Marlene Soiland and Daniel Sohn from the Sonoma County Alliance
Our speakers for April 21, 2022, were Marlene Soiland and Daniel Sohn on behalf of the Sonoma County Alliance. Marlene is the President and owner of Soiland Management Co., Inc. and is on the board of Soiland Co., Inc. She is also a two-time President of the SCA, most recently from June 2020 through December 2021. Daniel has been the CEO of the SCA since March 2022. He has a long history of public service and public-facing positions, including Chief Executive Office for the Imperial Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, City Council member for the Haverhill, Florida Town Council, and Chief of Staff for several prominent Florida legislators. He was appointed by President Biden to serve as a Local Board Member representing the State of California on the national Selective Service System.
The SCA is a coalition of individuals, businesses, trade, agriculture, and labor organizations who share a mutual desire to pool their talents together to make a tangible investment in the present and future welfare of Sonoma County. Its mission is to help influence a strong business economy as the foundation of a healthy Sonoma County. Despite its long history as a leader in Sonoma County, the SCA ran into trouble in June 2020, at the start of the Black Lives Matter protests, when its then-President wrote a letter urging people not to come to Sonoma County to break windows and arguing that “all lives matter.” This statement generated a public backlash against the SCA and the subsequent resignation of many influential public and private members and of the SCA’s president and board. The SCA asked Marlene to return as president and address any systemic problems.
The SCA has now established a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEI) and a taskforce to look at the organization’s structure. The challenge for the SCA is how to attract a more diverse leadership group. The DEI Committee’s mandate is to promote an atmosphere open to all Sonoma County businesses, community members, and non-profits in an effort to reinforce its effectiveness and meaningfulness as an organization that supports Sonoma County’s economy, environment, and community. SCA is also in the midst of other important initiatives, including a grants program for small businesses and an environmental committee that seeks to look at climate change in a new way. The committee’s goal is to understand the science of climate change and educate its members, including the exploration of linkages to current issues such as wildfire and drought, the atmospheric river phenomena, and coastal flooding.
Daniel Cohn noted that the SCA is not a Chamber of Commerce, since it is not primarily an effort to drive members’ profits; instead, it seeks to promote a strong business economy. The SCA also works for the enactment of pro-business local ordinances. SCA also works closely with the Farm Bureau and the Fire Prevention Taskforce to help understand and alleviate problems caused by the increasing threat of wildfires.
Many thanks to Marlene and Daniel for helping us understand the SCA! We hope the SCA can continue its efforts to diversify its own membership and its support for the Sonoma County economy.
Click HERE to view Marlene and Daniel's presentation.
