Gilroy
– Three individuals and two businesses will have their names
etched into a long list of powerhouses that have helped shape
Gilroy into what it is today.
The Gilroy Chamber of Commerce announced its selections for the
annual Man of the Year, Woman of the Year, Volunteer of the Year
and Small and Large Business of the Year awards for 2004
Gilroy – Three individuals and two businesses will have their names etched into a long list of powerhouses that have helped shape Gilroy into what it is today.
The Gilroy Chamber of Commerce announced its selections for the annual Man of the Year, Woman of the Year, Volunteer of the Year and Small and Large Business of the Year awards for 2004.
Gilroy Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Bill Lindsteadt is the Man of the Year, and Woman of the Year honors go to Leadership Gilroy Foundation founding president J. Chris Mickartz. The Volunteer of the Year is Patricia Golden, whose volunteerism spans a variety of causes.
The small and large business awards go to Articulate Solutions and Pacified Diversified, respectively.
Bill Lindsteadt
With a license plate that reads “ECON DEV,” Bill Lindsteadt means business.
Over the past eight years, Lindsteadt has helped transform Gilroy from a sleepy town known only for garlic to a bustling retail destination.
Before coming to Gilroy in 1996, Lindsteadt managed Thrifty stores in the San Fernando Valley and Mendocino County for 14 years and then worked in real estate. After that, he established Mendocino County’s first economic development corporation and transferred to Kings County in 1991.
One initial glance at Gilroy had Lindsteadt perplexed. When he arrived, about 35 downtown storefronts sat bare, with empty industrial parks and vacant lots dotting the rest of the city.
“I couldn’t understand why development wasn’t happening,” Lindsteadt said. “Here we are, 30 miles south of the economic engine known as Silicon Valley, and nothing was happening. Something wasn’t right.”
So, Lindsteadt was hired to help make things right. Over his eight years as head of Gilroy Economic Development Corp., a public/private nonprofit organization, Lindsteadt has brought a number of new businesses to Gilroy including the taxable-sales magnets along highways 101 and 152.
“I like the words ‘teamwork’ and ‘cooperation,'” said Lindsteadt, noting the deep appreciation he has for the support of the chamber, the city, the Downtown Business Association, Gavilan Small Business Development Center and real estate brokers and developers.
A typical day for Lindsteadt – although no two are alike, he said – is filled with e-mails, phone calls and meetings with real estate and business brokers. After work, Lindsteadt attends evening meetings for one of the many committees and organizations he belongs to, including the Downtown Specific Plan Task Force, the Gilroy Rotary Club and Gilroy Elks Lodge.
Lindsteadt also enjoys golf and singing, which he showcases in the Garlic City Barbershop Quartet he helped organize in 1997.
After retiring, which he has slated for December of next year, Lindsteadt will move back to Mendocino County with his wife of 42 years, Raisa.
“This has been one of the best experiences I’ve had in my over 20 years of working as an economic development practitioner,” he said. “I’m very fortunate and blessed to have had the support and made the friendships I did here.”
Patricia Golden
Pat Golden’s instinct to help others comes from lesson her grandmother taught her.
“My grandmother was a firm believer in tithing. She always told me, ‘You get back what you give,'” Golden said. “So I made a commitment when I was still in high school that I’d give 10 percent of my non-working time to volunteering.”
That commitment has never been a burden for Golden. Instead, she said, she has fun with it.
Along with serving as a docent at Bonfante Gardens and a meal server at St. Joseph Family Center’s Lord’s Table program, Golden is a member of Gilroy Rotary and the Gilroy Presbyterian Church, where she is an elder and maintains the resource center.
A cancer survivor, Golden is a strong advocate of Relay For Life and speaks to a variety of groups on cancer support.
“You can be a resident or you can be a member of the community,” she said. “Being a resident is nice, but being a member of the community is better. If you live in a community, it’s your responsibility to make it a better place to live.”
Golden, a bond specialist, was born in San Jose and attended San Jose State University. After graduating, she traveled around the world and ended up in Hawaii, where she lived for 20 years before moving back to the Gilroy area in 1976. Her first local volunteer venture was for Big Brothers, Big Sisters in South County, where she served on the board and adopted a high school girl.
Golden also helped organize the first Garlic Festival, supported Don Gage’s mayoral campaign in Gilroy, served on the city’s personnel commission for eight years and then on the parks and recreation commission.
“I’ve been so fortunate,” Golden said. “I think, selfishly, volunteers sometimes have more fun than the recipients.”
In coming years, Golden said she’d like to do more work with the South County Senior Citizens Advisory Committee and also with the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce, where she has served as an ambassador.
But if she could have anything she wanted, Golden said she’d love to win the lottery – and use the money to establish a homeless shelter in Gilroy.
J. Chris Mickartz
A self-described “community junkie,” J. Chris Mickartz said it’s Gilroy’s energy and sense of unity that inspires her to get involved.
Mickartz’s first dabbling into local volunteerism was with the Garlic Festival, where she served on various committees for several years including the founding committee.
“That’s when I first realized people need to step up to the plate and get involved, because it’s fun,” said Mickartz, a 32-year Gilroy resident. “Something clicked in me – you can take an idea, a concept, a desire and make something wonderful out of it.”
In 1996, Mickartz helped form the Leadership Gilroy Foundation, a community program that educates current and future city leaders with Gilroy culture, business and politics. Mickartz currently serves on the foundation’s advisory council and assists with marketing efforts and the alumni program.
Mickartz has been instrumental in the successful campaigns of former mayor and current county supervisor Don Gage, Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro, Gilroy City Councilman Roland Velasco and Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy.
Although she has volunteered extensively in the political arena, Mickartz said she has no aspirations to run for office herself. She said she helps with the campaigns simply because she truly believes in her beneficiaries.
Mickartz and her husband Larry work side by side, both in their volunteer work and in their business, marketing design company InfoPower Communications that they run from their home.
Aside from politics, Mickartz also has served on St. Joseph Family Center’s board of directors, chaired South County’s United Way chapter and was one of 10 state representatives to participate in the Japan-American Grassroots Summit.
When she gets a free moment, Mickartz enjoys playing tennis, reading and going to the theater. But above all, she said her number one love are her family and friends.
One accomplishment Mickartz said she’s particularly proud of is volunteering at St. Joseph’s Family Center with her mother, Marge Albaugh, who the chamber also named as woman of the year in 1986. Mickartz’s father, John Albaugh, was man of the year in 1982.
“My parents are my anchor,” Mickartz said. “They’ve been my anchor my whole life. Any sense of having commitments that are bigger than myself, I’ve gotten from them.”
Articulate Solutions
The chamber’s 2004 Small Business of the Year, Articulate Solutions, has been providing marketing and graphic design services to small- and medium-sized businesses since 1991.
“We’re definitely excited. I’s an honor,” said owner Katherine Filice. “I think the award has a lot to do with the hundreds and hundreds of hours of pro-bono work we’ve done for non-profits.”
Filice said her company has grown substantially in the last three years and tripled its sales figures. Articulate Solutions recently secured a contract with San Jose’s Environmental Services Division to produce a city-wide newsletter.
The company’s beneficiaries include Saint Joseph’s Family Center, Saint Mary School and Rebekah Children’s Home. Its paying clients include the cities of Gilroy and Morgan Hill and the Eagle Ridge Golf Club.
“This is a small, woman-owned business that started in Katherine’s home,” said Susan Valenta, the chamber’s executive director. “Through her dedication and customer service, the business has expanded to an agency with employees and a list of clients that spans the region.”
Pacific Diversified Insurance Services, Inc.
The history of Pacific Diversified, the chamber’s 2004 Large Business of the Year, stretches back to 1920, when V. O. Edes established Edes Insurance in a small garage in Morgan Hill. Since then, the company has seen a number of different owners and different names. Even as a major player in the insurance and employee benefits industry, Pacific Diversified has remained a local business, Valenta said.
“There is a long history of growth and collaboration within the business,” she said. “Over the course of time, it has become what it is today – a true success and a show of true entrepreneurial spirit.”
