The Marin Economic Forum (MEF), a public-private funded non-profit 501c (3) organization, is hosting the annual “Forecasting the Future” program on Wednesday, February 7, 2024. The event will take place from 9:00-11:00 in the Bill & Adele Jonas Center on College of Marin's Indian Valley campus, with a networking breakfast commencing at 8:00 am. Forecasting the Future has been held in Marin County for the last 10 years and has served as the signature event to discuss Marin’s economy with leaders of business, government, non-profit, and education.

EVENT DETAILS & AGENDA

The 2024 event will focus on business attraction in Marin County. In addition to an excellent reputation for quality of life and natural beaury, Marin County has also long been associated with innovation and creativity, sparking such companies as Lucas Film, Autodesk, and more recently, life science powerhouses BioMarin and Ultragenyx. Despite these successes, Marin County is not typically one of the first regions in the Bay Area that a company may think of locating itself, especially the tech hotbeds to the South or agriculture centers to the North. But a look inside the data and activity on the ground shows the county may be ripe to capture more businesses, especially with recent trends of workplaces that favors smaller office footprints. Forecasting the Future is the perfect event to highlight the opportunities for businesses to locate in Marin and to discuss the opportunities to support business attraction going forward.

The program will feature first-hand accounts of companies that have started or located to Marin County, as well as presentations from experts on the advantages of locating in Marin. Our feature presentation will focus on strategies that Marin could pursue to attract more companies.

Forecasting the Future will also include a presentation on the upcoming challenges and opportunities in the economy as delivered by MEF's Chief Economist, Dr. Rob Eyler. Dr. Eyler, a notable expert on the North Bay economy, will discuss key national and state level policies and proposals that are likely to have an impact on businesses and employees in Marin in 2024 and beyond.

8:00-9:00am: Networking Breakfast (Outdoors)

9:00-9:15am: Opening Remarks - Jonathan Eldridge, President, College of Marin; Mike Blakeley, CEO, MEF

9:15-10:00am: Economic Forecast - Dr. RobEyler, Chief Economist, MEF

10:00-10:20am: Outlook for Commercial Real Estate in Marin - Haden Ongaro, Executive Managing Director-Market Leader, Newmark Knight Frank

10:20-10:40am: Why I Started a Company in Marin - Jason Brooks, Founder, Fire Aside

10:40-11:00am: Transportation Options in Marin - Anne Richman, CEO, Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM)

11:000am: Program Closure

Forecasting the Future 2024

Spotlight on Business Attraction in Marin County