At its June Awards Breakfast, hosted by Related Companies’ Ellore senior apartments, Santa Clara’s Chamber of Commerce debuted a new name: Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. The name reflects the business organization’s increasingly regional mission.
“More and more, international delegations and regional businesses come to us,” said Chamber CEO Harbir Bhatia. “So it’s just easier and more aligned with our mission. We’re the only chamber of commerce for the South Bay and continue to be the home of the Santa Clara Business Council.
“We did a lot of partnerships with local and international chambers and embassies,” Bhatia continued. “We’ve held a lot of multiple events, concerts and economic roundtables. We have a foundation. Our goal is economic development and creating a resilient and future-ready workforce.”
Small business was the focus of featured speaker, Fiona Ma, California State Treasurer. After years working for Ernst & Young (formerly Ernst & Whinney), Ma started her own accounting practice and joined a small business association.
“At the age of 28 years old, someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, if you want to get clients early, you should be president. We’re not going to pay you, and it’s not going to be that much work,” said Ma. “Well, we all know what that means. That job became more than a full-time job, but that’s when I started to understand how important government is.”
“Many of our ancestors, our parents, grandparents, came to this country with degrees,” Ma continued, “but when they got here, they really couldn’t practice, and so what do they do? They opened up a small business. That’s where I got very engaged, just helping small businesses with their taxes, with their compliance. And to this day — this is my fourth elected position — and small businesses is still my top priority [because] so many of us came here seeking the American dream.
“I give small business resource fairs talking about programs, grants, loans and bonds that are available for small businesses,” Ma continued. “We have a climate tech finance program to support earlier access to financing for climate and clean tech entrepreneurs. We also have venture capital access programs, VC funds, as well as funding directly to startups. These are to support investing in underrepresented entrepreneurs and business owners in certain geographic areas, and focused on climate equity and climate justice.”
The meeting concluded with Women of Impact awards, with the awards presented by Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor, acknowledging the achievements and leadership of women in serving the community. Honorees included Ana Vargas-Smith, Mary Grizzle, Joan Escovar, Wendy Roberts, Diana Ding, Misha Homara, Ruby & Prianka, Zubia Admad, Franchesca Lacanlale, Elnaz Masoom and Ari Mirabedi.
The 2025-2026 Board of Directors were also installed at the breakfast: Chair Franchesca Lancanlale, Past Chair 24-25 Joe Siencinski, Vice Chair Arman Eghbali, Treasurer Savinder Singh, Secretary Ravinder Lal, Past Chair Masoom, and Directors Anand Aleka, Ding, Grizzle, Homara, Kawser Jamal, Mike Wallace, Doron Noyman, Michelle Tansey, Vargas-Smith and Alice Village.
The event concluded with a champagne toast to the award winners.
You can find California’s small business programs at www.treasurer.ca.gov.
Related Posts:
Winning Connections: Sports and Local Business
Annual Mayors’ Breakfast Deals with Affordable Housing Issues
Santa Clara’s Harbir Bhatia Receives World Peace and Understanding Award
Whom? Social gloom which full bloom, looming over housing policies. Related LLC. actually cares about urban planning, opposite friends of gentrification entangled. Web of BOMA,CAA,NAIOP and Small Pro-Silicon Valley all buddies of Lisa Gillmor! What to endure high taxes dismal percentage of “affordability: we voted for change. Not inflated profits of REITS and LLC. Mayor Gillmor!