At the Depot Cafe & Bookstore earlier this month, Ferguson, who passes the baton to The Redwoods CEO Hunter Moore on Jan. 1, summed up a tumultuous year of ups, downs and continued progress for our business community.
Welcome everyone! We are so grateful to Depot co-owner Paul Lazzareschi and his team for hosting our Annual Holiday Party. And a huge thanks to our Chamber team—Susan, Kathy and Adrienne—for making it all happen!
This is the time of year we hold our Annual Meeting as well so I’d like to share a few other appreciations and highlights. For the past two years, I have had the privilege of Chairing our amazing Chamber Board of Directors. I’d like to acknowledge in particular four of our retiring Trustees, who together served 20 years on the Board:
Mike Son with the Bank of Marin, Jim Iavarone with Mill Valley Refuse Service, Grilly's owner Jim Revoir Grilly’s owner and Quoc Phan with Tam Bikes. I’d also like to welcome our three new Board members who start in January: Ryan Canepa with Mill Valley Market, Christine Donohue, owner of The Revery and Shavery; and Karl Hasz, Owner of Hasz Construction—who brought us The Depot!!!
A special thanks as well to all our other Board Members who worked hard on your behalf:
I’m sure you all agree with me that It’s good to be looking at 2021 through the rear-view mirror.
But it wasn’t all bad. Remember vaccination rollouts in March and our brief taste of freedom in June? While it was short-lived, our appreciation for each other endured. Indeed, our Executive Director Jim Welte captured so many wonderful Mill Valley moments in his weekly Enjoy Mill Valley Blog posts, which are well worth re-reading in our website archives!
The Chamber tiptoed back to in-person meetings with two wonderful Fall outdoor “After Hours” at the Mill Valley Lumber Yard and Fernwood. A special “shout out” to our Ambassador Team, led by Phil Garratt.
Earlier this month, several thousand residents and visitors enjoyed Winterfest’s outdoor performances, games and a Super Slide.
The City and Chamber continued to work closely together all year, through the Business Vitality Panel, to facilitate new business openings and extend outdoor business uses through next June.
We supported the City’s workforce housing goals and were very active in the 11-member Marin County Council of Chambers Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force.
And once again, we reached 40,000 plus households with our Annual Enjoy Mill Valley Guide, featuring dozens of local businesses and a full directory of all Chamber members. A special thanks to Chamber team member, Susan Lopes, for spearheading that.
I’ve been very proud to be part of this business community that has been so resilient during Covid--and to lead the Chamber these past two years. I welcome the opportunity to work with our new leadership team in 2022.
And to end on a very high note—I look forward to the Chamber’s exciting initiative to host an outdoor Mill Valley Music Festival on May 7th, 2022. You’ll hear much more about this fun event in January—but mark your calendars!!
Together with our amazing staff and ambassadors, we will keep working hard in 2022 to shine a light on all of you, our nearly 400 members, who keep this community vital and thriving.
We will get through this! Thank you.
Questions? Comments? Email us.
This is the time of year we hold our Annual Meeting as well so I’d like to share a few other appreciations and highlights. For the past two years, I have had the privilege of Chairing our amazing Chamber Board of Directors. I’d like to acknowledge in particular four of our retiring Trustees, who together served 20 years on the Board:
Mike Son with the Bank of Marin, Jim Iavarone with Mill Valley Refuse Service, Grilly's owner Jim Revoir Grilly’s owner and Quoc Phan with Tam Bikes. I’d also like to welcome our three new Board members who start in January: Ryan Canepa with Mill Valley Market, Christine Donohue, owner of The Revery and Shavery; and Karl Hasz, Owner of Hasz Construction—who brought us The Depot!!!
A special thanks as well to all our other Board Members who worked hard on your behalf:
- Hunter Moore, CEO of The Redwoods, who will be Chair next year.
- Megan Acio, owner of WIGT, who will be Vice Chair next Year
- Gabe Burczyk, owner of WrapManager who will be Treasurer
- Teresa Rea, our Board Secretary
- Jan Mathews co-owner of Mill Valley Lumber Yard
- Susan Cunningham, co-owner of the Mountain Home Inn
- Armando Gallegos, Co-owner of B12Love
- Tyler Higgins, Partner at Floodwater
- Melinda Neal, owner of Marin Conservatory of Dance
- Kendal Savelli, co-owner of Malugani Tires,
- Susie Turner, owner of Green Door Design; and
- Urban Carmel, MV City Council and ex-officio to our Board
I’m sure you all agree with me that It’s good to be looking at 2021 through the rear-view mirror.
But it wasn’t all bad. Remember vaccination rollouts in March and our brief taste of freedom in June? While it was short-lived, our appreciation for each other endured. Indeed, our Executive Director Jim Welte captured so many wonderful Mill Valley moments in his weekly Enjoy Mill Valley Blog posts, which are well worth re-reading in our website archives!
The Chamber tiptoed back to in-person meetings with two wonderful Fall outdoor “After Hours” at the Mill Valley Lumber Yard and Fernwood. A special “shout out” to our Ambassador Team, led by Phil Garratt.
Earlier this month, several thousand residents and visitors enjoyed Winterfest’s outdoor performances, games and a Super Slide.
The City and Chamber continued to work closely together all year, through the Business Vitality Panel, to facilitate new business openings and extend outdoor business uses through next June.
We supported the City’s workforce housing goals and were very active in the 11-member Marin County Council of Chambers Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force.
And once again, we reached 40,000 plus households with our Annual Enjoy Mill Valley Guide, featuring dozens of local businesses and a full directory of all Chamber members. A special thanks to Chamber team member, Susan Lopes, for spearheading that.
I’ve been very proud to be part of this business community that has been so resilient during Covid--and to lead the Chamber these past two years. I welcome the opportunity to work with our new leadership team in 2022.
And to end on a very high note—I look forward to the Chamber’s exciting initiative to host an outdoor Mill Valley Music Festival on May 7th, 2022. You’ll hear much more about this fun event in January—but mark your calendars!!
Together with our amazing staff and ambassadors, we will keep working hard in 2022 to shine a light on all of you, our nearly 400 members, who keep this community vital and thriving.
We will get through this! Thank you.
Questions? Comments? Email us.