“This was our best breakfast ever!” retorted one of our attendees this week at our November meeting. Supervisor Damon Connolly had just spoken about his first year as a Marin County Supervisor.  Attendees then brainstormed on vital topics for learning/speaking in 2016, and agreed to conduct two joint events with Dominican University of California (Exporting and Economic Forecast).  We also brainstormed on guest speakers, and the best “must read” business books.  That topic was met enthusiastically with many new book recommendations!

Supervisor Connolly shared his background with us, and helped us to follow the common thread of service and compliance in his career.  As many of us are, he was greatly influenced by the example set by his grandfather for community and civil service.  After law school, Damon worked on behalf of Californians to achieve justice from wrong dealings by Enron Corporation.  When Damon moved to Marin County he established his own local law practice, serving business owners and working as a San Rafael City Council Member.

Damon sits on the Boards of Marin Clean Energy, SMART, and other large-scale community enterprises.  Being a County Supervisor is his first full-time role working for citizens in civic leadership.   Together with his four fellow Supervisors, they manage a $500 million county budget.  Damon has taken leadership roles on several topics already, and found support from a populace ready for change.   More importantly, Damon seeks to work as a partner with his fellow Supervisors to accomplish as much as possible by working as a team.

Supervisor Connolly shared literature on Marin’s current budget and answered questions on our fiscal health, budget balancing, managing unfunded liabilities, reducing traffic, transportation planning, increasing tax revenue from Medical Marijuana dispensaries, paying down countywide debt, improving mental health services, railway infrastructure development, building low-income housing, and developing the Marinwood Plaza.  Sounded like a busy first year to us!

He promises to return in the future to give us an update on his progress running this $.5 Billion enterprise!  Follow this link to subscribe to Supervisor Connolly’s monthly newsletter.

We hope Supervisor Connolly and his wife will again join our esteemed CEO Club members at our Annual Holiday party on December 8^th.  Thank you, Supervisor Connolly for your membership and ongoing support of the CEO Club of Marin.

Who knew!  That seemed to be the theme of Robert Verhoeff’s presentation and story presented to the CEO Club of Marin on Tuesday, October 13, 2015.  We started by trying to guess what business he purchased and has run for the last 20+ years, in the style of “WHAT’S MY LINE!”  If Charles Daly was still MC’ing the show, then he would have halted us as it took more than 10 turns to identify Robert’s business as a chain of Pawn Shops around the Northern Bay Area.

In reality, we could have called his business a Consumer Lender, due to the strict compliance, rules, and regulations they face in their lending business.  Or a Retailer, based on the significance of the retail side of their business, both new and used items.  Or a Distributor, as they travel the country sourcing merchandise from Wholesalers to keep their stores supplied with high-demand items.  Or a Valuations Business, based on the volume of property and equipment valuations they do across their eight stores. Their employees have many credentials in valuation, supported by a heavy investment in tools and technology to distinguish rare gems and watches from impostors.

Robert shared with us the common misconceptions he learned and faces still today from people who don’t understand his business.  Robert continually works to educate the buyer, seller, borrower, and legislator about his industry to support its growth and protect its future.  A little-understood industry!

Robert began his career as a CPA in public accounting, worked his way into financial management for a sophisticated technology manufacturer, and then was presented the opportunity to buy into a chain of Pawn Shops with whom he became familiar as a client back in his auditing days.  He took a risk, bought in, and slowly worked to take over the enterprise from the founder.  He then expanded, doubling the number of stores, before pulling back during the last financial recession, to run a more lean and profitable enterprise.

Some interesting facts about his business:

• His store locations target the middle class.
• 87% of customers borrowing against collateral redeem their merchandise.
• Their pricing closely follows changes in the spot gold and diamond markets.
• They process over 70,000 loans every 4 months.
• Every item used as collateral has to be valued, at a business cost of between $20-25/average.
• Contractors- store tools for the winter…cheaper than renting storage units!
• Fragmented market: Only 3 owners have 8 or more stores in California.
• $2B market selling collateralized property, with very little fraud.
• Every borrower is fingerprinted.
• They buy and sell a lot of musical instruments as well as Jewelry in their Marin stores.

Thank you, Robert, for a fun, provocative, and educational presentation!

To register, visit our calendar page.

Robert Sher is founding principal of CEO to CEO, a consulting firm of former chief executives that improves the leadership infrastructure of midsized companies seeking to accelerate their performance. He was chief executive of Bentley Publishing Group from 1984 to 2006 and steered the firm to become a leading player in its industry (decorative art publishing).

From 1984 to 2006, Robert was CEO and co-founder of Bentley, a privately held firm based in Walnut Creek, Calif. Early in the business, he and his partners identified a gap in the fast-growing market for framed artwork: high-quality yet affordable prints perfect for the decorative market. Sher and his partners bootstrapped the business, but key successes breathed new life and cash flow into the business. He led the acquisitions of four competitors between 1999 and 2004 and left Bentley two years later. The firm merged with Global Arts in 2011 to form Bentley Global Art Group.

He is involved in two Northern California associations as a Director of the Alliance of Chief Executives since 2007 and President and Board member of the Association for Corporate Growth San Francisco.

Robert speaks frequently, and has published extensively on the successful leadership traits and skills of CEOs of midsized companies. He is a regular columnist on Forbes.com, has numerous posts on Harvard Business Review online, Entrepreneur.com and CFO.com.  He authored two books, the first book, The Feel of the Deal; How I Built a Company through Acquisitions (1toPonder, 2007) and his newest book, Mighty Midsized Companies; How Leaders Overcome 7 Silent Growth Killers, (Boston: Bibliomotion, Sep. 2014). He also publishes his own newsletter, The CEO Insomnia Factor.

We hope you can join us for our meeting on August 11th, featuring guest speaker Steve Fredricks, President of Turpentine Wine Brokerage. For more information and to register, click here.

Thank you to everyone who came!

As I checked the meat and fish on the grill, anticipating the arrival of my first guests, the last thing on my mind was leadership theory or stories.  In fact, don’t we often grill to get away from it all? Maybe have a beer, or cabernet, and focus on something besides work?  By the end of the evening, I was overwhelmed by the sense of leadership, relationship, community, and team building.  Here is what I learned:

• Thorough planning makes for a successful event. We planned every detail, and as we did so, our “group” turned into a “team.”  We also had more confidence during the event, as we knew everything would be there, when and where we needed it.
• Enthusiasm is a key ingredient. As we talked excitedly about our upcoming BBQ, others heard and offered to help.  Each new team member brought a new flavor to the event.
• Double-check the invite list. Who did we forget to invite?  Who missed our invitation, and needed to be reminded.  If someone is important to us, we made the effort to connect via multiple channels to ensure their participation…and feeling of importance.
• Call the experts. When I sent shopping for the main BBQ grilling items, I brought my wife with me.  Though my enthusiasm loaded up my shopping cart, her experience and wisdom emptied half my cart before the check out.  Letting her over-ride my decisions saved our project team financial resources, precious time, and risk of failure.
• Delegate appropriately. As the guests arrived I did my best to shift from cooking to greeting.  My team wanted me to perform the tasks they couldn’t…and let go of the rest.  I had to focus on my highest-priority task at the time: greeting, introducing, serving, and onboarding all the guests effectively to ensure their successful participation.
• Speak to the Vision and Mission. After everyone had some food I made a toast…to the reason we were gathered together, to the values we stand for, to our mission together.  Find what bonds us together at this moment, and inspires us to continuing work hard for the future.
• Appreciation. I thank everyone on our BBQ team who planned, cooked, shopped, prepped, greeted, served, and cleaned up.  I’m not always face-to-face with all my team members, but I have to remember them, seek them out, and make them feel appreciated.  Finally, I thank my wife and family for all their support.

I was once again overwhelmed, by the appreciation the guest showed me at the end of the evening, and with notes the next morning.

Thanks for a great party last night.  I really enjoyed it.  Lots of everything; delicious food, drinks and nice people! – Stein

Great party, great guests and most importantly terrific hosts. – Eitan

Thank you for a very nice evening. Both Jackie and myself really enjoyed your hospitality. – Marty

As I ponder hosting another BBQ, I wear a satisfied grin and a stronger appreciation for all the players who make our events and career successes possible.  Thank you.

Happy Grilling!

Photos from the Party: