My Final Business Perspective -- Thank You

by Gary Toebben

We have become friends and partners over the last 12 years, and it has been my honor to work at your side in building the economy of the City and County of Los Angeles.

Many of you know I grew up on a farm in Nebraska. Farming involves planting seeds, fertilizing those seeds, keeping the weeds from strangling the crops and harvesting at just the right time.

My work as CEO of four chambers of commerce in four states over 43 years was similar to farming. In all four cities, we planted the seeds of ideas, fertilized those ideas, and hoed or chopped down the weeds that wanted to kill our ideas. After months or years of toil, the harvest of our ideas and initiatives bore fruit for the economy and quality of life in that city.

Like farming, perseverance is key to the success of a chamber of commerce. Every day as a Chamber executive, you remind yourself and your staff that what you are doing is very important to the future of the community. You never give up on your belief in free enterprise. You never waiver in your knowledge that a growing economy is essential to paying for improvements in public services. You never waffle in your conviction that making things better requires courage and change. And you never forget that for most people, quality of life begins with a job.

Every step in my 43-year chamber of commerce career gave me the opportunity to work in a bigger field with a larger variety of crops, more weeds to battle and more challenges to overcome. For a local Chamber executive, Los Angeles is the biggest field in the country.

Thank you for being leaders and partners with the Chamber as we planted ideas, fertilized those ideas, cut down the weeds and harvested the results for a stronger economy and a better quality of life. Together, we helped build the city and county we love.

As I leave the Chamber, I am confident that all of you, along with Maria Salinas, will continue in that same mission and become the heroes of history yet to be made.

Thank you for giving Janice and me the opportunity to work at your side these last 12 years. We are proud to call you our friends.

And that's my final Business Perspective.