Business & Professional Caucus MEETING
July 25th, from 5:30 until 7:30 PM 2020 Zoom EBoard
THE PROBLEM OF INEQUALITY AND HOW CAN WE FIX IT
The Purpose of the Business and Professional Caucus is to promote and encourage full participation by Business & Professionals to Protect and Create Greater Opportunity. By uniting as Democrats, we are strengthening our ability to identify and solve the many problems Small Business and Professions face. Our Caucus will work and fight together to end the Inequality that limits our potential. We struggle to compete against the monopolistic corporate structures that can threaten the promise of “opportunity for all” in America and we see to many people struggle in poverty and debt.
To join the Caucus or renew your dues click this link:
https://onlinecampaigntools.com/FormBuilder/ViewForm?key=v3OgtUdQThjhzNZ/YfwUPw==#[page=1]
AGENDA
5:30- Ray Bishop, BP Chair/Moderator– A Vietnam Veteran with a passion for a better world. Attended ELA College, CSUN, & UCLA. He was a bank officer and then a founding member of TELACU & CFO. His company has provided full business management to include accounting & tax services to his clients. He served as the CFO, Treasurer, and COO of ADVANCE, an economic development 501-C-3, an SBA Intermediary and director of the SBDC program at USC. He has served as the President & Chair and principal of many companies to include a General Hospital, Health Clinics, Film & Television Production, Importing Company, Licensed Commercial & Business Broker & Comedy Club Owner. He has worked as a consultant to Congressman Torres at the White House and in Congress. Served as a City Commissioner since Mayor Bradley and as an LA County Small Business Commissioner for twenty years. He Chairs the California Public Banking Initiative and serves on the board & legislative committee of LACDP.
*** A question and answer period will follow each presentation as time permits, focusing on Inequality and how we will work together to solve this problem. Other Special Guest may join the discussions.
5:40- Cecile Bendavid, BP Treasurer – has served as a Professor at California State University Northridge for 23 years, she has taught in the College of Business and Economics, Engineering and Computer Science, and Academic First Year Experience. She also teaches at Pierce College. Her company, Computer Resources Unlimited, is a full-service computer company. She serves on the CADEM EBoard and a member of the Legislative Committee. She is also the treasurer of the of the Computer and Internet Caucus of CDP.
5:50-Mark Henderson, BP Vice President South – CEO & President Henderson Technology and Management Group, LLC. Regional Manages Los Angeles Community College District technology services and advisor to college administration within the region. Representative on Southern California Association of Governments, Los Angeles County and Treasurer of the CDP African American Caucus
6:00- Miguel Santiago, Assembly Member AD53 – UCLA graduate, as a California Assemblyman he Chairs Communications and is a member of Health, Higher Education, Public Safety, and Utilities & Energy. He serves on the select committee on Housing Affordability, Homelessness, Student Debt, and Olympic & Paralympic Games. A former district director for Speaker John Perez and a former member of the Community College Board.
6:10- Ron Galperin- Elected Los Angeles Controller 2013 and 2017, he is the taxpayers’ watchdog at City Hall, making sure public dollars are spent efficiently and effectively. He is the elected paymaster, auditor and chief accounting officer for the City of Los Angeles and oversees a team that conducts independent audits, manages City payroll and spending, prepares financial reports, pursues fraud and waste, and works to create a more transparent and accountable city for everyone. He has researched and collected data on inequities especially in the business and public health arenas.
6:20- Maxine Waters, US Congress– Is considered by many to be one of the most powerful women in politics today. Her work has earned her the reputation of being an outspoken advocate for women, children, people of color and poor people. She attended college while working at Head Start, and in 1970 earned a sociology degree from CSULA. In 1973, she went to work as chief deputy to LA city council member David Cunningham and then served in the California State Assembly for 14 years. She authored numerous pieces of legislation including: a law requiring state agencies to award a percentage of public contracts to minorities and women; tenants’ rights laws; a law restricting police efforts to use strip searches; and the largest divestment of state pension funds from businesses involved in South Africa.
Since 1990, Waters has served in Congress and now the 35th District, representing South Central Los Angeles, Inglewood, Gardena, and Hawthorne, and won eighty-three percent of the votes. Waters continues to represent the 35th District and has been active on several issues including affirmative action, community development, women’s health, and welfare reform. Waters focused attention on the plight of inner-city communities as well as the allegations of CIA involvement in Contra cocaine drug trafficking in South Central Los Angeles in the mid-1980s.
6:30- Mark Pash- CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™/Author – a professional and member of the Financial Planning Association. Serving clients at Pash & Benson International from his office in Encino over the past forty-eight years. He received his Bachelors and Masters Degrees from UCLA and USC. After serving as an officer in the Army he formed his extraordinarily successful company and he was listed as one of the top financial planners in the nation. He founded and served as an officer in many financial organizations to include The Public Banking Initiative of California. As an economist his practical and theoretical knowledge of macroeconomics has led him to write and publish several books, his first “Economic theory of Relativity” and latest “Creating a 21st Century Win-Win Economy”. He has been a livelong Democratic activist.
6:40- Mary Stone Ross – an expert in consumer privacy and how trade secrets or personal information can be compromised and lead to greater inequality. As president of Californians for Consumer Privacy, she coauthored the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) which led to passage AB 375, the most comprehensive consumer privacy law in the United States and was the founder of MSR Strategies and founder and CEO of an EdTech startup. She has served in high-level government roles in security and intelligence including as Counsel to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence at the U.S. House of Representatives, at the Central Intelligence Agency, and at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She received her J.D. from the University of Virginia and her B.A. from Yale University. She is a member of the New York State Bar and was appointed to the California Lawyers Association Executive Committee for Antitrust, UCL, and Privacy.
6:50 – Robert (Rocky) Lipkowitz– Founding Member of App for Equality, invented the first operational quantum entangled switch that is the revolutionary precursor igniting today quantum computer revolution. Doctor of Pharmacy. Worked with United States Intelligence Service for thirty years.
7:00-7:10 Special Invited Guests- Member/Panel Discussion
7:20- Rusty Hicks, Closing Remarks – CDP Chair has served as an elected labor leader and now elected to Chair the California Democratic Party. Dedicated to ending deep-seeded racism and brutality towards persons who suffer from inequality and to bring sensible leadership to our Country. Black Lives Matter.