms options to either eat their regular food or AGEs, they always go for the AGEs.” he said.

Redwood Credit Union (RCU) employees contributed over $45,000 to local nonprofits by sponsoring, fundraising, and participating in Human Race events in Sonoma, Marin, and Mendocino Counties. More than 100 volunteers, including employees, family, and friends, walked or ran in the Sonoma and Mendocino County races, which took place on Saturday, May 6^th, 2017, while RCU’s Marin and Napa county branch locations raised funds for local nonprofits through the Bay Area Human Race, which took place at the Marin County Fairgrounds on May 13^th, 2017.  The Human Race events are put on by the local volunteer centers in each county.

Human Race participants in all four counties collected pledges and raised money for local nonprofits of their choice. At the Sonoma and Mendocino County Human Race events, RCU’s mascot, Reddy the Redwood, posed for photos and offered moral support to walkers and runners.

“RCU supports numerous fundraising events throughout the year, but the Human Race is special in that it allows our staff to raise funds for whichever nonprofit they are truly passionate about,” said Mishel Kaufman, senior vice president of risk management and team captain for RCU’s Human Race efforts. “There is such strong support throughout the community for the Human Race and we’re always excited to be a part of that.”

Redwood Credit Union is an active supporter of the communities it serves, through sponsorships, fundraising and volunteering. In 2016, RCU employees and officials collectively volunteered more than 4,100 hours at community events.

About Redwood Credit Union

Founded in 1950, Redwood Credit Union is a full-service financial institution providing personal and business banking to consumers and businesses in the North Bay and San Francisco. RCU offers complete financial services including checking and savings accounts, auto and home loans, credit cards, online and mobile banking, business services, commercial and SBA lending, wealth management, investment and financial planning services, and more. The Credit Union also offers insurance and discount auto sales through their wholly-owned subsidiary. RCU is over $3.5 billion in assets and serves over 285,000 Members with full-service branches from San Francisco to Ukiah, more than 30,000 fee-free network ATMs nationwide, and convenient, free online and mobile banking. For more information, call 1 (800) 479-7928, visit www.redwoodcu.org, or follow RCU on Facebook at facebook.com/redwoodcu and Twitter at @Redwoodcu for regular news and updates.

At 31 years old, Andrew McNeil knows he needs to prove himself when meeting with a prospective client.

“I couldn’t just go out [and say,] ‘Here are the plans, here are the rates,’” McNeil, principal at Arrow Benefits Group in Petaluma, Calif., and a 2017 EBA Rising Star in Advising, says about prospecting. Instead, he quickly learned he needed to be different.

In the North Bay area of California where his firm is based, unemployment is at 3% and employers are struggling to attract and retain talent. McNeil saw that as an opportunity to “reverse engineer,” he says, to figure out how employers can get the people they want — and retain them.

“It’s not benefits,” he explains. “Especially in the small-group market, benefits are all the same. Employers can offer identical packages. The focus that people put on benefits needs to change; they are one piece of a bigger picture.”

The idea is that employees — particularly millennials — would rather work for a company with a culture that fits them in lieu of higher salary or better benefits. McNeil designed a survey that went out to Arrow’s three dozen team members to better understand the needs of his employees. Incorporating the results is part of the process he embraces to create change in the workplace.

Six key angles
As a result of that survey, Arrow launched Culture Insights, an innovative process through which a personalized plan is developed for employers to help them operate at their highest potential by examining the company from six key angles: purpose, mission, values, company culture, HR and employee benefits.

It’s a process that has helped McNeil win clients. “When I go out to younger decision makers and talk about our philosophy and lay out those six angles, employee benefits is the last thing,” McNeil says. “You can’t put effective benefits in place if you don’t understand the culture and have a clear mission, purpose.”

“When I talk to people, [I] can tell it is refreshing that they have not heard that before,” he adds. “Many brokers are looking to push a health plan, which isn’t wrong, that’s been our business model, but it doesn’t seem like the best way to do it.”

McNeil has been in the business for a little more than 12 years and knows that freshness has allowed him to bring these innovative ideas. “It brings a different prospective because my experiences are different than someone who has been in the business 35 years and might be 65 years old,” he says. “You go through life and have different experiences and think different ways.”