Steven Rose , Culver City Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, announced his retirement during the chamber’s June Board of Directors meeting. Rose has been with the chamber since 1987 and plans on staying until his replacement can be found.
During the meeting Rose stated that he appreciated the “great opportunity to serve the business community of Culver City in making Culver City a destination for business, customers and more importantly the entire community of Culver City.”
Rose was especially pleased that the chamber worked so hard to help Culver City become a thriving community during his tenure. This included supporting SONY’s development plan, revitalizing a mall into Westfield Culver City, and improving Culver City Unified School District schools through bonds and parcel taxes.
Martin Feinberg, Culver City Realtor, agrees that the Culver City Real Estate area benefited from Rose’s stint as Chamber president.
Rose said, “I am proud to have led this chamber during a time when we focused not just on the success of Culver City businesses but on the success of our entire community. I don’t think every chamber does that, but I have always encouraged the chamber to look at the big picture because a successful community means successful businesses, even if some of our positions weren’t always popular.”
One such unpopular position was when the Chamber supported a local sales tax increase in 2012. While businesses were not in support of increased taxes, Rose and the chamber believed it was important to find a way to keep the city financially healthy without cutting jobs or programs.
Steven Rose was also instrumental in helping the Chamber stay relevant by making the newsletter electronic and getting it onto social media.
Paul Goldstein, Chair of the Board, stated, “We want to thank Steve for his three decades of service to the Culver City business community and recognize the countless hours he has spent advocating for the best interests of our community. Steve’s contributions and knowledge of business in Culver City are unparalleled, but we will begin the search for his replacement immediately. The Culver City Chamber will be using its Budget Committee as a ‘Search Committee’ to select a new president. Our search will be done through Western Association of Chamber Executives (WACE) as well as using a variety of job search sites, and it is our expectation to have a candidate identified within in 90 days.”
Martin Feinberg, Realtor, is grateful for Rose’s service to the Culver City community, and wishes him success in the future.
