Contents

06 Welcome

08 Thank you to our Pasadena Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors

09 Mayor’s Message

12 Events Calendar

14 Chamber’s Annual Inaugural Gala Celebrates New Chair, Board, Award Winners and More

18 Places for Your Profits: Exploring Pasadena’s Financial Services Sector

20 Quality Service and Employee Health: Long-Time Accounting Management Services Company Focuses on More Than Just the Numbers

24 Strength in Numbers: Pasadena Federal Credit Union Offers its Members a Wealth of Benefits

28 Growing Your Retirement Nest Egg: Pasadena Private Wealth Highlights Benefits of Chamber’s Multiple Employer Retirement Plan

Pasadena Perspective

Vol. 2 | Issue 1 | 2023

44 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena, CA 91106

(626) 795-3355

www.pasadena-chamber.org

This is a Town Square Publications, formerly MetroMedia (since 1997),publication created and produced for the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce
& Civic Association.

Copyright © 2023 Town Square Publications

P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006

(847) 427-4905 | marketing@tspubs.com

www.TownSquarePublications.com

Chairman, CEO and Publisher | Douglas K. Ray

President and Chief Operating Officer | Scott Stone

Vice President / Director | Scott Ray

Managing Director | David Small

Director of Production | Ryan Moore

Account Executive | Wayne Metcalfe

Editor | Mia Katz

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication. The Chamber and Town Square assume no responsibility for misinformation. Please contact the Chamber with any additions or corrections. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission of the Chamber and Town Square Is prohibited.

On the Cover:

Eaton Halls provided by Jerry Camarillo

Thank You

To Our PASADENA CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2022-23

Don Schweitzer

Chair

Schweitzer Law Partners

Raphael Henderson*

Immediate Past Chair

Wells Fargo

Nerissa Sugars

Chair-Elect

Hollywood Burbank Airport

Emilio Padilla-Larios

Secretary

Langham Huntington Hotel

Mike Antenesse

Treasurer

Foothill Unity Center

Katelyn Barchowsky

Vice-chair,
Member Services

Storied Lane Marketing

Lynnelle Bryant

Vice-chair
Workforce
Development

MasBuild, Inc.

John Burt

Vice-chair,
Economic and
Business Development

John Burt Leadership

Charlotte Lacey

Vice-chair Legislative
And Government Affairs

Pasadena Humane

Justin Tsui*

Vice-chair Technology

TeamLogic IT

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2022-23

Thomas Daly*

Member

Lewis Roca

George Falardeau*

Member

Pasadena Media

Hope Hayman

Member

Kaiser Permanente

John Leano*

Member

Bryan’s Cleaners & Laundry

Nellie Rivas

Member

Salon 90

Helen Romero-Shaw

Member

The Gas Company

Ishmael Trone*

Member

F&M Business Center

William (Bill) Ukropina

Member

Coldwell Banker Commercial

Lloyd Wong

Member

Clifford Swan Investment
Counselors

Stephanie Yamashiro

Member

New York Life

EX-OFFICIO

David Klug

Member

City of Pasadena
Economic Development Director

Mark Leavens

Member

Tournament of Roses Association

Jens Weiden

Member

Rose Bowl Stadium

*Denotes former Chair of the Board

Mayor's Message

Greetings.

As we lift our eyes to the horizon to see and agree upon where we are going, let’s first recount where we have been. The pandemic took us through some of our most difficult times as a community and as individuals. During the height of the crisis, every aspect of our life was affected: health, finances, business, social interactions, education, jobs, family, even the way we communicated. Many of the impacts remain with us, and seared changes in us that may never be reversed.

The pandemic laid bare issues that many in society sometimes wished were not there: social inequity and injustice, economic and educational disparities, mental health challenges, housing instability, and substance abuse issues, to name a few. Issues that we now must tackle as a community, and I will talk about just that in a moment.

Some doubted that we could continue to thrive under these circumstances—they said that the instability was simply too great—but Pasadena was not deterred.

In the most difficult times, instead of allowing instability, working together we achieved a seamless transition at City Hall, with minimal negative impact to our residents.

Thank you to staff, residents, and community partners for all you have done. We rose to the occasion together. The resilience that we continue to exhibit as One Pasadena gives me great comfort and confidence that as we face future challenges, and we will, working together we will continue to thrive.

We are now looking ahead.

Victor Gordo,

Mayor

Excerpted from the 2023 State of the City address.

Events Calendar

Networking Events

1st Wednesday 11:45am., Luncheon Alliance

3rd Wednesday 7am., Breakfast Connection

4th Wednesday – Quarterly 5pm.,
Chamber After-Hours Social and Young Professionals Mixer

Quarterly Board and Committees

Board of Directors

Economic and Business Development

Legislative and Government Affairs

Member Services

Marketing and Technology

Workforce Development

2023-24 Annual Event

January 1

Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game

January

Cheeseburger Week

March

Spring Fundraiser

April

Pasadena Restaurant Week

June

Inaugural Gala

October

Economic and Business Summit

December

President’s Breakfast Honoring the Tournament of Roses

For more detailed and specific information on events, please visit our website. www.pasadena-chamber.org.

Chamber's Annual Inaugural Gala Celebrates New Chair, Board,
Award Winners and More

Two hundred people joined Pasadena Chamber Board members June 29, 2023 at the Langham Huntington Hotel for the Chamber’s annual Inaugural Gala at the Langham Huntington Hotel. The event featured the installation of Chair Don Schweitzer of Schweitzer Law Partners.

Guests enjoyed a cocktail reception with music by Art Deco Entertainment prior to the dinner and installation program.

Outgoing Chair Raphael Henderson gave a brief overview of his 18 months of Board leadership. He shared that he was especially pleased about the Minority Business Initiative, which is underwritten by a grant from Green Thumb Industries who operate Rise in Pasadena.

“Through this initiative, the Chamber has recruited more than 105 new members from underrepresented communities in the greater Pasadena area," Mr. Henderson said. "I am also pleased to sit among the most diverse Board members in the Chamber’s history."

Pasadena Vice Mayor and Council Member Felicia Williams swore in Mr. Schweitzer. In his remarks, Mr. Schweitzer talked about the beginnings of his law firm. "What changed everything was asking my wife, Maria, to join me in running the firm. From that moment, we were on a path to success," he said. More than 20 years later, Schweitzer Law Partners is the largest family law firm in the San Gabriel Valley.

As for the Chamber, Mr. Schweitzer said, "The past couple of years have been more than challenging for our Chamber and for our business community and neighbors, but we are slowly finding our normal. Throughout, we have found that our connection to the local business community has been critical to helping so many persevere through the pandemic. Now, as we recover, the Chamber is as vital as ever, maybe even more so."

New Board members inducted that evening included George Falardeau of Pasadena Media, Ishmael Tron of F&M Business Center and Bill Ukropina of Coldwell Banker Commercial, who attended with his wife. Returning Board members were Katelyn Barchowsky (Storied Lane Marketing), Emilio Padilla-Larios (Langham Huntington Pasadena), John Burt (JohnBurt Leadership Coaching), Lloyd Wong (Clifford Swan Investment Counselors), Justin Tsui (TeamLogicIT), John Leano (Bryan's Cleaners), Raphael Henderson (Wells Fargo), Tom Daly (Lewis Roca), Helen Romero-Shaw (The Gas Company), David Klug (City of Pasadena), Jens Weiden (The Rose Bowl) and Mike Antenesse (Foothill Unity Center),

Corporate Citizen awards were presented to Foothill Unity Center and Business4Business. Accepting the awards were Tanesha Taylor, CEO of Foothill Unity Center and Business4Business founder Joan De Souza.

Two Pasadena Chamber Bill Bogaard Scholarships were awarded to Junely Merwin and Emma Espinoza, Lewis Roca intellectual property law firm partners Lauren Schneider, Anne Wang and Thomas Daly presented a scholarship on behalf of the firm to Boris Fuentes. All three recipients are emancipated foster youth who are pursuing higher education goals.

Guests included Congresswoman Judy Chu, who made a presentation to outgoing chair Raphael Henderson, Pasadena Vice Mayor and Council Member Felicia Williams, Ann Hickambotham, who represented Assemblymember Chris Holden, Dominick Corey, representing State Senator Anthony Portantino. Pasadena City College Trustees Steve Gibson and James Osterling were in attendance as well as CBS-LA new anchor and reporter Jasmine Viel and her husband, KABC-7 anchor and reporter Marc Cota-Robles. Kaiser Permanente Interim Regional President Michelle Gaskill-Hames joined the festivities along with company leadership. Rose Bowl General Manager Jens Weiden and Pasadena Center CEO Mike Ross were among the guests as was future Tournament of Roses President Craig Washington.

Gold sponsors of the Pasadena Chamber Gala were Hollywood Burbank Airport, Kaiser Permanente, the Langham Huntington Pasadena and Wells Fargo. Silver Sponsors were Athens Services, the City of Pasadena, The Gas Company and Optimum Seismic.

Guests at the gala dined on a carpaccio of tomato salad, cilantro-spiced shrimp and chicken and a dessert of chocolate cake complimented by rum ice cream.

Items sold during the Silent Auction included a a weekend in Big Bear, Broadway show tickets and hotel stays, premium tickets to Karol G at the Rose Bowl, David Sidaris at the Civic Auditorium, Dodger and UCLA football tickets as well as dinners at Fogo de Chao, Kalaveras and more.

Places for Your Profits:

Exploring Pasadena’s
Financial Services Sector

Pasadena is home to numerous businesses within the financial services sector.

The area, renowned for institutions such as the California Institute of Technology, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and The Art Center College of Design, has a vibrant entrepreneurial community, with leaders in industries that include biotech, real estate, nonprofit, academia and more.

In recent years, residents have seen strength in job opportunities and home sales, with home prices tending to be higher and homes selling faster. In July 2023, Zillow reported the average Pasadena home valued at $1,101,658.

With such abundance comes a need for financial planning and investment services.

In this issue, we highlight just a few of the businesses and individuals whose work it is to help businesses and community residents to thrive, with strategies to plan for, manage and increase wealth.

Quality Service and
Employee Health:

Long-Time Accounting Management Services Company Focuses on More Than
Just the Numbers

By Matt Beardmore

Laurette Clash’s vision for P.I.E., Inc. is not limited to just doing their clients’ bookkeeping. Instead, she aims to provide each client with personal attention and quality service. This approach, combined with her focus on her employees’ work-life balance, has proven successful for her company, P.I.E. Accounting Management Services, which has been in business for 25 years.

Before starting P.I.E., Clash worked as an accounting manager at a law firm in Los Angeles. Through her work with P.I.E., she has established a strong reputation within the Pasadena community, as businesses of all sizes collaborate with P.I.E. to develop bookkeeping and accounting strategies that enhance their cash flow.

According to Clash, P.I.E. stands for “protecting your income and equity.” Additionally, it signifies that P.I.E. is a crucial component of a business’ overall operations, including marketing and administration. P.I.E. aims to be a partner in their clients’ successes.

To assist businesses in developing efficient accounting structures, Clash and her team prioritize active listening. During their intake process, they ask non-invasive questions and clearly communicate P.I.E. ‘s role, as well as what it does not entail, such as handling cash or checks or making deposits on behalf of clients.

Clash has discovered that many P.I.E. clients possess adequate organizational skills and knowledge of their business’ numbers. However, their primary focus tends to be on selling their products or services, rather than on the company’s accounting processes.

Clash explained, “I’ve discovered that most businesses know the numbers in their head. Our job is to take the numbers out of their heads and put them on paper.”

The workflow begins with a diagnostic session, where they review clients’ existing infrastructure and identify any areas that require attention or improvement. If hired, P.I.E. conducts monthly virtual sessions with clients to discuss the previous month’s findings and address any outstanding matters. P.I.E. ‘s system is designed to ensure that each client’s work is updated weekly using the Five R Process for bookkeeping; Record, Reconciliation, Review, Revise, and Reporting, plus a monthly meeting with each client. This allows her employees to handle several clients each day and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Over the past 10 years, Clash has had positive experiences with the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce. Clash emphasizes the value of chamber membership for business owners, as it provides a network of individuals to whom they can turn for advice and support. She believes that having someone to ask questions to is invaluable.

For the past 2 ½ years, she has been responsible for managing the Pasadena Chamber’s books. Her next potential involvement could be joining the chamber’s Ambassadors Committee.

P.I.E.’s team operates from an office space in Altadena. To learn more about P.I.E. Accounting Management Services, visit www.pieincaccounting.com.

Strength in Numbers:

Pasadena Federal Credit Union Offers
its Members a Wealth of Benefits

By Matt Beardmore

“I love what I’m doing – we’re serving others. We’re here to help our members, through good days and bad.”

Kathy Tichenor, Chief Lending Officer at Pasadena Federal Credit Union, considers herself fortunate to have found a career where she is part of an organization that is focused on helping others, whether that is through offering a variety of savings accounts and certificates of deposit with great rates, lower-rate credit card options, or providing signature lines of credit and loans with reasonable terms to help members cover medical, automobile, or other unexpected costs.

“I can’t tell you how many times we’ve kept people in their homes and in their cars – to keep them whole and protect their credit,” Tichenor said. “Because we’re a not-for-profit organization, we are not here to earn a profit.”

Now in its 88th year, the Pasadena Federal Credit Union is “a not-for-profit financial co-op whose members have access to more than 5,600 walk-in shared branches nationwide, more than 30,000 surcharge-free ATMs and great loan and savings rates.” As of June 30, it had 13,898 members, including its largest member, the city of Pasadena, as well as the cities of “San Gabriel, South Pasadena and Sierra Madre plus dozens of local nonprofits and businesses of all sizes.”

There are several ways someone can join the Pasadena Federal Credit Union: being an employee of the cities of Pasadena, San Gabriel, Sierra Madre or South Pasadena, being a member of a Select Employer Group (SEG), having a family/household member who is a member of the credit union, receiving a pension or being retired from the city of Pasadena or a SEG, or by simply making a minimum $25 donation to the Friends of the Pasadena Public Library.

Once joined, there are no annual fees – members just need to make a one-time $5 donation called a share deposit that gives them part ownership of the credit union and access to its wealth of services.

The Pasadena Federal Credit Union also provides members with wealth management services and participates in financial education seminars, including health and wellness fairs for the city of Pasadena and the Pasadena Fire Department.

“When we’re attended any of these fairs or any of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce meetings, I think our presentations have always generated interest by chamber members,” Tichenor said. “A lot of chamber members are credit union members, so we are getting a lot of their relatives joining. We truly feel privileged to be a member of the chamber because of the outreach the chamber does in the city. We feel like we play a big part in helping them with these activities.”

For more about the Pasadena Federal Credit Union,
visit www.pfcu.org.

Growing Your Retirement Nest Egg:

Pasadena Private Wealth Highlights Benefits of Pasadena Chamber’s Multiple Employer Retirement Plan

By Matt Beardmore

Bryan Muth is proud of the growth his investment advisory firm, Pasadena Private Wealth (PPW), has shown during its first five years in business, and he is excited about what is to come.

The PPW’s Managing Partner, Director of Retirement Plans also sees plenty of growth potential in terms of the number of Pasadena Chamber of Commerce members participating in and benefitting from the chamber’s Multiple Employer Retirement Plan (MEP) that his firm was hired to help set up and run.

In May 2018, Muth, along with Iain A. Whyte (PPW’s Chairman, Managing Partner) and Simon M. Holford (PPW’s CEO, Managing Partner), launched PPW after the three had worked together for more than a decade at a large investment management company. Craig Colbath, PPW’s Chief Operating Officer, worked at that same institution for more than two decades before joining PPW in early 2019.

“We wanted to focus on the Pasadena experience in wealth management and managing 401(k) plans,” Muth said. “This was an opportunity for us – it was a natural fit.”

In just five years, PPW’s employee count has increased from nine to 31. The firm also recently added a new partner and has expanded with an office in Irvine.

“I’m grateful for the growth and potential,” Muth said.

Muth also sees plenty of potential in the chamber’s MEP, which started on August 1, 2020, in response to the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019, which allowed businesses to become a member of an association branded plan.

The Pasadena Chamber of Commerce sponsors, manages, and oversees the MEP along with its financial partners, including PPW. Available to all 1,400-plus chamber members, the plan was designed to help chamber members save time and money while reducing stress for employers and employees.

For example, businesses that join the MEP can offload a lot of the responsibility that comes with being a plan sponsor, such as following the detailed funding rules dictated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, to PPW’s team of English and Spanish speaking financial wellness advisors (who are available 7 a.m.-7 p.m. in all time zones).

“Sometimes the MEP isn’t right for a business since they may have specific needs,” Muth said, “but one of the other big advantages of joining the MEP is that if you have more than 120 employees, you don’t need to deal with the hassle of a 401(k) audit, which costs $10-20,000 per year. As a MEP member, that audit would happen at the plan level, so it’s a way to save time and reduce risk.”

The chamber’s MEP also meets the CalSavers mandate. CalSavers is a retirement savings program that employers of California workers must participate in if they do not sponsor a retirement plan and have one or more eligible employees.

Pasadena Chamber of Commerce members can contact Bryan Muth at bmuth@pasadenapw.com to learn more about the MEP and how to schedule a no-cost plan design evaluation meeting with PPW.

Read more about the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce MEP at https://mep.pasadena-chamber.org/.