Leon Panetta And George Shultz To Co-chair 2nd Annual California Economic Summit

LOS ANGELES, April 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- California Forward and the California Stewardship Network announced today that Leon Panetta and George Shultz will serve as honorary co-chairs of the 2013 California Economic Summit to be held on November 7-8 in Los Angeles. The Summit, held last May for the first time, is an unprecedented ongoing initiative directed by both groups aimed at bringing together regional business, civic and government leaders from across the Golden State to discuss key strategies to revitalize California's economy.

Both, Panetta and Shultz, are Californians who have a long history of working to improve the state's economy. Panetta recently stepped down as U.S. Defense Secretary in the Obama Administration and Shultz was Secretary of State under the Reagan Administration.

The Summit process has been underway in California for over a year and has identified seven signature initiatives that will help improve both job creation in California and the state's ability to compete in the global economy. Since the first state Summit meeting held in San Jose, Action Teams have been meeting regularly to advance progress on the initiatives, which include workforce preparation, infrastructure investment and regulatory reform.

Sixteen regional meetings are being held this spring across California. Four have already taken place in San Diego, San Luis Obispo, the Central Valley and the Inland Empire.  The next Regional Forum is scheduled for Ventura County on May 9. The regional forums will conclude with the Los Angeles Regional Forum on June 6. The forums are critical in identifying and generating priorities to develop key discussion items for consideration in the California Economic Summit in November.

In addition to Panetta and Shultz, many other prominent Californians are helping guide the process. Our Summit leadership this year includes Laura Tyson, S.K. and Angela Chan Chair in Global Management at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley; Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom; Michael Rossi, the Governor's Senior Advisor for Jobs and Development; Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin; Jessie J. Knight Jr., Chairman and CEO of San Diego Gas & Electric; Ashley Boren, executive director of Sustainable Conservation; and, Dave Regan, president of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West. 

About the California Economic Summit

The California Economic Summit (www.caeconomy.org) is an unprecedented effort to develop job creation and increase competitiveness in the state. The Summit is hosted annually by California Forward, a bipartisan government reform effort engaging regional leaders to improve performance and democracy (www.cafwd.org) and the California Stewardship Network, an alliance of regional partnerships promoting California's economic vitality (www.castewardship.org).  

Contact:
Jania Palacios, 520-404-7643 or Janeth Hernandez, 909-964-1414
[email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE California Economic Summit