Board Elections Held at the Encino Chamber of Commerce

Nov. 16, 2011 - PRLog -- On Tuesday, November 15th, the Encino Chamber of Commerce held elections for the 2012 board of directors. The election was held at the monthly general membership meeting, the Business and Professional Development Lunch, at the Monterey at Encino. The lunch was sponsored by Melissa Loeffler, 2010 President of the Encino Chamber.

The Encino Chamber of Commerce elected a board of directors and an executive board for 2012, in addition to a president for 2013. Mr. Gonzalo Marquez, of Providence Tarzana Medical Center, had been elected in 2010 as the 2012 President, and served as President-elect this year under 2011 President Mr. Keven Steinberg of Fink and Steinberg Law Offices. Mr. Steinberg added, “Once again, the Encino Chamber of Commerce was presented with an extremely qualified slate of nominees, each of whom are well respected in our Community and have made a significant positive impact not only upon the Encino Chamber of Commerce, but also to Encino.”

The members elected current Vice President, Mr. Vahid Khorsand of BWS Financial, Inc., as the 2013 President. Mr. Khorsand has served on the board of directors since 2008.

Members also elected the following to the 2012 Executive Board: Vice Presidents- Hank Yuloff (Promotionally Minded Ad Specialties), Karie Purcell (KSA Management), Atoosa Ring (Ring and Associates); Secretary- Mark Levinson (Law Offices of Mark Levinson); CFO- Rickey Gelb (Gelb Group); Controller- Joel Simon (Alperstein, Simon, Farkas, Gillin & Scott, LLP), Immediate Past-President- Keven Steinberg.

The following were elected to the Board of Directors:
Brian Dahl (Syndicate Salon), Stanley Goldenberg (West-Val Pharmacy), Darren Hasson (WHINS), Leon Woods (Grandpoint Bank), Harvey Branman (Kagan Water), Susan DuBrin (West Valley Partners), Roman Kniter (Encino Smile Design), Doris Spearman (Principal Financial Group), Judy Hamilton-Cantu (One Generation), Jamshid Javidi (CEO Computers), Melody LeBlanc (Orthodontist office of Dr. Stephen Yu), Lou Woolf (Rodeo Realty), and Melissa Loefller (RPM Mortgage).

The 2012 Board of Directors, led by Mr. Marquez, will take office effective January 1, 2012. However, the Installation Gala will be held on March 3rd. At which time, the Encino Chamber of Commerce will also honor Encino resident Mr. Pouria Abbassi (General Manager of the Los Angeles Convention Center) as Business Person of the Year and Sister Colleen Settles (Providence Health & Services) as Special Honoree of the Year.

Ms. Diana Donovan, Chief Executive of the Encino Chamber of Commerce, is looking forward to working with the sixth President in her tenure as CEO.  Ms. Donovan said, “Gonzalo has some big shoes to fill as Keven did a great job making new members feel welcome and motivating the membership to be more involved.  I'm looking forward to another great year for the Encino Chamber.”

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The Encino Chamber of Commerce, the Valley’s Premier Business Community and the most influential chamber of commerce in the San Fernando Valley, recently was honored by the City of Los Angeles for its 75 years of success. The mission of the Encino Chamber of Commerce is to perpetuate the appropriate growth, prosperity and integrity of the business community.
The Encino Chamber of Commerce forges strong ties between the businesses and the community to make the area a better place to live, work and play.
Additionally, with programs like the Valley Discount Card and Member to Member discounts, the Encino Chamber promotes local businesses through shopping local.
The Encino Chamber has the longest running street fair, the Taste of Encino, in the San Fernando Valley. The Encino Chamber is also well regarded for its Senior Directory, Disaster Preparedness efforts, business advocacy, networking, and notable elected officials as guest speakers at the monthly lunch and other various events.