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Victoria Conner, Principal Victoria Conner is founder/principal of Strategic Vitality LLC, a strategic planning and “creative consensus-building” firm. She is a co-founder of the Economic Alliance of Northern Santa Barbara County (EconAlliance) and now serves as consulting director of Roadmap Implementation, coordinating efforts of Roadmap teams focused on various industry sectors, advocacy, education/workforce development, infrastructure and innovation/entrepreneurship. Recent clients include United Way of Northern Santa Barbara County (grant-writing) and Allan Hancock College. Conner was engaged as the consultant coordinating Consortium activities for the state-funded AB86 initiative to enhance adult education in the region. In 2005, Conner designed for a client the California Innovation Corridor Initiative. Engaging over forty organizations in thirteen counties to participate in 25 different multi-year projects, the Initiative aligned regional economic and workforce development and education around the development of an innovation ecosystem capable of driving 21st Century economic vitality. After the concept’s successful U.S. Department of Labor funding ($15M), Conner served for four years as a partner on the Initiative’s Leadership Council. As project lead on development of four California statewide space enterprise strategic plans, Conner recruited for each plan 200+ executives and professionals from 100 different private sector, military and civil space organizations. She has also led strategic planning efforts for Allan Hancock College; the Executive Partners at Orfalea College of Business, California Poly San Luis Obispo; and the Dana Adobe; as well as earlier work with The Nature Corps; the San Luis Obispo County Visitors and Conference Bureau; the Pismo Beach Chamber and the Pismo Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau. For the former California Space Authority (CSA), Conner co-organized two NASA/CSA innovation forums and spearheaded aerospace and supply chain-related innovation roundtables and regulatory issue forums. She served as key content resource for California’s first-ever Aerospace Summit and staffed former Lt. Governor John Garamendi’s Aerospace advisory group, producing the group’s whitepaper for State economic advisors. Conner’s first enterprise was a public relations/marketing firm leading projects for local businesses as well as larger clients such as Union Bank and Blue Cross. Prior to that, she was marketing director for a regional restaurant chain. Earlier work included positions directing communications, human resources and teaching. Twice speaking at the national Association of Strategic Planning Conference, Conner has also presented at workshops for the U.S. Department of Labor’s national convention. She is referenced in the Council on Competitiveness’ Collaborate: Leading Regional Innovation Clusters and is published in the Economic Development Journal, key publication of the International Economic Development Council. Conner has a B.A. in English from CSU Fullerton.
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