True to our roots: Building a Marin business

At the recent 2015 Impact Marin Conference in San Rafael, four Marin-based businesses spoke about their Marin County roots and the opportunities and challenges of growing their business in the county. Like Bank of Marin, they are committed to strengthening the local economy in Marin. Like all of us, they appreciate the county’s stunning natural beauty and the potential lure it provides to prospective employees.

The insights from the panelists were in line with broader issues felt by many businesses in the county, including lack of public transportation, increased traffic, lack of affordable housing, the high cost of real estate, and limited commercial office space.

Two companies represented on the panel are Bank of Marin customers, EO Products and Rustic Bakery, and both are experiencing rapid growth. The other two businesses on the panel, BioMarin and Glassdoor, are in a growth mode and they spoke of their commitment to Marin.

Carol LeValley, founder and president of Rustic Bakery, has three (soon to be four) Marin locations. She owes her initial success to the supportive local artisan food community, especially Cow Girl Creamery, also founded in Marin. LeValley says the best part of doing business in Marin is interacting with her customers. I tend to agree with her, as our Bank of Marin customers are what inspire us every day.

As for the wholesale side of her business, LeValley first looked to expand production in Marin, but ultimately found an affordable commercial space in Petaluma with pre-existing infrastructure. We have experienced this trend among Bank of Marin customers who decide to migrate to Petaluma for more space and affordable rent.

Steve Fox, the chief financial officer of EO Products, is adamant about ‘putting people and planet before profit.’ He claims they have experienced significant challenges due to their fast growth, including the need for more manufacturing space, but he is most concerned about the county’s natural resources. (Seventy percent of their natural personal care products are composed of water.) Fox lamented the lack of affordable housing and commute traffic in Marin as an issue for many Marin based businesses trying to attract and retain employees from Sonoma and the East Bay.

Robert Baffi, executive vice president of technical operations for BioMarin, spoke of their growing 1,200-person workforce at their San Rafael and Novato facilities. After outgrowing their space in Bel Marin Keys, Baffi claims they looked at the East and South Bay to expand, but ultimately decided they preferred the continuity of staying in the community, especially with the SMART train coming soon. Plus, commercial space is actually cheaper for a biotech company in Marin compared to the Peninsula. They are now in the process of building out their research facility at the San Rafael Corporate Center, which can accommodate 300 more people. The next challenge will be recruiting employees to the North Bay, given competition with the biotech hubs of South San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

Mariah DeLeon, vice president, people, at Glassdoor in Sausalito faces this recruiting challenge every day in her efforts to attract tech talent to Marin. She sees the lack of public transportation as a main detractor in filling job openings, as tech workers live primarily in San Francisco and the South Bay. Her challenge to other local companies is to come up with creative commute alternatives such as private, company buses.

The Bay Area’s economy is one of the strongest in the nation and even the world. In the past year, the Bay Area created 30 percent of the state’s jobs. Additional studies have shown San Francisco is the second fastest-growing large county in the U.S. as measured by private sector employment.

With all of this opportunity right here in our backyard, we have to do more to help businesses thrive in Marin.

I am impressed with each of these companies which spoke at Impact Marin. All are great examples of how businesses can succeed in Marin. Of course, they can’t do it alone. We need to do everything we can to attract and retain these employers. A thriving workforce will make our community stronger and an even better place to live and work. We look forward to building and promoting this county as a great place to do business.

Russell Colombo is president and CEO of Novato-based Bank of Marin.