Alliance Newsletter

Download PDF

Inside the Spring 2017 Issue:

In Pursuit of Growth in a Gig Economy
Alliance leaders know that today’s labor force is experiencing fundamental, permanent change. Alliance members Laura Bergheim of Wordsmithie, Andy Berkenfield of Duncan Channon, Nathan Collins of SRI International, Ross Fernandes of Q Analysts, Glo Gordon of Cisco-Jasper, Kathy Zwickert of NetSuite, and Alliance Director Marion McGovern, share their strategies for growth in the gig economy. This transformation will create critical questions for today’s leaders, and their solutions will be customized for each unique situation. Given the track record of Bay Area innovation, we think it’s not a matter of if the answers will come, but when.

Alliance Community Activities
Alliance members and guests came together on December 1st to ring in the holiday season and celebrate the Alliance’s 20th Anniversary at the Castlewood Country Club in Pleasanton. We were honored to recognize Alliance members who have been part of our community for more than 5 years, some who have been Alliance members since our early days in 1996. On November 8th, Alliance member Leilani Gayles of the San Francisco Giants hosted an interactive Alliance Roundtable at AT&T Park. Leilani, along with fellow Alliance members Ted Elliott of Jobscience, Gary Gysin of Liquid Robotics and Kathy Zwickert of NetSuite, kicked off the event as our panelists, sharing their secrets, strategies and stories of winning the talent war in the Bay Area. We continued our “Alliance Voices” presentation series in November, showcasing business and life stories from Alliance members Gene Banman, Alain Harrus, Cal Lai, David Matheson, Stan Schneider and Mihir Shukla, and also welcomed Keynote Mike Robbins, speaker and expert in teamwork, communication and the power of appreciation, and Keynote Curt Carlson, Founder of the Practice of Innovation.

Nuggets From Behind Closed Doors
There are hundreds of years of experience inside every private Alliance meeting. While protecting the confidentiality of the member who challenged their private Alliance Group to “sit in their seat,” we’ve captured just a few of the insightful comments from a handful of members. Read how Bryan O'Connell of Meras Engineering, and Harmeet Bhatia of Jade Global, would address the challenges faced by two of their fellow Alliance members.

New Members
Check out our newest Alliance members, who run a wide range of companies in industries such as Cybersecurity, Cloud ERP, Greenhouse Kits, Healthcare, Sustainable Transportation, Emergency Medical Products, Cardiac Arrhythmia Devices, Dental Gel and Online SBA Loans.

Upcoming Events
We've got some great events coming up, including Alliance Keynotes, Geoffrey Moore, technology marketing icon and author of Crossing the Chasm, Madhavan Ramanujam, Partner at Simon-Kucher & Partners, and Behnam Tabrizi, Managing Partner of Rapid Transformation. In addition, our Alliance Roundtables will bring together leaders of Software, Family Business, Professional Services, Life Sciences, and Cybersecurity companies. We invite all Alliance members and their guests to join us for our Alliance Spring Dinner on Thursday, April 27th, and our Alliance Fall Dinner on September 28th.

Also inside: Learn about our Alliance Summer Internship Program connecting Alliance employers and students, keep up-to-date with Member News, upcoming Alliance Events and Keynote Speakers, and see photos of Group 110’s December Holiday Celebration and Group T300’s San Jose Sharks Experience in January. Download it now!