Brown to keynote chamber chair gala

The Port of Oakland and the warehouses

of northern Nevada are key pieces

of the supply chain in the western

United States, and the

relationship helped draw

Oakland Mayor Jerry

Brown to Reno for a

speech in Reno next

month.

Brown, the two-term

Oakland mayor and former

California governor,

will be the keynote speaker at the centennial

chair gala of the Reno-Sparks

Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 17.

Given the economic links between the

two regions, Brown will discuss the

growing pains that both regions are experiencing

as well as his observations about

the two cities.

The chamber's chair gala, an annual

event, welcomes the new directors and

chairman of the organization.

Mike Murdock,

senior vice president

of Sun West

Bank, will be chairman

of the chamber

in 2003.

Murdock has

served on the

Chamber Board of

Directors since

2000 and was its

Chief Financial

Officer in 2002.

The Volunteer of the Year Award, as

well as the Raymond I. Smith Civic

Leader of the Year Award, will also be

presented at the gala. IGT is executive

sponsor of the 2003 chair gala.

Harry York, chief executive officer of

the chamber, said the invitation to Brown

resulted from some

brainstorming

among chamber

staff.

"We think it's

great," York said

last week.

Since winning

election as

Oakland's mayor in

1998 (he was reelected

this year),

Brown's central

focus has been revitalization of the center

of the city in what he calls a spirit of

"elegant density."