 California Congresswoman Grace Napolitano addressed the 175 attendees who gathered at Hotchkis Performance last week for this year's final SEMA Town Hall Meeting. |
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SEMA members gathered Wednesday, June 13, at Hotchkis Performance in Santa Fe Springs, California, for the recent SEMA Town Hall meeting. With 175 attendees, the Southern California Town Hall was by far the largest meeting to date.
In attendance were several SEMA Board, SEMA Hall of Fame and SEMA members and non-members from manufacturing, retail, distribution, education and service providers.
The panelists addressed questions on topics, such as key legislation, challenges for retail “brick-and-mortar” businesses and benefits of joining a SEMA council to promote your company.
The meeting was kicked off by special guest, Congresswoman Grace Napolitano. She represents the 38th District of California in the U.S. House of Representatives, which includes southeast Los Angeles County and the cities of Norwalk, Pomona and Santa Fe Springs. Napolitano is a strong advocate for America’s industrial base, having created a “Manufacturing Task Force” in her home district to identify strategies that will foster more manufacturing jobs and create a positive climate for manufacturing retention and growth.
SEMA’s President and CEO Chris Kersting was the evening’s emcee and moderator for a panel discussion about the specialty-equipment industry. The panel was comprised of industry leaders Scooter Brothers, SEMA Board of Directors chairman and the COO and director of R&D for COMP Performance Group; Nate Shelton, SEMA Board of Directors chair-elect and chief marketing officer of B&M Automotive Group; John Hotchkis, SEMA Board member and president of Hotchkis Performance; and Tracie Nuñez, Street Performance Council Select Committee member and the CEO of Advanced Clutch Technology.
Visit the SEMA Facebook page to view a photo gallery from the latest Town Hall meeting at Hotchkis Performance.
The 2013 SEMA Town Hall meeting schedule will be announced in early 2013. Visit www.SEMA.org/townhall for meeting information and updates.