I’ll be honest – I don’t think I can remember a busier September here at Sunstone.
Personally, I took two major trips toward the end of the month. I flew to New York City first to be part of the NYC Climate Week including the California Climate Leadership Forum. I moderated one panel, attended several others and had plenty of one-on-one meetings.
After 24 hours or so on the ground in California, it was back in the Friendly Skies, winging my way to Tokyo, Japan, as part of the California+Japan Trade Mission 2025. There were 50 heavy hitters from our state in the delegation, and it was great to spend time with them. The connections made with old and new partners in Japan are extremely valuable to me, and to Sunstone.
As you know, I’m a strong believer in the power of in-person communication. These trips just reinforced that belief. I look forward to making more connections in the future.
Team Effort
If anything, the Sunstone team has surpassed my busyness in September. The month began with participation in Glendale Tech Week, with several team members making the drive from Irvine headquarters to Glendale – a drive of more than an hour – to host a two-hour panel about public-private partnerships and how they can promote innovation.
That same team and several others, including Chief Investment Officer Mike Stone, were critical to the success of the first Long Beach Tech Week hosted by the Long Beach Accelerator. The Sunstone imprint was on all three days of activities.
It’s about much more than the public events, too. Jennifer Huang, Jayro Sandoval and others spent weeks bringing these and other events together so they could happen seamlessly.
At Headquarters
With all that action happening off-campus, it would have been easy to slack off a bit on happenings at Irvine headquarters and the Sunstone presentation area. But if anything, activities accelerated!
Our Investment Team continues to knock it out of the park with the weekly Sunstone Stage Connects events, bringing in fascinating startups and packing the room with interested partners. The P3 Strategy Series had two top headliners in September, with Bahram Solhjou (principal project manager at the Los Angeles County Internal Services Department) and Andy Nakahata, the newly appointed CEO and executive director of the state IBank (California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank) providing great insights about the state of P3 financing.
We Are Family
No roundup of September would be complete without a shoutout to the amazing team outing at Universal Studios Hollywood in the middle of the month. Almost everyone in the Sunstone family made the trip to the famous movie studio and theme park for a great lunch at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville.
Then we all took the tram for the famous Studio Tour to get a peek at the backlot and the sound stages. Many of us stayed around to experience some of the great rides at the park as well. I’m not sure, but I think I beat Mike Stone at MarioKart!
We enter the fourth quarter of 2025 refreshed and invigorated by the many connections we have made in our various communities. I sincerely thank you for being a part of the journey.
And remember, always be a Sunstone!
John Keisler
CEO & Managing Partner
©Sunstone Management, Inc. 2025