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Aiming to reinforce Pleasanton’s reputation as “The Destination for Successful Innovation”, the Chamber of Commerce and city government joined to honor four local companies as Pleasanton’s 2023 Economic Drivers.
The awards, which recognized the recipients for “achieving advancements in their industry and making significant contributions locally and globally,” were handed out at a luncheon ceremony on Nov. 15 in Casa Real at Ruby Hill Winery that also featured a panel discussion with company representatives.
The four companies — Blume Global, Cowbell, Vector Atomic and ZF — stand out for their efforts to “develop and deliver products and services that address essential needs,” Pleasanton City Councilmember Valerie Arkin said in a press release from the chamber after the event.
“They generate a significant fiscal benefit in Pleasanton through the revenues they generate, the residents they employ, and the value they bring to the marketplace,” Arkin added. “Our business community is known for its strength and diversity in which company leaders find as an excellent environment to start, expand and sustain a business.”
Headquartered on Stoneridge Drive, Blume Global is a supply chain and logistics consultant company that leverages a range of digital platforms and services to provide logistics solutions to businesses across the world.
“We started here in 2018 with about 12 people. Now, we’re up to 70 with another 20 coming soon. We’ve been growing in the community and have a great partnership with Pleasanton,” Blume Global chief technology officer Mark Pluta said in the chamber press release.
Logistical solutions are vital for smooth operations within so many industries. It’s certainly a concept we are very familiar with in our household, as the “international supply chain” is the professional ocean navigated every day by my wife (who celebrates another trip around the sun this Friday, by the way; happy birthday babe).
Also front-of-mind for many businesses, especially the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is cyber risk. Cowbell Cyber Inc., with offices on Koll Center Parkway, provides cyber insurance coverage for SMEs.
Julie Longmire, Cowbell’s director of product marketing, said the company is “so grateful” to be part of the Pleasanton community. “Personally, I grew up in Pleasanton, I work in Pleasanton, I live in Pleasanton. It’s really important to me to be part of an organization that is part of such a great community,” she said.
Experts in clocks, sensors and synchronization hardware by “harnessing the extreme stability of atoms,” Vector Atomic on Stoneridge Drive is making major progress 5-1/2 years into operations in part because of the benefits of being in Pleasanton, according to co-founder and CEO Jamil Abo-Shaeer.
“It’s really a great place to start a business — great workforce, great place to raise a family. We started from fairly humble beginnings so to be recognized as an economic driver is pretty wild,” Abo-Shaeer said.
The final 2023 Economic Driver is ZF, a longstanding international company that focuses on technological systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and industrial operations that opened its West Coast Mobility Hub on Koll Center Parkway not long ago.
“We’re a 100-year-old company and we recently established ourselves in Pleasanton about two years ago. From a small group of two people starting out, now we’re growing at a fast clip to 20 people and still growing. We’ve had a lovely welcome,” said Tansen Panesar, business development manager for ZF.
The award program connects to the shared goal of the chamber and the city to support and highlight those in Pleasanton’s business community, officials said. Following the ceremony, representatives of the four companies joined moderator Yolanda Fintschenko, executive director, i-GATE Innovation Hub and Daybreak Labs, for a panel discussion on emerging technology and artificial intelligence.
“We are so honored that you’ve chosen Pleasanton as your place of business and the home for your enterprises,” said Jill Buck, chair of the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. “What a great privilege it was to get some of your knowledge and perspective on what makes this area a good place to do business and we hope to share that opportunity with you as the years go by.”
Arkin added, “Your success is part of our success. We celebrate you and wish you many more years of prosperity in our city.”
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the editorial director for the Embarcadero Media East Bay Division. His “What a Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly.