10:45am - 11:30am - Inside Access Session 1: Policy & Political Landscape

• Jennifer Barrera – CalChamber President & CEO

• Tim Murphy, President & CEO, North State Building Industry Association
• Chris Thornberg, Founding Partner, Beacon Economics

*Moderated by: Mark Smith, Owner, Smith Policy Group

1:00pm - 1:45pm - Inside Access Session 2: The New Sports and Recreational Tourism Landscape - The merging of economics, quality of life and technology

• Kim Summers, CEO, Placer Valley Tourism

• Jill Geller, Director of Parks, Recreation, & Libraries, City of Roseville

• Tony Karwowski, CEO, North Tahoe Community Alliance

*Moderated by: Rob Haswell, CEO, Visit Placer

10:45am - 11:30am - Inside Access Session 1: Development & Growth in Placer County

• Clifton Taylor, President, Taylor Builders 

• Kevin Ramos, Chief Investment Officer, Buzz Oates 

• Abbie Wertheim, Development Manager, Panattoni

*Moderated by: Cherri Spriggs, CEO, Meraki Public Affairs

1:00pm - 1:45pm - Inside Access Session 2: Healthcare Expansion & Innovation

• Kim Menzel, Senior Vice President & Area Manager, Kaiser Permanente Roseville

• Tamara Powers, CEO, Sutter Roseville Medical Center

• Angie Simmons, Director of Business Development, Mercy San Juan Dignity Health

• Ronald Amodeo, Chief Strategy Officer, UC Davis Health

*Moderated by: Daniel Chatigny, CEO, Placer County

10:45 - 11:30am - Inside Access Session 1: AI for Personal & Business Growth - Top Tools & Systems for Success

• Elizabeth Edwards – Volume PR and Engagement Science Lab

1:00pm - 1:45pm - Inside Access Session 2: Bridging the Gap - Aligning Education with Workforce Needs

• Dr. Vajra M. Watson, Senior Vice President, Sacramento State Placer Campus

• Willy Duncan, President, Sierra College

• Dr. Phil Escamilla, Chief Academic Officer, Jessup University

*Moderated by: Gloria Stearns, Economic Development Director, Placer County

Inside Access Sponsor: 

11:30am - 12:30pm - Chris Thornberg - Economic Update

 Dr. Christopher Thornberg has been called many things throughout his career, but his favorite thing to be called is correct. He founded Beacon Economics in 2006 and the firm quickly made a name for itself as the only major forecast on the West Coast to correctly predict the collapse of the sub-prime real estate bubble and the global recession that followed.

More correct calls followed, including predicting the rapid V shaped recovery from the pandemic and the subsequent surge in inflation. Under Dr. Thornberg’s leadership, Beacon Economics has become one of the most respected research organizations in California producing economic forecasts, impact analyses, policy studies, and regional economic analysis for private industry, public agencies, and nonprofits.

With a career rooted in academia, Dr. Thornberg holds a Ph.D. in Business Economics from the Anderson School at UCLA, where he later taught in the MBA program and served as a senior economist with the Anderson Forecast.

As a thought-leader and dynamic public speaker, Dr. Thornberg speaks in front of tens of thousands of people every year, urging audiences to ask the right economic questions before accepting pervasive social and political narratives. 

12:30am - 1:00pm - Thorsten Scheer, BOSCH

Since September 2023, Thorsten Scheer is Plant Manager of the Bosch semiconductor fab in Roseville, California, Managing Director of Robert Bosch Semiconductor LLC, as well as Regional President North America in the Automotive Electronics division.

In this role he is integrating the Roseville site into Bosch's international semiconductor manufacturing network while managing the conversion of the plant into a production facility for silicon carbide chips. Thorsten Scheer builds on his broad experience in various leadership positions for Bosch in Germany, Hungary, and the U.S., with a strong focus on post-merger integration and his ten years of expertise in sensor technology. Thorsten Scheer is a physicist and holds a PhD in economics.

2:15pm - 3:00pm - Hunter Pence