Region Rising announces king-size speaker; unveils event schedule
Sacramento Kings Owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadivé joins urban theorist Richard Florida and top national ag leader Glenda Humiston in speaker line-up
SACRAMENTO, CA —Valley Vision and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), the joint producers of a new collaborative conference, announced today that Sacramento Kings Owner and Chairman, and Silicon Valley legend Vivek Ranadivé will take the stage at the inaugural Region Rising conference scheduled for November 20th at the Sacramento Convention Center.
Credit: Region Rising
Ranadivé is an entrepreneur, global technology visionary, author and philanthropist recognized for his outside-the-box thinking. He is credited with digitizing Wall Street in the 1980’s, and he made national headlines in 2013 when he purchased the Kings franchise, saving the team from a potential relocation. Today he stands as the central figure in shaping Sacramento’s future – and its skyline – as the world’s state-of-the art Golden 1 Center and Downtown Commons (DOCO) rise from the dirt in downtown Sacramento.
“Our region has set a grand vision. It is ambitious, real, and achievable,” said Don Saylor, Yolo County Supervisor and SACOG board chairman. “After decades of planning and foundation-building through initiatives like the Sacramento Region Blueprint, Rural Urban Connections Strategy (RUCS) and the Next Economy jobs and investment strategy for growth, we find ourselves at a tipping-point moment in history. Ranadivé simply epitomizes this grand vision and our ability to realize it.”
Ranadivé joins Richard Florida and Dr. Glenda Humiston in the program’s speaker line up. Florida has earned a global reputation as possibly the top intellectual leader on urban theory. Humiston’s decades of leadership in agriculture, natural resources, and sustainability earned her the recent appointment as head of the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She is the former director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development. Region Rising will also feature a Leadership Exchange panel comprised of private and public sector leaders from other American cities to share their most innovative partnership success stories.
Region Rising is a first-ever, interactive community-wide conference produced in partnership by Valley Vision and SACOG. “Valley Vision and SACOG have long envisioned and worked to create a healthy, prosperous and more sustainable future for the people and businesses that call the Sacramento region home,” said Bill Mueller, Valley Vision’s chief executive. “Region Rising creates a new forum dedicated to harnessing people, ideas and information in a way we’ve never done before, to imagine what’s possible and design what will be.”
Region Rising will offer an attendee experience like none ever produced locally. The conference will feature interactive audience polling via cell phone technology throughout the day, and the JPMorgan Chase Collision Spot complete with the Kaiser Permanente Recharge Pavilion, West Coast Design Makers Market, Comcast Technology Expo and interactive programming and activations throughout the exhibitors hall. The event’s daylong program is available at http://www.regionrising.com/program/.
Doors open at 7:30 a.m. Individual tickets can be purchased online for $125. Group and student rates are available. Ticket price includes an outdoor lunch on the Capitol Grounds prepared by some of the region’s most celebrated farm-to-fork restaurants. To learn more, visit www.regionrising.com.
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SACOG is an association of local governments in the six-county Sacramento region that provides transportation planning and funding, and serves as a forum for the study and resolution of regional issues.
Valley Vision is an independent social impact organization headquartered in Sacramento. Our contributions improve the quality of life in the communities we serve and create the conditions for economic growth and community vitality.