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2023-24 Board of Directors

Healthy Business. Healthy Community. 411 Davis Street, Suite 101

Vacaville CA 95688

Tel 707.448.6424 | Fax 707.448.0424 www.vacavillechamber.com

Debbie Egidio President/CEO

Debbie@VacavilleChamber.com

Ralph Berumen Business Development Manager

Ralph@VacavilleChamber.com

Noelle Buckband Digital Communications Manager

Noelle@VacavilleChamber.com

Rakelle Broadley Of ce Manager

Rakelle@VacavilleChamber.com

Chamber Comments is a publication of The Reporter. To advertise in future issues, call 707-448-6401. Cover photo courtesy of Vacaville Chamber of Commerce

CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE SPONSORS

Vicki Barros-Ortiz, State Farm Insurance Chairman of the Board

Stephanie Tarter, NorthBay Health Chairman Elect

Ed Rapisarda, Realty ONE Group Fox Immediate Past Chairman

Ivan Jones, Travis Credit Union Treasurer

Scott Pardini, Recology Vacaville Solano Vice Chairman – Business Issues & Advocacy

Teri Johnson, Bookkeeping & More Vice Chairman – Business Resources

Rosa Gracida, Paci ca Senior Living Vice Chairman – Membership Directors

Jessica Callison Young Professionals of Solano

Jason Case Case Electric Inc.

Andy Harper

Hank & Hazel’s Really Good Sausages

Jennifer House Business Development Professional

Ken Imah Minuteman Press Vacaville

Platinum Genentech, Paci c Gas & Electric Co., The Reporter

Gold Budget Blinds of Fair eld & Vacaville, City of Vacaville, First Northern Bank, McDonald's Restaurants, NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, North Bay Distribution, Inc., NorthBay Health, Placer Title Company, Reynolds Law, LLP, Sunrise Banquet Hall & Event Center, Sutter Health, Western Health Advantage

Todd Lowell Reynolds Law, LLP

Toni Parkhurst Budget Blinds of Fair eld and Vacaville

Stephanie Tarter

Kaiser Permanente

Liz Wentworth-Kelly Genentech

Ilove dogs. All animals really, but dogs are woven into our lives in a special way and lately, they seem to be working their way into a few random experiences of mine. One of those was our Board of Directors retreat in late May. It’s typical at a retreat to have an ice breaker question during introductions, but this year our facilitators asked one I hadn’t heard used before, “What is your favorite dog?” The answers and the reasons behind the choices varied. “That’s what my family has always had. Their loyal and protective. Our dog has a job – it helps us hunt. Mine needs to be portable so it can go everywhere with me. Let me show you a picture of ‘my baby’. They just make me happy. Can I tell you about my favorite cat?”

You can learn something about people based on what they value in their dog (or cat – LOL!). It’s a re ection of what they value in people. Things like loyalty, companionship, practicality, protectiveness, tradition, strength, and joy. I am privileged to have spent the day during our retreat learning more about what is important to the men and women on the Board of Directors who volunteer their time helping guide the Chamber. We reviewed our mission statement, evaluating its continued relevance as the cornerstone for all of our organization’s activities. We spent a chunk of time in the morning talking about advocacy and how that is a critical value we provide to businesses, how we can strengthen our uni ed voice for greater impact, and how we can expand our efforts to touch on more areas important to being a bridge between the community, businesses, and elected leaders. We also previewed our Leadership Vacaville program which will be reinstated this Fall after a three-year hiatus. (Check out our website for details.)

Lastly, we spent time during the retreat talking about “Thought Leadership.” Thought Leadership revolves around being seen as a person or organization whose views are taken as authoritative and in uential. The Board and staff did some honest self-evaluation and believe that the Chamber is doing pretty good in this area – but there’s always room for improvement and growth. We strive to keep abreast of current issues and resources and be a conduit for information exchange in multiple areas. Thought Leadership is important to the Chamber’s goals and being of value in our community. And here’s where the dog connection comes in. “If you’re not the lead dog, the scenery never changes.” We’re striving to be a lead dog and hopefully you are too in your areas of expertise.

One of the most exciting projects the Chamber did this year as a lead dog, was hold the rst ever Lemonade Day Vacaville on May 20. There were 158 registered learners from 95 families, resulting in 36 stands located throughout the city on one special day. There were 19 “Sweet Spot” businesses offering their location for stands, 10 event sponsors, and 8 local celebrity judges who helped choose the Best Tasting Lemonade and the Best Stand. I want to give a huge thank you to Noelle Buckband, our Digital Communications Manager, for discovering this program many months ago and advocating for how special this could be for the

Chamber to embrace – she was right! Vacaville is only the eighth city in California to hold this nationally recognized event and we have already been approached by other chambers in the state to get our feedback. Lemonade Day Vacaville 2023 was an incredible success and will become an annual event for the Chamber that we hope to grow each year.

I hope you’re looking forward to the “Dog Days of Summer” – I am! It’s right around the corner, considered to be 20 days before and 20 days after the alignment of Sirius (the Dog Star) with the sun, roughly July 3 to August 11 each year. Or if you’re not a research geek like me, it’s simply the beautiful, hot, sultry days of summer lled with family outings, BBQs, swimming pools and of course, dogs. Have a great summer!

Debbie Egidio President/CEO Vacaville Chamber of Commerce