Culver City Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Steven Rose announced his retirement on Thursday June 22 at the chamber’s June Board of Directors meeting. The news brings to an end three decades of service by Rose, having joined the Chamber in 1987, though he will stay on until his successor is found.
In the meeting, Rose said that he enjoyed 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.”
When considering the greatest accomplishment of his tenure, he spoke of the Chamber’s influence in helping Culver City succeed, whether that be through its support of SONY’s comprehensive Development Plan, the revitalization of an old mall into Westfield Culver City. or support of the local school bond and parcel tax to improve CCUSD schools.
“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,” Rose said. “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 of those unpopular positions that Rose referred to was the Chamber’s support of the local sales tax increase in 2012 after the state eliminated the Culver City Redevelopment Agency as one of those difficult positions. Understandably, no business wanted to see taxes increase, but Rose said it was more important to make sure that the city remained healthy and didn’t have to cut people or programs.
Rose also oversaw the Chamber’s move from mimeographed newsletters to electronic newsletters to social media, helping the Chamber stay ahead of the communication curve.
“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,” said Paul Goldstein, Chair of the Board. “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.”