José Corona
As Chief Executive Officer, Jose leads the ICA team by providing strategic leadership, management and direction. Since joining the organization in 2004, Jose has led ICA in helping local entrepreneurs achieve success by assembling an unparalleled network of the Bay Area’s foremost business leaders, and is often sought out for his ability to understand inner city business trends. Over a seven year period, Jose has overseen $8,253,600 of total pro bono investments into the ICA mission. In 2012, these combined investments supported the creation and retention of 2,602 good jobs, the generation of $93M in wealth created for local residents, and $57M in total revenues under active management. Furthermore, he is focused on ensuring that the model serves those that need help the most. To that end, 73% of ICA companies now hire workers with barriers to employment, 59% of ICA companies are owned by women, and 48% are owned by people of color.
Having worked in business and community development for over a decade, Jose is passionate about entrepreneurship. Raised by a family of successful farming entrepreneurs, Jose understands by way of practical experience how growing businesses have the power to transform communities. Jose has championed good job creation efforts with a comprehensive series of community and economic development programs and partnerships. The centerpiece of Corona’s efforts has been the creation of strong and vibrant public-private partnerships with an emphasis on a shared commitment to ensure the presence of sustainable, responsible companies that provide good jobs, reinvest in the community, and contribute to the local economy.
Jose’s primary emphasis has been placed on strong and innovative management, the cultivation of a strong network of high caliber consultants and advisors, and on promoting a fundamental change in the way communities invest into local economic development and revitalization. This formula has led to ICA reliably delivering high caliber pro bono business consulting, strategic advice, practical entrepreneurial education and smart capital to high-impact entrepreneurs. In 2013, Jose’s commitment to and track record in the development of businesses and community garnered him a place in the 40-under-40 list of Bay Area young business leaders published by the San Francisco Business Times.
Prior to ICA, Jose served as development director at Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), a San Francisco-based non-profit organization that provides business technical assistance and neighborhood planning services to mostly Latino-owned small businesses. Before working in the non-profit sector, Jose also worked in Corporate Retail Operations and Human Resources at Macy’s, Inc.
Jose sits on various boards. He is a founding director and secretary of the Board of ICA’s affiliate investment fund, Fund Good Jobs, Inc, which he helped launch in 2013. He also serves as vice chairman the Board of Directors of the YMCA of The East Bay and serves on the Selection Advisory Board of The GreenLight Fund. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from UC Davis, and Entrepreneur Management Development Certification from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
When he is not busy doing community development work, you will find him coaching and playing soccer and learning to be a father to his 3-year-old son, Mateo Vincent Corona.
Nikki Fortunato Bas
Executive Director, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE)
Since 2006, Nikki Fortunato Bas has led EBASE by developing its current strategic plan and keeping it focused on winning good jobs & healthy communities. EBASE unifies communities, faith, and labor to stand with low-income workers and families. It has improved the lives of over 20,000 East Bay workers by winning living-wage policies and community benefit agreements and supporting workers in gaining a voice on the job. Nikki came to EBASE after many years of working with garment workers to pass a landmark sweatshop reform law in California and win millions of dollars in back wages from major corporations. She chairs the boards of the national Partnership for Working Families and Oakland Rising.
Angela Glover Blackwell
Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, started PolicyLink in 1999 and continues to drive its mission of advancing economic and social equity. Under Blackwell’s leadership, PolicyLink has become a leading voice in the movement to use public policy to improve access and opportunity for all low-income people and communities of color, particularly in the areas of health, housing, transportation, education, and infrastructure.
Erik Moore
Founder and Managing Partner, Base Ventures
Erik Moore is a passionate angel investor, entrepreneur, creative thinker, and an unabashed optimist. After a 15-year career in investment banking, Erik retired from Merrill Lynch and began pursuing his passion for entrepreneurship. He co-founded FlickLaunch.com, a new digital streaming platform on Facebook for feature-length movies. Erik then formed Base Ventures, an investment company, from a love for investing in trailblazing tech start-ups. During the past 12 years, Erik has invested in almost two dozen trailblazing start-ups, including Zappos.com which was sold to Amazon for $1.2b. Erik is deeply involved in his community. He currently serves as a board member for the East Bay College Fund whose mission is to help resilient youth from Oakland go to college. Erik was also a board member for Oakland's OK (Our Kids) program which facilitated a partnership between the police, schools, and the community to help prevent kids from entering the juvenile system. He co-founded an organization, Concentric Circles, that provides informal mentoring and teaches the principles of yoga to youth currently in the juvenile system and those recently released from juvenile hall. Erik earned a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School and an M.A. in International Studies-French from the Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jason Young
Co-Founder, Hidden Genius Project
Jason Young is co-founder of the Hidden Genius Project (THGP), an Oakland-based nonprofit that provides black male youths with the knowledge, skills, mentors, and experiences to obtain and create technological jobs in this new, global, 21st century economy. Jason is also the founder and CEO of Mindblown Labs, an education technology company that creates highly engaging, mobile social games to help teens and young adults develop financial literacy and other 21st century skills. Jason is an entrepreneur at heart. He started his first business when he was nine and three others prior to college, including a tutoring company and travel agency. He was part of the founding team of Wikinvest and worked in Finance at Merrill Lynch. Jason graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Harvard University.
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