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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Age Mixture Makes for Great Management Team at VEDC

Mix together three women whose average age is 28, with three men whose average age is, well, a considerably higher number, and what you get, according to Roberto Barragan, is “the best senior management team I’ve ever had.” Barragan, president of the Valley Economic Development Corporation, says the team brings together the best of all worlds, mixing energy, experience and heaps of intelligence from all sides. The group includes 30-year-olds Angela Stanislawski, director of lending and Julie Fonseca, economic development manager (who were both 40 Under 40 winners this year); Cynthia Ibarra, 28, director of business services; Warren Cooley, 67, vice president of operations; Rick Lamb, director of finance administration; and Barragan, 48. The three younger members of the team have a combined 24 years of tenure with the VEDC already. Each started with the agency as interns or just out of college. “Angela and Cynthia are CSUN graduates; Julie is a USC graduate and a Woodbury MBA grad,” said Barragan. The VEDC tries to bring people in early, he said, partly because the agency has a hard time competing for more experienced talent with for-profit businesses. “We’ll train them and maybe we’ll lose them in a couple of years to a bank, but in some cases they like what they’re doing,” said Barragan. “They like helping businesses that no one else can.” The elder statesman of the group, Warren Cooley, said that one thing that has helped to make the six a real team is a process that has included bringing in a CSUN management professor, Alan Glassman, to guide them through a series of meetings and workshops. As an example, Cooley pointed to a recent session discussing contrasting management styles. “He didn’t point me out specifically,” said Cooley with a chuckle, “but when ‘we’ went to school the only model of management you ever learned was a very bureaucratic model.” In other words, he explained, you had an organization chart with lines and boxes and every person is responsible for their own “box.” “Young people who have been to school in recent years are taught more of an entrepreneurial approach where everything’s not so logical, not so orderly, and that’s very exciting from my standpoint,” Cooley said. Colleague Cynthia Ibarra agreed, commenting, “It’s definitely a beneficial program we’re going through because we (the younger members of the team) get a better understanding of how the more ‘mature’ staff were taught about management.” Cooley said he’s put the new approaches he’s learned to good use recently in revising the VEDC’s strategic plan, something that takes place every two years. “Previously, Roberto would just redo the plan and submit it to the board,” said Cooley. “This time around, (he) asked me to head up redoing the strategic plan and I included from the outset all members of the executive team and then presented it at a mid-year retreat in January.” In addition to coming up with what may very well be a better plan, said Cooley, the even greater value of that process is that it has received better acceptance from staff at all levels. “Because the whole team participated in its creation, they buy into it and so it is more likely to be implemented and more likely to get results than the way it has historically been done.” Cooley said respectfulness goes a long way toward easing communication. “I’ve been here eight years, and I’ve never, I mean never, even heard of older people making comments about the younger people, or younger people making statements like “that’s an old way. I think age isn’t an issue; ethnicity isn’t an issue, and gender isn’t an issue.” That respect is earned, said Ibarra, who pointed out that even the newest member of the executive team, Julie Fonseca, has been involved with VEDC for at least five years. “Angela’s been here 10 years now, and I’ve been here eight (years), and Roberto and Warren have just as much history being in the organization,” she said. “Angela and I have also seen it all, from the intern level to administration so we know pretty much how it works from all levels.” Keeping such talented young individuals whose careers are in growth mode is something Barragan said he has worked hard to do. “I’ve consistently given them opportunities to grow, to build on their career and do something that they like,” he said. “They are managing people, managing programs and at times dealing with federal officials, elected officials, at levels that probably would not happen (in a for-profit environment) for someone at their age.” But perhaps their loyalty is also earned because they are clearly valued by the rest of the management team. “All three of them have just shown incredible leadership, creativity and focus on their work and the businesses that VEDC serves,” said Barragan.

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