Gurbax Sahota

President & Chief Executive Officer, CALED
Executive Director, CA Academy For Economic Development

Gurbax Sahota is an experienced association professional who believes in the importance and need to collaborate and create meaningful partnerships in order to accomplish the goal of creating healthy, wealthy communities. She turns this belief into action by bringing together and leading multiple organizations aligned with the goal of helping businesses thrive in California. Gurbax holds senior positions with CALED, the California Academy for Economic Development, and the California Enterprise Development Authority. Gurbax is using her commitment to thoughtful leadership, knowledge of organizational studies, and her communications background to deliver on the missions of these organizations, to ensure their operations are thriving and sustainable, and to build a high-performance team at CALED.

As President & CEO of CALED, she is focused on creating strategic partnerships to promote the value of economic development and create a stronger voice for economic developers at the state and local level. Additionally, having raised funds and created sustainable financial practices for all three organizations, she has laid a strong foundation for CALED so we can continue to provide services and benefits to economic developers across the state.

Having worked her way up through CALED, Gurbax has either worked on, created, or had a significant role in most of our successes over the past sixteen plus years. Some of her direct achievements include:

  • Invigorated the California Academy for Economic Development (The Academy) from its minimal role a pass-through funding organization to a vibrant non-profit that has an active mission to support education, research and innovation in economic development and a budget to deliver on the goals approved by the Academy’s Board of Regents.
  • Fostered the growth of the California Enterprise Development Authority (CEDA) by building and maintaining relationships with strategic business partners, as well as investing in the right support team to take advantage of new business opportunities as they become available, such as the development of CEDA’s Commercial PACE program.
  • Originated and implemented the creation of meaningful publications to support economic development in California, including:
    • Growing Thriving Rural Economic Development Corporations
    • Primer on California’s New Tax Increment Financing Tools
    • California Rural Infrastructure Financing Guide
  • Led the development & launch of a California-specific Economic Development Certification – the Accredited California Economic Developer Certification (ACE)
  • Developed & identified funding for the Academy’s Memorial Scholarship Fund program.
  • Brokered a partnership to create and share an economic development focused quarterly California economic snapshot
  • Revived CALED’s advocacy role through the adoption of a board Legislative Action Policy, creation of a Legislative Action Committee, and by contracting with a knowledgeable advocacy partner to create a strategic and effective approach that has led to multiple legislative successes since she was named CALED’s CEO.

Gurbax’s ability to build relationships has put CALED at the table to ensure California’s economic developers voice a role at the federal, state and local levels. She is happy to be part of the CALED team and a member of California’s economic development network.

Helen Schaubmayer

Program Manager

As Program Manager, Helen contributes to CALED’s team by managing activities under CALED’s and the California Academy for Economic Development’s training programs such as the Keys to Economic Development and Advanced Institute for Economic Development as well as the Accredited California Economic Developer (ACE) program. Additionally, she manages Webinar Wednesdays and the Outsmart Disaster campaign. Helen brings a mix of local non-profit and private sector experience to her role from her prior positions within a large technology company and supporting local economic development as a senior researcher within a regional economic development corporation.

Michelle Stephens

Program Director

Michelle is the Program Director for CALED and its affiliates. As the Program Director, she is the in-house economic development practitioner for CALED and the lead for the Project Development & Finance (PD&F) Division. She also promotes CALED’s economic development finance tools through the California Enterprise Development Authority (CEDA) and its products; Industrial Development Bonds, 501c3 Non-Profit Financing, and the Bonds Assisting New Development (BAND) Program.

Michelle completed her undergrad at UC Davis and received her Master’s in Community & Regional Planning at the University of Texas at Austin. She was a fellow with the International Economic Development Council in Washington DC before moving back to her native California to work on improving the economic opportunities for communities.

Laura Cole-Rowe

Membership & Rural Exchange Coordinator

As the Membership & Rural Exchange Coordinator, Laura maintains CALED’s membership operations and outreach, serving as program lead for CALED’s Rural Exchange, and provides support to the CEO in key areas. Laura brings a wealth of experience in local economic development having served as executive director and a consultant for cities, non-profit foundations and downtown associations for more than 30 years.

Patty Bailey

Office Administrative Coordinator

As the office assistant, Patty is responsible for supporting office operations and administration to ensure the success of CALED, The Academy, and CEDA.  She also helps deliver our mission by assisting with CALED’s Annual Training Conference, maintaining vendor relationships, and, if you happen to visit us, hers will be the first smiling face you see. Patty has years of customer service experience and uses those skills at CALED to support our members and our staff.

Ian Gill

Program & Database Manager

As Program & Database Manager, Ian supports CALED’s economic development programs through reviewing and maintaining the organization’s database software, where he helps with projects including membership dues billing and professional certification tracking. Ian brings experience from a variety of non-profit and private arts organizations, where he helped manage their information systems and steward their data.