By Carlos Evans

In the spirit of Thanksgiving and being grateful for the many blessings we enjoy here in Ventura County, here are just a few of the many people, places and things that I learned about/from during our November VCLA cohort session. It goes without saying that their contributions are worth acknowledging and celebrating:

1. I had no clue that Oxnard’s very own Haas Automation Inc. is one of the Earth’s leading manufacturers of machines other companies purchase to create parts essential for their business plans. With over 1.2 billion dollars in revenue annually, Gene Haas has created a privately owned company focused on creating a robust, reliable, easy to troubleshoot product that is competitively priced against global competition. Haas’ products positively impact the automotive, medical, aviation, manufacturing and technology sectors. Of course, little of that is possible without their captive workforce that bleeds “Haas Red” which our cohort observed while touring their factory. Hats off to the Haas leadership team for hosting our cohort that morning and proving that Ventura County has the infrastructure required to attract, sustain and retain a global leader.
2. Close to my heart was a presentation led by a fellow Naval Aviator, Brad “Brick” Conners, from Pharos Leadership. Brick was upfront and asked the cohort two critical questions for all leaders to ponder in the spirit of self-assessment before getting to his brief: (1) Why be led by me? (2) How will I honor their choice? Personally, I love great questions like these which when answered honestly force you to decide your leadership agenda. All of that to say, Brick went on teach us about innovation from the Native American medicinal wheel worldview through the wisdom centers of spirit, gut, head and heart. One of the great takeaways was that as we develop our personal and corporate wisdom centers, our leadership will be better prepared to innovate in any dynamic and chaotic environment.
3. Has anyone ever asked you to re-imagine in order to re-invent the wallet to fit the 21^st century lifestyle? Probably not, unless you have met the founders of Matterlabs. Built on the premise of progress through innovation, Matterlabs said something profound in their presentation that I instantly respected for them sharing publicly. After being wildly successful early on, they had lost a sense of purpose and yearned to leave a legacy worth remembering. Moving forward from this existential impasse, they would only take projects if it… Inspired, Impacted and Saved. Those values are powerful criteria to discern where to spend your time and how to make an impact in Ventura County. I can only hope that my next generation wallet design lives up to Matterlabs expectations!
4. We changed venues in the afternoon to the brand new Gold Coast Transit Center in Oxnard. As a company with over 200 employees, 50+ buses, 20 routes serving thousands of customers predominantly in West Ventura County, their new 15 acre facility is well needed and deserved. Of note, I appreciated how they intentionally designed into their construction plans a community-minded meeting space able to host local groups like VCLA.
5. Following lunch from Toppers (Thanks to Pattie Braga!!), we received presentations from the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, Ventura County Economic Development Collaborative, Ventura County Transportation Commission and burgeoning community land trust led by Tim Gallagher and Matthew Fienup. After taking pages of notes from those engaging speakers outlining the impactful work their respective organizations are doing for migrants, local businesses, commuters and aspiring homeowners, I left thinking the best is yet to come. Despite their individual specialties, all of the organizations shared in common the changing local socio-economic landscape and a passion to positively shape the future of Ventura County for its constituents before that opportunity is lost or taken.