December 2025 at Sunstone was an exciting end to an exciting year – full of accomplishment and promise.
2025 was the 10th year of Sunstone Management in business. That in itself is an accomplishment – only a third of businesses in the country are still in operation after a decade. It’s a testament to our founder, John Shen, for his careful planning, far-reaching approach and ability to see synergies where others do not.
John and his partners started Sunstone as a complement to American Lending Center, his non-bank lending institution. The companies continue to work closely together – so closely that we celebrate together at our annual holiday banquet the first week in December! It was a great party.
December 2025 was also the completion of the first full year in operation for Sunstone Cities as an affiliate of Sunstone Management. While Sunstone Advisors handles venture capital and related business, Sunstone Cities focuses on economic development and strategic planning for municipalities, including Public Infrastructure Financing Solutions (PIFS). Sunstone Cities gained significant traction this year, more than doubling the number of its engagements with cities and organizations.
We also welcomed two great municipal leaders to the Sunstone Stage in December to complete the 2025 P3 (Public-Private Partnership) Strategy Series. Sean Crumby, the new city manager of Irvine, and Aldo Cervantes, community development director of Lakewood, explained how their cities partnered with private businesses and nonprofits to help make their communities better.
A New Organization
Behind the scenes, we were hard at work putting the final pieces in place for a new approach to how we organize our business operations. Never fear, you will have no trouble recognizing the great events and services our team offers. It’s our hope that the new hierarchy will be even easier to understand.
Our holding company is now Sunstone Investment Group, Inc., with Sunstone Investment Management Services, LLC, the overarching business unit. One group of affiliates is made up of Sunstone Advisors LLC and Sunstone Venture Partners LLC – you will recognize them as the folks working with venture capital founders, organizing customer activities including the Sunstone Connects series and more.
The other side of the org chart is Sunstone Cities. That group takes care of our relationships with government partners, organizing the P3 Strategy Series, the Sunstone USC Price Economic Challenge and more. Sunstone Cities also works with the independent Public Private Partners LLC.
Finally, our nonprofit donor-advised fund, the Sunstone Community Fund, is alive and well, supporting entrepreneurship and community betterment.
This new approach became official with the beginning of 2026. We’re excited to partner with you to make Sunstone an even greater power for betterment of our communities.
Thank you for a wonderful 2025. And remember, always be a Sunstone!
John Keisler
CEO & Managing Partner
©Sunstone Management, Inc. 2025