Community… (April Newsletter)

As we learned in the early Covid crisis, community counts…big time. When the unexpected descends upon you, reaching out to an informed network for knowledge sharing can make all the difference. We take some pride in claiming SDSI is just that community. During those recent dark times, we helped over 80 of the SDSI companies obtain emergency funds or grants. Our Bank members helped cut the bureaucratic clutter and track applications. And one of our members shared that his ecomm business was on fire…a very early positive indicator that the Sport and Athletic lifestyle companies might enjoy a spurt in business. More recently our Freight Forwarding specialist member has been apprising us of the supply line challenges…from shut down in Shanghai to wait times in Port of LA. Community counts. In a business development environment, community can really count. We are entering our annual Membership drive, and welcome all companies in our space to inquire and join. The bigger the Rolodex, the greater the leverage!

- bob

Bill on Al Franken’s Podcast
SDSI Executive Chairman, Bill Walton appeared on the Al Franken podcast earlier this month, and they did the full-court press going over humor, the ups and downs of today’s world, John Wooden and of course the Grateful Dead. I even got a shoutout on the podcast, as Bill’s “travel guy” with beating out flight attendants for #2 on Bill’s worst job big board, “Flight attendants have the third-worst job in the history of the world. The second-worst job is the guy that does my travel. The worst job of all is my wife Lori, but she’s still here all these years. Click here for article on the podcast and here for the podcast.

SDSI welcomes San Diego County YMCA new CEO Todd Tibbits to SDSI Board of Directors
At the April Board of Directors meeting Todd Tibbits hosted the SDSI leadership at the Ecke YMCA and provided an update on the organization, how it was impacted by Covid and its vision for the future. Todd reminded us that the Y is much more than a gym, pool and fitness center that it is so well known for. San Diego YMCA serves 39,000 families with its childcare programs, serves 2,400 homeless youth through its housing program. Also supporting the mental health of our youth, the YMCA is inviting all children aged 13-24 years old to have free access to any Y in San Diego. The hope is to make meaningful connections to the youth in our community who need it the most and eventually be a resource for their entire family. Todd moved to San Diego from Charlotte where he was the President & CEO at the Charlotte YMCA. He has been in his new role for 6 months. As he looks to the future, is working to bring the best part of the Y forward while innovating new programs and services for each specific community. These innovations cannot be done without local partnership, if you like to connect with the Y and explore how your business can partner to better serve our community, please let us know!

2050 Succession Plan announced at SDSI
We believe in long term planning and welcome Taylor Rowley, newly born son of SDSI's Accelerator leader Dana Rowley and 4-month-old Obby Catalano, son of SDSI’s Renne Catalano.. our future is safe!

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