Top executives followed their own paths
Follow your own instincts. Don’t be afraid to go against the conventional wisdom. Chaos creates opportunities. Those were the lessons that two of the Tri-Counties’ top business leaders hammered home at the annual South Coast Business & Technology Awards Dinner on June 4. The annual dinner has become an attraction for business leaders from across Read More →
Trouble in Thousand Oaks – Rancho Serrano developers file Chapter 11
The developers of 22 upscale townhomes near the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza face civil claims that they failed to repay a $9.1 million construction loan and have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The lawsuit and bankruptcy are the latest in a string of woes for residential real estate developers in the Tri-Counties who are Read More →
Your guide to financial sanity – Green Sherpa takes money management software online
As a financial advisor for nearly 15 years, Erin Lozano became good at seeing patterns in the numbers she crunched. Overspending on clothes … again? Check for overspending in other areas. Spending more on luxury items than on educational entertainment for the kids? Budgets and values may need realignment. These “life layer” patterns of personal Read More →
A first-hand look at future of automakers
Listen to the CNBC gang talk about the collapse of the automotive industry and you just might believe we have witnessed a catastrophe equal to the dinosaur extinction. But to Jamey Power, whose family pioneered the idea that customer satisfaction could be a driver for auto sales, the bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler signal Read More →
In this fight the winner, by split decision, is plaintiffs
CallWave’s attempt to take itself private caused a brief flare-up in Santa Barbara County Superior Court that likely will result in a payday for some out-of-town attorneys. The former Santa Barbara company hit the markets with a $40 million initial public offering in 2004. But its flagship products — most notably, a service to let Read More →
Forever 21
Forever 21, a trendy Los Angeles-based clothing store, has run into trouble in its bid to take over a Gottschalks location in Santa Maria vacated by that company’s bankruptcy. Officials behind the company that owns Santa Maria’s Town Center have objected to Forever 21 because they say the property’s lease agreements say that the former Read More →
The Green Coast: A budding initiative
On June 9, more than 30 business and community leaders convened in Santa Barbara to begin the work of creating a Green Coast economic development initiative for the Tri-Counties. The Green Coast initiative began with an April column in the Business Times. The idea behind it is to reinvent the economy of our region, using Read More →
