North Bay Business Journal

FAIRFIELD — Solano County is enjoying a resurgence in jobs and taxable sales, but high home foreclosure rates and indications of job importation are among regional improvements needed for the local economy fully to rebound, an economist said Thursday.

FAIRFIELD — Solano County’s economic vital signs are mixed, but the prognosis is encouraging, according to a new government report.

ROHNERT PARK — In his annual economic forecast at the Sonoma State University Economic Outlook Conference, Dr. Robert Eyler, director of the university’s Center for Regional Economic Analysis, said that the six North Bay counties of Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Mendocino and Lake could expect “broad growth” across various sectors through 2014.

ROHNERT PARK — Opening the 2013 Economic Outlook Conference at Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center on Wednesday, Sandy Weill, former chairman and top executive of Citigroup and a major donor to the project, pointed to the upper seats of the concert hall that his contributions had helped to complete.

The recently completed, $150-million Green Music Center at Sonoma State University, that will play host to the North Bay Business Journal’s annual Economic Outlook Conference on Feb. 27. For 2013, the conference is titled Game Changers: Innovations and Leaders Transforming the North Bay Economy.

SONOMA COUNTY — Boosted by wine, tourism and a growing medical device sector, Sonoma County’s economy enters 2013 with “new positive momentum” and is expected to outpace the state and national averages for job growth next year, according to a quarterly economic report prepared by the Sonoma County Economic Development Board.

FAIRFIELD — The five privately operated hospitals in Solano County make up more than 11 percent of the local economy, making health care a key driver that could be even more important in the future, according to a new study that details the economic impact of Solano County’s hospitals.

NORTH BAY — Each of the 6,170 full-time-equivalent jobs in food and non-wine beverage manufacturing in the North Bay helps to sustain an average of more than one-and-a-half additional jobs in other industries, making it one of the most economically stimulating sectors in the region.

The finding — along with other detailed analysis of the sector’s regional presence and impact — was described in a new report by Dr. Robert Eyler, chair of the economics department at Sonoma State University and director of the school’s Center for Regional Economic Analysis.

Regional leaders in business and economics said that a continued synergy among industries and policymakers in Solano County will be crucial to maintaining its diversity of industries and continued growth.

Speaking in advance of North Bay Business Journal’s second-annual Impact Solano conference on Sept. 26 in Fairfield, Sandy Person, president of Solano Economic Development Corporation, and other conference speakers said the county’s economy continues to evolve and encourage opportunities for growth while responding to a changed landscape following the worst periods of the economic recession.

To explore the issues affecting the various industries in Solano County, the North Bay Business Journal will hold its annual conference, Impact Solano, on Sept. 26.

Employers throughout the North Bay continue to rely on contingency workers, the result of a slowly rebounding economy that requires increased staffs but still has many companies reluctant to fully pull the trigger on hiring, employment experts said.

Marin County has learned some hard lessons about economic development, but we still have a long way to go. A step in the right direction is a new advisory group being convened to review planning processes and how the county interacts with Marin’s businesses and residents. This group was conceived by the county as a result of the Grady Ranch failure and years of contention between planners, applicants and Marin residents.

SAN RAFAEL – Members of the San Rafael business community are anticipating a windfall from the inaugural season of the San Rafael Pacifics, an independent professional minor league baseball team that will play its first game at the city’s 900-seat Albert Park today.

ROHNERT PARK — Entrepreneurs and all that support them take note. The iHub and Sonoma State University are putting on a new event to showcase startups, both existing and potential.

Marin County as a place to do business took a huge step backwards on April 10, 2012. On April 10, Skywalker Properties decided not to continue the pursuit of its Grady Ranch project. Not only did a major project with great potential economic benefit for the County get derailed and ultimately canceled, an influential landowner trying to generate business on his land was thwarted unnecessarily. Marin County supervisors are now trying to broker a solution as one leadership step forward; Marin Economic Forum has asked our state legislators to step in as well.

NORTH BAY — Employers in Sonoma County are more confident about the prospect of hiring in the second quarter compared to last year, with 13 percent saying they expected to increase staffing levels, according to a quarterly survey by ManpowerGroup, an international staffing firm with a Santa Rosa location. And overall in the North Bay, employers are generally more confident about the economy than they have been, suggesting that a slow but steady economic recovery is wending its way through region, employment experts said.

ROHNERT PARK – Marin and Napa counties are on track to be the “shining stars” of economic recovery in the six-county North Bay Area in 2012, though the enduring caution of commercial lenders and other pressures will likely keep growth modest across the entire region this year, according to regional economics expert Dr. Robert Eyler.

NORTH BAY — Dr. Robert Eyler is director and founder of the executive MBA program and the Center for Regional Economic Analysis at Sonoma State University, where he has taught economics and has served as the economics department chair. A Frank Howard Allen research fellow in economics, Dr. Eyler is frequently asked to offer his analysis to business groups in the North Bay. He helped found the Marin Economic Forum and currently serves as its interim CEO and chief economist.

The annual Sonoma State University Economic Outlook Conference Feb. 23, which for nearly two decades has been one of the benchmark events in the North Bay, will include a unique combination of high-level presentations from one of the region’s leading economists, the founder of the area’s private natural foods producer and a top state budget official.

ROHNERT PARK – As the third cohort of Sonoma State University’s executive MBA kicked off last week, faculty said that they are confident that the nearly 2-year-old program is advancing their goal of becoming a hub for North Bay professionals who are seeking to obtain the degree locally.