It is an honor to serve as chairman of the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley. 

The elected Board held a planning retreat in November at Los Angeles Valley College: thank you, Annie G. Reed.  The result of that day-long event is a Plan for 2006.  Bill Powers, Director of Planning, is finalizing the plan which should be ready for review at the February Board meeting. 

Joel Simon, Director of Finance, presented the budget to the Board of Directors at the January meeting and it was approved.

The Installation Dinner was great fun.  Gloria Pollack, Ivy Weiss, and Annie G. Reed outdid themselves!!  The DJ, Sounds Eventful, made the evening especially festive.  And the Mayor even made a few remarks!  We thanked Joel for his dedication for the past two years, as we requested his ongoing commitment to our financial order.  The Board was sworn in by Assemblymember Lloyd Levine. 

A warm congratulations to our Director of Marketing & Fundraising, J. Richard Leyner, the 2005 Fernando Award Recipient.  I am excited to join him on February 24th at the Fernando Award Foundation's 47th Annual Special Recognition in his honor. 

Collaborating on ideas creates a plan, but only ACTION creates results!
The committees are hard at work.  I will highlight one per newsletter.

Dorena Knepper and Ross Hopkins, co-chairs of the Governmental Affairs Committee [the GAC], have plans for the Sacramento trip on April 24 & 25.  We have rooms reserved at the Hyatt Hotel across from the capital.  Information and applications will be available to all chamber offices soon and at the February General Assembly meeting. 

The GAC meets on the third Wednesday of the month at noon [bring your lunch], in the BFG Board Room at 5121 Van Nuys Blvd.  All members of all member chambers are welcome to attend and encouraged to bring opinions voted upon by their Government Affairs committees.  The UCC GAC hosts many informative speakers and takes action at almost every meeting. We ARE the voice of the Valley!

By definition, the United Chambers of Commerce needs to be a resource for its member chambers.

Programs to educate and support the execs of each chamber, as well as their Boards of Directors will become a regular resource to our members.  The February meeting will be a forum of newspaper & public relations professionals who will give us insights into the art of advertising and getting news printed. 

Because this is an election year, General Assemblies will feature political candidates in the early part of the year.  However, the programs for the monthly meetings following the primary will focus on chamber and business needs and solutions.

The Economic Alliance, VEDC, BUILD Rehabilitation and other support organizations are scheduled to be a part of our monthly meetings with short presentations. Our member chambers will gain information that will give added value to their members by these snippets.

Should you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at pamcoco@earthlink.net.

Finally, it is my pledge to begin our meetings on time, to move the business in a timely and thorough fashion, and to adjourn on time, recognizing that our attendees are very busy people whose time is extremely limited and valuable!! 

Thank you, sponsors:  Metropolitan Water District, Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, The Gas Company, Valley Economic Development Center, BFI, Galpin Motors, Precision Dynamics, Time Warner Cable, Warner Center Marriott, West Hills Hospital, Alperstein, Simon, Gillin & Scott, Law Offices of William F. Powers, Jr., Gelb Enterprises, Soteras Mortgage, Hunter Communications and Southland Regional Association of Realtors.  Without you, UCC would not be able to be ‘the Voice of the Valley’.

PC