On 8-31 the Sacramento Bee ran a story entitled "Police Union Opposes
Arena Measure."

It is time for the media to stop treating public employee unions with
kid gloves. Instead the media needs to help educate voters on this
issue. It is a conflict of interests for public employees to exercise
such undue influence on public policy. With respect to the areana
debate, they are, once again, holding our public policy hostage to
their wages and benefits.

The reason we can't afford public works in general, and more police in
particular, is because of the costs of funding their pensions.

You don't have to be an actuary or a math genius to understand the
taxpayer's dollars involved. Public employees in general, and police
in particular, retire in their early 50's with pensions for life that
are usually around 80% of what they made in their final year of work
(i.e., their highest salary).

This means that they are retired for nearly as many years as they
worked, on average. And because their pension is 80% of their highest
salary, they actually cost taxpayers more, in sum, during their
retirement than they cost during the time they worked. Because of
this, take any salary a public employee makes, and double it.

triThis is a gross injustice to the private taxpayers, who fund these
generous public employee pensions when private workers only get social
security, available at age 65, at a rate perhaps 20% of their yearly
earnings while working.

Not only is this a gross injustice, it is the primary reason we have
government deficits, and it is the reason we can't afford more
services, such as more policemen to patrol the new arena. Just
reducing public employee pensions to half what they are now - which
would still be double what social security offers - would save
California's taxpayers tens of billions of dollars per year.

Voters should understand that Sacramento may not get a new arena
because a gang of self-interested government employees are using our
money to lobby against the arena unless we acquiese to the
perpetuation of their grossly inflated benefits. It's fine to give
people who take risks to provide for our safety a pension, even a much
better one than the rest of us get. But they should not get a pension
so extreme that it requires yearly pension fund inputs literally ten
times higher than what the rest of us pay each year into social
security. Especially when these costs are breaking our government
budgets and preventing the construction of vitally needed public works.

And there is no justification for public employees to have a
stranglehold on our elected officials, or to exercise so much
influence on our voters - using our money.

Public employee unions should not be running our agencies, controlling
our elections, and breaking our budgets. As it is, that is exactly
what they are doing, and this must be challenged.

Ed Ring
Editor
ecoworld
www.ecoworld.com

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A report to be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research on September 9th projects, at the current recovery rates, ozone in the atmosphere could return to 1980 levels by the middle of this century.

The effort began in 1989 when more than two dozen countries joined together to replace the main culprit - chloroflourocarbons (CFCs). Unfortunately, little attention was paid to what would be used to replace CFCs. And, as usually happens when no one is paying attention, the users utilized the cheapest replacement products, with no concern as to long-term consequences. The replacements have now been shown to have caused a significant increase in global warming. So, we are on the road to fix one problem and have unintentionally dramatically worsened another.

Sadly, Switzerland first raised the alarm on the replacement products in 1990 and got no reaction. Sixteen years later, we are just facing up to the sizeable impact. But the United Nations fund doles out $150M a year to continue to help developing countries move from the old to the new product. Under the 1989 treaty, industrial countries have until 2030 and developing countries until 2040 to quit using HCFCs and HFCs, the replacement products. It is still not clear what the next products will be, but let's hope someone studies their effects before we unwittingly cause another problem, and let's hope someone comes up with something soon because global warming is being significantly impacted by an unintentional consequence.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Congratulations to Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative Democrats who have reached agreement on a bill that would make California the first state to impose a limit on greenhouse gas emissions.

The deal requires major energy companies to reduce their carbon emissions within 14 years to 1990 levels. California is aiming to reduce gas emissions by 25 percent.

And for those naysayers who think the Feds should be working on this issue and not the states - we couldn't agree more, but they aren't.

And for those naysayers who say this will hurt the economy, not true says a new University of California-Berkeley study which finds that going back to 1990 emission levels would boost the annual Gross State Product (GSP) by $74 billion and create 89,000 new jobs by 2020.

This is a major step forward in the war on the real terror - global warming.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The fattening up of America has taken an interesting twist - just in from Trust For America's Health - a new report about the obesity epidemic in America.

The top ten most obese states in descending order - Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Indiana, South Carolina, and Texas.

Now the startling news - all ten of these states voted red in the 2004 presidential election.

And the rest of the story - the six leanest states - Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Colorado. Five of these six voted blue in the 2004 presidential election. Note: Colorado, a red state, was the leanest.

Nineteen states voted blue in 2004. Fifteen of these states were ranked in the 25 leanest states. That means twenty one out of twenty five of the most obese states voted red.

The moral of the story - Democrats are leaner than Republicans. We can blame the obesity epidemic on Republicans.

Now lets make America healthier. Vote Democrat!

Gillian Parrillo and Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

And what, you say, is so special about that?

Well if you know me, you know my hot topic is finding positions for experienced executives with Sacramento companies. There have been very few opportunities in Sacramento up until now and this has resulted in lots of great talent leaving the area permanently or commuting to the Bay Area or beyond.

A couple of years ago, I met such an individual. He had lived in Sacramento for many years but had never found suitable work in the local area. He had spent many years commuting to the Bay Area with the resultant negative impact on his family. We worked long and hard to find something to match his talents but at the end of the day he found a high paying, challenging job in the Bay Area and off he went again, leaving Sacramento without the positive impact of his presence.

Now, I am very pleased to note that he has taken a CEO job right here in Sacramento with a very promising local company. Could this be the beginning of something special - a new trend? A local company, started by local entrepreneurs, funded by local VCs, and now headed by a local CEO. Did we get the idea, the money and the talent all in the same place at the same time? Sounds so simple, but to-date it has not been.

So, congratulations Dave Chamberlain, new CEO of Satori. And if a company does well based on the ethics and decency of its management team, Satori is going to be a big winner!.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

From the Central Valley Business Times:

Design set for Sacramento airport’s new terminal

SACRAMENTO
August 30, 2006 7:34am

• Construction to start in 2008
• Will replace 1967 structure

The design for a new terminal building at the Central Valley’s largest airport, Sacramento International, has been selected by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.

The new terminal will replace Terminal B, which was built in 1967. It will be three times the size of the current terminal, have 23 gates and a “people mover” to shuffle passengers hither and yon.

Construction is expected to start in 2006, with completion projected for [2010].

The new terminal is being designed by Corgan Associates Inc. of Dallas, Texas.

It will incorporate a 200-room hotel, replacing the airport’s current hotel that is located across from Terminal B.

The old terminal will be torn down when the new one is opened, with the airport’s second parking garage built on its site.

The $1.1 billion project is to be paid for by fees paid by airlines along with federal grants.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By now everyone knows what Warren Buffett did.The world's second richest person endowed the world's richest person's foundation - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with a multi-billion dollar gift. The Gates Foundation addresses two key global issues - education and health.

Buffett's actions should encourage other mega-wealthy people to do the same thing. Who in Sacramento will do it the Warren Buffett way?

This is my dream - Sacramento pools its vast resources to create an entrepreneurship foundation patterned after the Kauffman Foundation. Ewing Marion Kauffman, founder of Kansas City based Marion Laboratories, Inc., created the Kauffman Foundation to help young people with disadvantaged backgrounds. The foundation with an asset base of $2 billion fosters education and entrepreneurship.

What's wrong with my dream? Sacramento can do it. Let's put a foundation together the Warren Buffett way.

Any takers? The Sacramento Executive stands ready to work with the community to make it happen.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Listen to a series of podcasts entitled The Capital Food Chain, featuring Brock Blake, CEO of FundingUniverse.com, and Bill Payne, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. First in the series discusses the details of self-funding your early-stage venture. Next in the series - bootstrapping.

Bill Payne is a leading expert on angel funding. He has a lot of useful knowledge to impart for those who are looking for startup funding. More episodes to come .

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

CoreLogic, a provider of collateral risk-analysis and management technology and services to the U.S. mortgage banking industry, has been named to Inc. Magazine's list of the 500 fastest growing companies. This is the third consecutive year the company has made the list.

Not bad for a company that was founded in 1997 as a two-person organization and now has annual revenues of more than $65M.

So what's their next move? Co-founder and CEO Steve Schroeder says "....we have kept a fairly low profile since our inception eight years ago. We are now poised to take a stronger stance in the industry."

IPO, acquisition, sale? Rumors abound...

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I led a division of a public company and had to find some budget cuts, I can't imagine a time I would have considered cutting a program that had a 338% return - returning $4.38 for every dollar spent. But that is exactly what the Federal government has just done.

The Federal program that provides funds to the States to help them collect child support from non-custodial parents has been very successful. In 1998, the Federal government tightened the program to ensure results were being met and provided performance-based reimbursement. This helped states double their collections and provided a means for many single-parent families to reach self-sufficiency.

Having raised two children singlehandedly, I met many single parents, almost always women, who had no funds to go hire an expensive attorney to track down their children's other parent and get them to contribute to the upbringing of their children. So many times I recommended that they use this program. And sometimes it had a successful outcome and made an enormous difference in the lives of the affected children. Simultaneously, it saved the government money and put personal responsibility where it should be - on both parents.

With a slash in Federal funds, and little hope that the individual States will have the funds to supplement the program, many more families will descend into poverty and strain the already overburdened welfare programs of the States.

Have we stopped holding our lawmakers responsible? Shareholders of a public company would vote the Board out if they did something as ridiculous as this. It's our tax dollars they are wasting. Let's start paying closer attention and speaking out.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Someone in the family got news that they were borderline diabetic. It has caused us to change our eating habits. For the first time in a long time we are diligently trying to eat more fresh fruit and vegatables. We hang out at farmer's markets and search out interesting recipes.
The biggest surprise is how good vegetables taste all by themselves or with very simple, healthy, and limited additions.

Take some asparagus, snap off the woody bottoms, place on a broiler, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with some sea salt and bake at 500 degrees farenheit for about 15 minutes. The stalks will caramelize slightly and the taste is sheer heaven. And no worrying about how the hollandaise sauce is going to curdle, or worse. Cauliflower, baked with a little olive oil and lemon juice, tastes amazing. And, if you are trying to shed some calories from your meal, try mashing cauliflower instead of potatoes - makes for a nice change. Substitute a sweet potato for a white potato. So much better for you.

And try something you think you hate. If you really think back, you can't even remember when you started hating it. Give it another try and you might find a new favorite. My new find - marinated black olives. I thought I hated them and then suddenly tried one at a Greek restaurant and love them.

New medical conditions have caused us to discover much healthier eating choices. And we are thankful that we live in a country that provides such great access to healthy food choices.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you are an entrepreneur of a start-up technology company and you have not yet heard of TechCrunch, then you might take notice of this post.

Michael Arrington is the publisher of TechCrunch,

a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies. In addition to new companies, [TechCrunch] profiles existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new web space.

TechCrunch enjoys a strong media following, having been featured on CBS News and in Wall Street Journal. Arrington's weblog is the seventh most popular according to Technorati, with 11,997 links from other bloggers; 48th weblog of the Feedster 500; and in the CNet Top 100 blogs. TechCrunch is the cover featured article "Blogging For Dollars" in the September Issue of Business 2.0.

Arrington is well connected to the venture capital world and is a rising star in Silicon Valley. According to Business 2.0, Arrington is the "go-to person for VCs and execs". Entreperneurs, this means a lot of the 88,814 people currently registered on Feedburner for TechCrunch are VCs. For entrepreneurs, the strategy is simple. Go to a networking event in Silicon Valley. Seek out Michael Arrington. Get a posting of your company on TechCrunch. And wait for the phone to ring.

One unbelievable stat about TechCrunch, a one-man company - the weblog generates $60,000 in ad revenue per month. Just six ads, at $10,000 per ad, per month.

The California Gold Rush? Yep, Silicon Valley style.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Fourth-graders in traditional public schools scored better in math and reading (an average of 5.8 points in math and 5.2 points in reading) than same grade students in charter schools. The scores are from the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress test.

Charter school critics portrayed the results as evidence that charers schools are a failing experiment that takes necessary resources from traditional schools. Charter school proponents say the report is flawed and outdated and continued to state that charter schools provide competition to traditional schools thus imporiving public education.

What do you think? Mark Schneider, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which prepared the report for the Department of Education, said, "My advice to parents based on this report is: Shop around carefully."

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A ten-year study has concluded that you don't have to be obese to increase your risk of dying prematurely. The study found that people who admitted to being slightly overweight in their 50s were 20-40% more likely to die in the next decade. The study of more than 500,000 US adults was lead by the National Cancer Institute. A study of more than 1 million Korean adults produced similar results.

Is there no fun left after 50?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to the California Association of Realtors, the first-time housing affordability index (HAI) measures the percentage of first-time buyer households that can afford to purchase a home in California. Presently the index is at 23 percent. The median price home for first-time buyers in California was $482,000 for the second quarter of 2006. In order to qualify for a loan (assuming 6.48% adjustable rate and a ten percent down-payment) on the purchase of the median price home, the minimum household income was $98,720. The monthly payment including taxes and insurance was $3,290.

How many households can afford this? Not many – just 23 percent of Californians. How does an HAI of 23% compare on a historical basis? Not well. The lowest index for California since 1982 was 18% in May 1989 and again in June 2004. The lowest index for the U.S. was 48% in May 1989 (the U.S. index is currently a healthy 59%, the highest ever was 61%).

What does this data tell me? Not good news for California homeowners. Why? Let’s examine what happened within a year after the low point in May 1989. In 1990, California real estate entered a seven-year downturn in home prices. If you bought a California home in 1990, it took ten years, until 2000, for the price to recover to your purchase price in 1990.

Now take a closer look at June 2004 – again the lowest point in the cycle of the housing affordability index at 18 percent. At that time, I projected sometime in 2005 we would be facing a potential downturn in home prices. And it happened. If history repeats itself, it will take several years for the HAI to recover, and as it does, prices will continue to move down.

What’s the highest the HAI for California homes has been since 1982? 44 percent in February 1997 – within one year after the bottom of the real estate decline in the 1990’s.

My prediction? Prices will continue to fall for the next three to five years, perhaps up to another ten percent. My advice to first-time wannabe buyers – sit tight, save money towards the down payment and wait. Wait until the index reaches 45% and then move into the market. You will most likely be buying at the bottom of the market.

What if you don’t want to wait? Move. Move to a low cost of housing area. In Dallas, the medium price home is $140,000. Just yesterday I saw a new sub-division in the suburbs advertising new homes starting at $90,000. Amazing!

Oh, one last thing – the U.S. median price home for first-time buyers is $193,380 with a monthly payment of $1,320. Minimum qualifying income – just $39,600.

Enough said.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to market research firm In-Stat, only one-third of U.S. households with HD-capable sets are tuning in to HD-programming. Most likely reason, when you buy an HD TV no one tells you that you need to sign up for additional services or buy additional equipment.

So, next time you plunk down the extra bucks for HD gear, make sure you ask what else you need to get the full benefit.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It is beyond debate that the earth is warming, and that CO2 is a
partial cause of this warming. The remaining debate, and it is by no
means closed, is how much the earth is warming, and how much of this
warming has to do with human-caused CO2 emissions. An under-reported
fact is that among atmospheric scientists, the most catastrophic
projections are not something for which there is anything near a
consensus.

Whether or not you believe greenhouse gas from humans is the biggest
problem to ever face humanity or not, the right to debate this issue
should not be infringed. But earlier this month, taking a step that
ought to chill any American who believes in the right to free speech,
California Attorney General Bill Lockyear filed a motion in federal
court to force auto makers to disclose all documents and
communications between the companies and "climate skeptics." Lockyear
claims these "climate skeptics" have played a "major role in spreading
disinformation about global warming."

This motion is part of a lawsuit by automakers challenging the state?s
greenhouse gas emissions limits for new cars, light-duty trucks and
sports utility vehicles. California has been joined in the lawsuit by
the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the
Environmental Defense Fund.

In a pre-trial discovery motion, California and the environmental
groups asked for:

"All DOCUMENTS relating to both GLOBAL WARMING and to any of the
following individuals: S. Fred Singer, James Glassman, David Legates,
Richard Lindzen, Patrick J. Michaels, Thomas Gale Moore, Robert C.
Balling, Jr., Sherwood B. Idso, Craig D. Idso, Keith E. Idso, Sallie
Baliunas, Paul Reiter, Chris Homer [sic], Ross McKitrick, Julian
Morris, Frederick Seitz, Willie Soon, and Steven Milloy, including but
not limited to:

All DOCUMENTS relating to any communications between YOU and these
individuals, and All DOCUMENTS relating to YOUR relationship (or the
relationship of any automobile manufacturer or association of
automobile manufacturers) with any of them, including but not limited
to payments directly or indirectly from YOU or any other automobile
manufacturer or association of automobile manufacturer to any of them."

Since when are greenhouse gas skeptics on trial here? What exactly is
the point of this motion - to intimidate anyone who challenges the new
greenhouse gas orthodoxy?

Why don't California's lawmakers and their powerful environmental
lobby stick to regulating pollutants from automobiles? The air in
California's central valley is filthy and disgusting, it's nearly
unbreathable on many summer days. And all CO2 does is make the corn
grow. It is not a pollutant. It may be a greenhouse gas, but it is
not a pollutant. Regulate air pollution, not CO2. As everyone,
including Governor Schwarzenegger, falls over themselves to be
proactive on the global warming issue, our eyes sting and our lungs
hurt and nothing's being done.

The measures that would have to be taken to make meaningful cuts in
CO2 emissions would be literally communist in scope. But big business
would buy into the process, earning even more profits from the new
carbon taxes that would fund lucrative contracts for carbon
sequestration and carbon mitigation - and every small entrepreneur
would lose. It would be a consolidation of state and private
enterprise akin to what we've seen in the waste management industry,
but on a far, far greater scale.

On the international level, forcing reductions in carbon dioxide
emissions will be a justification for war. Geopolitically, enforcing
these measures would be the equivalent of a blockade. It would
strangle the economies of emerging nations. But nobody thinks about
these other consequences - and nobody pauses to question just how
likely the worst-case global warming scenarios really are.

The fanaticism of the global warming zealots is dangerous. The
unquestioning obedience of the media to the global warming lobby is
criminal, if anything is criminal in this charade. And the
gullibility of the public proves H.L. Mencken right again. It would
be so easy to be cynical, in this crazy, mixed up democracy called
America.

Ed Ring
Editor
ecoworld
www.ecoworld.com

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Everyone (except my husband!) makes mistakes and every company does too. The key is how you recover. Lately, corporate recovery has been getting more and more flawed.

My six-year-old grandson is placed in intensive care two days before he and his Mom and two younger sisters are booked to fly on United to visit us. I called United. At first I am told that they will give me a full credit as soon as I send information re the hospitalization but that I need to call another number. The other number results in a phone call that last 3 hours and the answer I get never changes from the first moment – there will be no refund ever and each ticket will have to pay a $100 per ticket penalty. I am asked for my frequent flyer number and knowing that I have flown around the world several times with United and used to have the highest status available, I am sure they will relent. But no. Eventually I am told that no one at United can ever grant me a refund. I point out that I am sure the CEO could, but I am swiftly corrected on that notion! I suggest that maybe the 4 year old and 2 year old should fly alone while their mother stays home to take care of the 6 year old in the hospital. Silence. More calls, more frustration, more no results. It’s bad enough that I am very worried about my grandson without having to contend with these rigid customer service policies. I finally have to admit that they have won the battle. Now the war ensues. I cancel my credit card that gets me United Airlines miles. I vow never to fly on United again. I tell as many people as I can how badly they acted. And then a few weeks later when it’s time to rebook the flight, they suddenly give me a $100 travel certificate per ticket to make up for the $100 penalty they have charged me. This is a great example of too little, too late. The damage has been done. Providing the certificate the day I called would have been appropriate, but now there is no recovery to be bought. The fact is that for $400 and poor timing they have deprived themselves of thousands of dollars worth of future business. Is it United that always says at the end of the flight, “We realize you have a choice of airlines and we appreciate you choose us”? They sure don’t act like it.

A few days later, I have a similar situation with Apple. Early on I even suggest a way for them to recover which is quick, simple, cheap, but they insist they have their rules. I remind them that they already violated their rules when they made a mistake on my order, but that gets me nowhere. A couple of weeks later and another two hour phone call and they offer me the solution I had suggested initially. I was polite enough not to say, “If you had only taken my suggestion two weeks ago, you could have saved us both a lot of time and trouble.”

When I was running a division of a software company I periodically volunteered to take customer complaint calls. It gave me a great sense of how our customers were feeling about how we were treating them. I found that a little empathy and quick recovery was key.

How does your company recover when they make a mistake? Do you know? If not, you should. And do you empower your customer service reps to offer a recovery right up front before frustration levels are too high for most any kind of recovery to work?

My prediction is that as more and more customer service is sent offshore and the offshore employees are provided no latitude in managing customer satisfaction issues customer support will continue to degrade. Eventually, I think the pendulum will swing back, customers will be glad to pay a little more for a lot better service, and customer support jobs will start returning to the United States.

Just don’t fly United! And PS to husbands, flowers work great!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Every now and then I make a prediction and I get it right. Back in May, I suggested that the price of a Sacramento County home could go down 5 to 10 percent in the nearterm. Well it looks like I was correct. The Sacramento Bee reports that the medium price of all homes sold in the County in July fell 5% from the previous July.The number of units sold declined 43%.

I guess a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Unfortunately, I think further declines are likely to happen over the next twelve months. Look for another 5% decline from the median Sacramento County price of $361,000. Why? The affordability index is still out of whack, near an all time low. I will discuss this index in a future post.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacrameto Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

All of us at some point have wondered what the environment will look like to future generations. One has only to see the smog we are creating and the retreat of the glaciers to understand the damage we are causing to our environment.

It shouldn’t then be surprising to learn California is a leader in creating this damage. It is the 12th largest source of global warming emissions, exceeding most entire countries. We think it’s time California cleans up its energy.

Currently the state and federal government are considering legislation to help with our global warming. California Renewable Energy Standard already requires regulated electric utilities and competitive supplies to increase the use of wind, solar, and other renewable electricity sources by 20% by 2010 (SB107). Those actions will create a “pull” for new companies to provide the clean energy and that “pull” is already attracting the attention of investors.

In the US, approximately $2.5 billion will be invested in clean energy companies this year. That number could easily double in the next decade. Every week we hear of some new “clean energy” fund being created. CalPERS and CalSTRS are behind some of this and are willing to invest hundreds of millions of dollars. With PG&E money, there is a California Clean Energy Fund looking to invest specifically in Northern California. There is momentum behind creating more clean energy businesses.

Sacramento, California, is aggressively pursuing alternative forms of clean energy through an organization called CleanStart. CleanStart, a clean energy initiative of McClellan Technology Incubator, is chartered with helping clean energy entrepreneurs in the Sacramento region take their technology ideas and turn them in to viable clean energy solutions. Today, Sacramento has approximately 40 start-ups in the clean energy space, with another 300 likely in the early development stage. Sacramento is well on its way to becoming the “Clean Energy Capital” of California. It is attracting clean energy entrepreneurs who want to establish companies in the area. Through CleanStart, the entrepreneur support structure—mentoring, senior business advisors and visibility with investors is established to help entrepreneurs move from an idea to a company. The time is right and the backing in terms of funding and entrepreneur support is here in Sacramento.

Sacramento has some real advantages as a future hub of the clean energy industry. The region is well-endowed with world-class academic institutions cranking out good ideas and with sources of research funding to take those ideas and prove they work. It has inexpensive space for inventors to try out their ideas and a growing bench of experienced coaches willing to help. Most of all, this region is blessed with customers that really want to “buy green”, the biggest asset of all. We hope to see all households participate in SMUD’s Greenergy Program, purchasing clean energy for a small additional fee.

CleanStart wants to see at least 10 new companies in the area by 2008 and 25 by 2010 come from its efforts. CleanStart will start small and build on success. In ten years, we want to have $5 billion in clean energy sales from businesses in the region, coming with 10,000 new jobs. That’s the plan—clean energy, a better environment, and a healthier local economy.
To learn more about CleanStart or to be a sponsor of CleanStart, visit our web site at www.cleanstart.org.

Ingrid Rosten
CleanStart
www.cleanstart.org

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Very good article in the Sacramento Bee about the darling investment of local investors, Satori. Previously Kovars, this martial arts organization is planning a nation-wide rollout by buying up independent organizations in other regions. Read the whole story here.

It's going to be fun watching this success story!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

An good overview article of the Sacramento Angels is featued in the most recent issue of the Sacramento Business Journal. Check it out.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been very critical about our country's educational system in several of my posts. I assert that the dumbing down of America is a major problem. Being critical without providing answers or solutions is not constructive. It's time for for me to provide answers. How can we begin to solve this problem? We should educate our children for global success. What does this mean? Thomas Friedman discusses this point in his latest book The World Is Flat. Friedman contends in order to compete on a global level, we need to educate our children on how to succeed. Specifically our students need to:

• learn how to learn, constantly absorbing and teaching themselves new ways of doing things;
• have passion and curiosity, passion plus curiosity is greater than intelligence;
• like people and excel at managing and interacting with other people, i.e., play well with others;
• nurture their right-brain skills in order to develop creativity skills.

I would propose we modify John Molloy's famous saying "Dress for Success". Let us now adopt the motto "Educate for Success" and put our students in a position to succeed!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last December I wrote about technologists moving over to the wine-making business in an article titled For the Love of Technology and Wine. It seems I was ahead of my time. In the current edition (August 21, 2006) of Fortune Magazine, Kate Bonamici authored The Grapes of Math, the featured story in Fortune's Business Life section. Ms. Bonamici concludes that high-tech tools help make better wine.

Chuck McMinn, an ex-Intel chiphead, employs several high-tech gadgets at his Napa winery, Vineyard 29 - mositure probes to monitor water use, weather stations, sap flow sensors, microturbines to produce electricity, Tanknet software to regulate fermentation, a titrator to test chemical balances. McMinn has taken his ex-boss Andy Grove's advice from the chip days and is applying it to wine-making -

If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.

Apparently HP's former CEO Lew Platt instilled the love of wine-making in his employees (Lew, recently deceased, left the top spot at HP to lead Kendall Jackson a few years ago). Former HP director of Internet Marketing and inventor of the term "Laser-Jet", Bill Murphy spends his days at his vineyard Clos LaChance near the Santa Cruz Mountains, applying his techical know-how to the art of growing grapes.

Ms. Bonamici reports that Acrolon Technologies, Inc's Tanknet software is now in use at over 80 vineyards. Tanknet is adding 20 to 30 new clients each year. I was rather surprised to find a software provider with such a niche focus - fermentation control. After a quick search of wine related software products (using my new found search engine - ask.com), I found over 40 companies offering winery software solutions on Wine Busienss Online in specialties from vineyard operations to wine production to sales.

Oh by the way, the career path of chiphead to winemaker seems to be rather popular. T.J. Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, has his own winery - Clos De La Tech. You gotta love the name! Unbelievably, people are snapping up his Pinot Noir at $101.50 per bottle. And one other thing - the bottle comes with a pair of chips, that's right, semiconductors with 107 million transistors on them embedded in sealing wax!

These techies have a lot of love for wine!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to the National Governors Association only 43% of high school dropouts are employed. My math, which I learned in high school, suggests that if we are graduating 3 million high school students a year at a 70% graduation rate (i.e., 30% of this year's entering freshmen class will not graduate), then we are producing 730,000 non-workers per year. Translation - high schools produce 730,000 "students" who go on the dole every year. Nice job America! That's the road to prosperity.

Another fact from NGA - on average a high shool dropout earns $21 thousand per year less than a college graduate. That amounts to almost $1 million in lost income over a lifetime. More good economic news!

High school dropouts cost America $16 billion per year in lost productivity according to a 2005 Harvard University research study. Wow!

And one other troubling fact from NGA - the percentage of college students earning degrees in science, math, and engineering - China 59%, South Korea 46%, European Union 36%, and the U.S. 29%. I agree with Thomas Friedman. The world is flat. But I might add one more wrinkle to Friedman's thesis - The world is flat, and the U.S. is falling into the sea.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am always a late adopter of technology. I worked at IBM, a technology innovator. Yet, I still didn't get the technology bug. I thought the Internet would never amount to anything. And look what happened! Ebay - my original thought was no way! Free software, what another dumb idea! Chat rooms - give me a break! On-line poker - who would gamble on-line?

You get my point - I am always on the wrong end of most of my technology prophesies. Well two companies have caught my eye in the past week - digg.com and ask.com. I started to do a little digging (pardon the pun). ask.com is the fastest growing search engine, according to the Nielsen NetRatings, growing year-over-year by 66%, to the number five most popular search engine. What brought ask.com to my attention? You did - the readers of Sacramento Executive. Recently, I noticed a lot of traffic on our site originating from ask.com searches. It caught my attention. The thought never occurred to me that there might be any legitimate search engines out there other than google. But, once again I am wrong. I think I will use ask.com for a while...just to prove that you can teach old dogs new tricks.

Oh, and digg.com - look out, this website will hit the top 20 most popular sites soon. digg.com is a technology focused news site where the stories are chosen by community members rather than editors. I like that approach. For a change, we get to say what is news and not Hollywood. What a novel idea. I think I'm going to really dig digg.com.

What about myspace.com you ask? Don't ask. I've missed that one too - it is now number 1 in page views, ahead of Yahoo! and google. Of course, the only reason why I even heard about it was the breaking news on CNN about all the "bad" things going on over there. Well, it turns out it's not all that bad after all. And besides, if it's on CNN, it's probably not news anyways - just more Hollywood hype (since when is it OK to present news with a music score and sound effects playing in the background?) and editorializing. Check it out, all the major TV news outlets do it. I think digg.com and my iPod will be just fine for me. But wait, I don't own an iPod. I guess it's time.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 8:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

More success secrets from the founders of the Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2006 Hot 100 Companies:

1. Our people. If I take care of them, they'll take care of our customers, and then our customers will take care of us. Founder Lynn Matson, Pro-Motion Technology.
2. Hire quality managers, and let them manage. FounderJamie Lerma, Monticello Homes Inc.
3. Hire people who possess a tremendous work ethic and great attitude. Train them, provide them with the best tools and processes to succeed, motivate them, and watch them perform. Founder Hany Girgis, SkillStorm Inc.
4. Treat others as you would want to be treated. Founders Carl Whatley, Ben Stakely, Jim Harwick, ProEthic Pharmaceuticals Inc.
5. Select the best employees, from management to underlying staff. Listen to your customers to develop programs for their needs. Founders Andrea Salazar-Hall, David Hall, LXSI Services Inc.
6. Hard work, commitment to excellence, and incredible employees sharing the same commitment to excellence. FoundersDonald Jones, Kimarie Jones, George Borrego, Janet Borrego, Air Ambulance Specialists.
7. Most people do not plan to fail, but rather fail to plan. Planning is the core focus of my daily activities. Founders Gerard J. Ferro, Christine Serenelli, SUNRx Inc.
8. Building a business on the premise that our "assets" drive home every night, and providing a work environment that encourages them to return the next day, motivated and excited to be part of the team. Founder A. Ray Dalton, Parts Source LLC.
9. Focus on where the puck is going, not on where it currently is. Founder Alan Pearlstein, Flying Point Media Inc.
10. Surround yourself with talented people, and do not run out of cash. Founders Elise Wetzel, Rick Wetzel, iSold It LLC.

The Wetzels nailed it - most companies fail for one of two reasons poor management or poorly capitalized. Sometimes both.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)