Two years ago, I attended the "Let's Do Business" event in Los Angeles and while there, met Kathleen Trimble who heads the diversity team at Robert Half International. We exchanged information about our companies and I was able to give Kathleen a good picture of our company's capabilities. Late last year, I entered into a teaming agreement with a larger Herman Miller dealer who was competing for the new RHI headquarters building contract. There was a FAR requirement for substantial participation by a diverse vendor, which we were able to satisfy, which made it possible for our partnership to win the contract. It was a $4 million dollar project and RHI made certain that my company played a major role in the process, monitoring activities all along the way and the project was recently completed to the client's satisfaction. We would not have been known to Robert Half International had we not attended the event.

I most certainly plan to attend this year's event and am already registered. I would urge any small business that is looking to expand its business to attend as well.

David V. Robles
President
California Commercial Interiors

By attending the Let’s Do Business Event in New Orleans, LA, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to several key decision makers within various corporations. Of notable benefit was my introduction to Richard Chacon of Union Bank and Robin Billups of U.S. Bank. Since the event, Richard has been a strong advocate for my company within Union Bank. He has opened doors and set clear expectations with his team at Jones Lang LaSalle to give Premier West an honest and fair shot as a new vendor. He has shown a strong desire to assist us in our growth and has taken us under his wings. To date, we have now completed 5 projects for Union Bank and several others are pending review and approval. We expect a significant amount of work for them throughout the remainder of 2010 as Richard continues to advocate for us and our now proven work. Our introduction to Robin Billups of U.S. Bank has also been one of great value. We have now completed 1 project for her team and are eager to increase our presence at U.S. Banks throughout Southern California. Without this event, we would not have had any of the opportunities we now do within these organizations.

Joseph Castillo
Co-Founder
Premier West Contractors, Inc.