Dubroff: New investment fund will have an impact on State Street
Story updated at 2:18 p.m. June 23: Of all the challenges facing Santa Barbara as it tries to reinvent its struggling State Street business district, the biggest may be getting the capital to attract and retain innovative companies. From San Luis Obispo to Westlake Village, tri-county communities are awash in startup weekends and small cash Read More →
Dubroff: Pacific Coast Business Times takes civic duty seriously
As a journalist, and a mainstream journalist at that, I’m deeply concerned about the increasing hostility between our profession and the public. So, in an effort to demonstrate that journalists are also functioning members of society, I’m going to provide an update on the Pacific Coast Business Times and some of its civic efforts. On Read More →
Dubroff: Companies looking to change work culture face daunting task
You don’t have to look too far to find a big company in deep trouble. Wells Fargo, Volkswagen, United Airlines — three icons of global business have taken their lumps recently. Add to that the failures that led to the financial crisis, the retail meltdown and too many credit card hacks to count and it’s Read More →
Dubroff: Tri-Counties becoming hot spot for new capital investments
Capital markets have discovered the Tri-Counties in a big way in 2017. This might be a permanent change in the way wealth is created and distributed in the region or a warning sign that markets are close to a peak. On May 23, The Trade Desk, the region’s only IPO of 2016, announced that existing Read More →
Dubroff: End of merger proposal leaves health care future up in the air
The debate over the future of health care — in the nation and in the region — comes down to a single question. Is health care a competitive marketplace where price guides choices, or is it a regulated marketplace much like a public utility? That question remains unanswered nationally as Congress grapples with how to Read More →
Dubroff: Rising stock market fuels changes for tri-county companies
Conventional wisdom holds there’s not much correlation between a short-term jump in stock prices and impact on the real economy. But this time may be different. It may mark a rare moment when developments on Wall Street have a profound impact on what happens along the Highway 101 corridor. Three announcements made during an eight Read More →
Dubroff: Michael Towbes’ legacy of giving lives on after his death
After a successful career as a developer and banker, Michael Towbes spent the last two decades of his life with an increased focus on philanthropy. He was not simply giving back. He was deliberately creating a legacy for his enterprises to remain rooted in the community, while shaping and guiding the region’s cultural institutions. That Read More →
