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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Change of Pace

Change of Pace Although Larry Mankin went from the top post at Salt Lake City Chamber to a similar position in much smaller Santa Clarita, his expectations are high as he tries to move the local organization to a new level. By JASON SCHAFF Staff Reporter Larry Mankin may have had the dream job for chamber of commerce executives. As head of the Salt Lake City chamber, he had a $30 million budget, a staff of 30 people and was one of the leaders in the business community during that city’s Winter Olympics in 2002. Upon taking the job of chief executive officer of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce four months ago, he inherited a staff of 7 and a budget of $1.4 million. Not exactly a promotion. But Mankin, who was hired after a nationwide search by the Santa Clarita Chamber, said he wanted the position in part because he was seeking less stress and opted for a smaller place but one which was growing and had a good future. He feels Santa Clarita fits the bill and has vowed to expand its chamber into new areas such as economic development and government advocacy. Question: Why did you leave your post in Salt Lake City to take a position in Santa Clarita? Answer: My wife and I always wanted to be in a warm-weather environment. I promised her 32 years ago that we would get there and I finally did it. I’m just slow. When we decided to leave Salt Lake City, we were going to look at four places: California, North and South Carolina and Florida. Santa Clarita was one of the chamber jobs open at the time. Q: Isn’t your position here a step down from your post in Salt Lake City a large city which was the host of an Olympics? A: I was moving for lifestyle rather than trying to feed my ego. My ego was sufficiently fed in Salt Lake having the Olympics experience. We did not want to go to a large city. Q: Were you recruited to come here? A: They came after us pretty big time. I at first said it’s not big enough. I also wanted to be near a university and near water. But I was told that it was a great place, that it’s going to be the economic engine for L.A. for the next couple of decades. Q: Is it what you expected? A: It’s actually more than I expected. On a business basis, I’m not working with multinational corporations as I have in the past. This is a community made up of small and mid-sized businesses. This is a community that puts a great deal of emphasis on relationships, a great deal of emphasis on being a part of the fiber of this community. In other places I’ve been in they couldn’t have cared less about things like that. Q: What do you mean by being a part of the fiber of the community? A: As I go out here and chat with people, they say that you want to be one of the 400 there are 400 people that are really the fabric of the valley. You go to an event, you’re going to see one of these people. The leadership corps of this valley is a pretty small group. Q: Do you think this core group of people will grow and the character of the businesses will change? A: I think that group may change over time. But are we going to be the location where multinational corporations move no. That’s because California’s business climate is so bad. Are we going to be the place where substantial companies would consider moving, absolutely. It’s a quiet community, very well educated and safe. Q: What are the main things you want to do at the chamber here? A: There are four or five program areas that we are going to move the organization toward. One is to be a source for education and information such as seminars and to maintain a good Web site. The other is government advocacy and being a voice for business. Another is being the organization that sets up networking venues primarily for the small business community. The fourth area is economic development. We’re attempting to become more sophisticated in how we approach it. I don’t think that development is always necessarily just going to happen. Q: What do you think the strategy for economic development should be? A: We’ve got some groups of people that are very aggressive in getting potential clients to move into specific sites such as the Valencia Commerce Center and Valencia Industrial Park. But we have a whole host of sites coming into the marketplace and the city and groups like us need to be more aggressive in not only making sure they come to the Commerce Center and Industrial Park but also become more aggressive in identifying companies for the entire Santa Clarita Valley. Q: What other changes need to be made? A: We have really focused on attracting businesses to move from L.A. but we really haven’t made moves on the international markets or on the markets out of the greater L.A. region. Part of that relates to the overall California business climate. It’s not as easy to attract business here. We need to make sure we have the jobs so that people can be close to where they live. I think that can be done in partnership with the city, Newhall Land & Farming Co., and commercial developers. Q: How will you execute that strategy? A: The commercial developers are still going to be the group that drives the process. We’re a partner in that process. Our job is to make sure the permit process happens adequately, that we have the transportation we need and to make sure our education system remains strong. Q: What else needs to be done? A: In the area of government advocacy, we really need to step up in that arena as a chamber. I’ve had a couple of opportunities to testify before the county board of supervisors. I don’t think we’ve ever done that before. I’ve been to city council on several occasions. We’re also going to revive our political action committee. I don’t think it’s met in three years. We need to be a player particularly in local politics. Q: What are the challenges to business development in the area? A: We’re involved in battles that we’ve never had before. The environmental community is becoming more and more organized. They’re raising lots of money. They continue to use plants and toads and water and oak trees in high profile ways of stopping development. It’s also interesting to hear people who have been here 10 or 12 years saying we don’t want any more growth. Why was it OK for this group to move here and not others who want to enjoy this lifestyle? Someone needs to stand up to those groups whose sole purpose in life is to stop growth. Q: What is the chamber’s relationship with Newhall Land, the developer of much of this area? A: It’s very strong. I haven’t felt any pressure from them. I think they’ve been delighted to be part of the new chamber. They told me they’ve been waiting for years for someone at the chamber to speak up on growth issues, land use issues and all of those kind of things they have to be concerned about if we’re going to have this place grow and prosper. Q: Do you think the economic base of the Santa Clarita Valley is diversified enough? A: No, an area is never diversified enough. But I don’t think there is any one industry here that if it went down we would suffer. SNAPSHOT: Larry Mankin Title: Chief Executive Officer, Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce Age: 54 Birthplace: Webster, S.D. Education: B.S., Secondary Education, Northern State Univ., Aberdeen, S.D., 1972 Career Turning Point: Spearheading a campaign through Congress to create a national historic center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, while president and chief executive of that city’s chamber. Personal: Married, four daughters.

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