February was an auspicious month for lots of reasons, not the least of which was the beginning of the Year of the Fire Horse.
Lunar New Year is always a good time here at Sunstone, and this year was special for several reasons. It was very symbolic to leave the Year of the Snake as we shed our skin at the end of our 10th year to become Sunstone Investment Group Inc., with a more defined organizational structure.
We were thrilled to be the Cultural Sponsors, along with our sister company American Lending Center, of the first-ever Lunar New Year Festival in Irvine’s Great Park Live. Our teams connected with more than 1,000 people on that sunny Saturday.
The next week we hosted a very well-attended Customer Appreciation Day for our own Lunar New Year party at the Sunstone Stage. Kudos to the marketing team and everyone else involved in putting on the events.
We are entering the Year of the Horse confidently, with several new initiatives. The most active is the Sunstone Venture & Innovation Center, which has taken over the weekly Sunstone Stage Connects events and has been involved in multiple events and gatherings, making connections wherever they go.
In the Sunstone Cities shop, the number of consulting engagements literally exploded in February, more than doubling the total at the end of 2025. We continued the push with a presence at the annual state City Managers Conference in Napa, stressing our partnership with Public Private Partners LLC, where new solutions to tough infrastructure challenges can be solved.
Back in Irvine, where our headquarters are located, we were excited to see the Irvine Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship launch. Sunstone will act as a resource for this new economic development opportunity.
All of this fun is reflected in the Sunstone social media presence. Sunstone’s own Justin Pham took first in the February Social Media Challenge (which included ALC) and Potter Peng came in second. Brooklyn Korraa represented ALC in third place.
More importantly, the presence of Sunstone entities has expanded in 2026. The Venture & Innovation Center started from scratch and topped 400 LinkedIn followers by the end of February. Sunstone Cities went over the 1,100 mark and our Sunstone corporate account now stands at 6,338!
We are excited to continue our efforts to improve our communities through investment and entrepreneurship in this Year of the Horse. Thank you for coming along for the ride!
John Keisler
CEO & Managing Partner
© Sunstone Management 2026
Sunstone Investment Group, headquartered in Southern California, is the holding company for the Sunstone family of entities, including: Sunstone Investment Management Services, responsible for administrative services; Sunstone Advisors, an SEC-registered investment adviser, which oversees Sunstone Venture Partners LLC, a private capital fund manager; Sunstone Cities, a government economic development consulting firm; and Sunstone Community Fund, a charitable organization that supports entrepreneurship. Sunstone is dedicated to enriching lives through investment, entrepreneurship, and community. Email us at contact@sunstoneinvestment.com.