Annual Dinner a Resounding Success

Under the artful direction of Master of Ceremonies the Honorable Willie L. Brown Jr., the Bay Area Council treated almost 750 guests to an evening of elegant celebration at the 66th Annual Dinner and Business Hall of Fame Awards last night at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer and his wife, Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer, were among the many luminaries to attend, including State Senators, Assembly members and mayors and other local elected officials from around the region. The ceremony included the passing of the Chair’s gavel from Lloyd Dean, CEO and Chairman of Catholic Healthcare West, to Janet Lamkin, President of Bank of America California. Lamkin becomes the first woman to chair the Council. In her remarks, Lamkin emphasized the need for “cooperation and commitment to a common cause” in “partnering with government and community leaders to drive economic growth, revitalize our communities, create jobs and improve people’s lives.” She challenged the audience to “put an end to the polarization that dominates our political dialogue and gives rise to the idea that business interests are somehow opposed to the larger public interest.” Council CEO and President Jim Wunderman reminded the audience that despite anger and frustration directed at the business community across the country that the business community has been and will continue to be a force for creating jobs, growing our economy and improving our quality of life.

The Council, under the leadership of Business Hall of Fame Chairman Gary Rogers, was honored to induct Dr. Regis Kelly, Director of the Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, and Doug Shorenstein, Chairman and CEO of Shorenstein Properties LLC, into its Business Hall of Fame. Kelly has been instrumental in leading the transformation of Mission Bay in San Francisco from an old industrial area to the Silicon Valley of biotech. Through his leadership, science and research are being converted to new startup companies, hundreds of jobs and innovative products that promise to address some our most challenging health and medical issues. Shorenstein was honored for taking a regional and highly successful real estate development company established by his father, Walter Shorenstein, and building it into an even more successful national company that has created some of the nation’s most distinctive commercial properties and whose management and business strategy are emulated throughout the industry. And for his considerable charitable and philanthropic contributions throughout the region and nationally. Walter Shorenstein was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998.