Gini Homes, Shasta Arts Council

Biography: http://www.shastaartscouncil.org/gh/gh.html

Jon Gregory, Golden Capital Network

Biography: http://www.goldencapital.net/About_Us/Staff.asp

John Melville, Collaborative Economics

Visit Website: http://www.coecon.com John Melville is Director and Co-Founder of Collaborative Economics, Mountain View, California and an advisor to civic leaders nationwide. Over the past 20 years, John and his partners have worked with public and private leaders in over 40 communities across the U.S. and abroad, helping them launch concrete, collaborative initiatives to improve their economic vitality and quality of life. In California, John has worked with the Great Valley Center on research projects focusing on the economic futures of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valley regions, renewable energy as an economic and environmental opportunity for the Valley, and health services as an economic priority and source of jobs with career potential. He has also helped mobilize teams of regional and local leaders to pursue action, including a nationally-recognized effort to revitalize the Highway 99 corridor, a “civic venture capital” model called the Butte Pioneers, and an effort to promote innovation in agriculture in the Sacramento Valley. John has worked closely with Community and other Foundations to improve regional and community civic engagement and collaboration—including The James Irvine Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Heinz Endowments. He helped design and launch the Alliance for Regional Stewardship, a national peer-to-peer network of practitioners, and has provided support to the California Center for Regional Leadership. Collaborative Economics helped design and implement Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, a new kind of regional collaborative organization. With his partners, John guided the strategic planning and visioning process involving more than 1,200 corporate, community, and public-sector leaders. During implementation, John was principal staff to Joint Venture’s 21st Century Education Initiative, which raised more than $32 million as a regional-local partnership to improve Silicon Valley schools. Following the Joint Venture example, John and his partners have helped launch and/or support more than 10 regional collaborative organizations across California and advised similar organizations across the country. Based on his experiences working with civic leaders at the regional and community level, John co-authored the book, Grassroots Leaders for a New Economy: How Civic Entrepreneurs are Building Prosperous Communities (Jossey-Bass, 1997), and a just-released book called Civic Revolutionaries: Igniting the Passion for Change in America’s Communities (Wylie and Sons/Jossey-Bass, 2004). He is author of more than 20 strategic plans for regions and communities, published articles on education and benchmarking, and a report for the Presidents' Commission on Industrial Competitiveness. He is a graduate of Stanford University.

Stephen Paul, Bouquet of Fruit

Biography: http://www.bouquetoffruits.com/corp.html

Brad Triebsch, Westhoff Cone & Holmstedt

Visit Website: http://www.wcah.com Brad Triebsch recently joined Westhoff, Cone & Holmstedt to provide banking and government relations services to firm clients. Mr. Triebsch has a 13 year record of taking companies from concept to profitability. His private sector business experience, coupled with political experience, provides clients keen insight into both financing needs and government relations assistance sometimes necessary in the passage of general obligation bonds. Most recently, Mr. Triebsch served as the Vice President and General Manager for SportsTrac Systems, where he implemented strategies responsible for tripling growth rates. Prior to that, Mr. Triebsch served as Vice President of Wholesale Strategy for TeamMucho, Inc. a successful hybrid ecommerce company principally engaged in providing outsourced human resources services to small and mid-sized businesses. From 1990-1997, Mr. Triebsch was the Co-Founder and President of ConVault Mid-Atlantic, Inc, an Inc 500 environmental manufacturing firm. Early in his career, Mr. Triebsch worked as an institutional salesman for First Chesapeake Capital, a boutique investment bank, and on Capitol Hill as an aide to Majority Whip Tony Coelho, D-Merced. Mr. Triebsch is a Central Valley native and maintains strong business and political ties to the region. He is the Chairman and Co-Founder of the St. Mary’s College Football Association and also serves on the Junior Achievement of the Bay Area Board of Directors. Mr. Triebsch is a registered Series 52 (NASD) Municipal Securities license holder.