March was madness here at Sunstone – but it was a controlled madness, and it was fun!
We had the opportunity to participate in a plethora of events, planting the seeds to grow some great partnerships. That’s a spring thing, right?
I was excited to participate in the Municipal Management Association of Southern California (MMASC) Spring Forward Forum, where we had the opportunity to talk about creation of the Space Beach industry cluster in Long Beach. Space Beach is and was a great public-private partnership, one we want to stay involved in.
Sunstone was in Long Beach in early March to provide a tour and background about historic restoration at the Fairmont Breakers Hotel and the Ocean Center Building. The audience was Downtown Association officials from all over California. I was able to explain how the city government played a big role in making the financing work for the 100-year-old hotel and how it took a philanthropic heart to make both projects work.
I wrapped my personal public appearances in March at the ABFM Symposium, part of the ASPA (American Society for Public Administration) Plenary in Hollywood. Participation in a panel called Financial Resilience in Times of Uncertainty gave me the opportunity to talk about the P3 approach to financing and building the new Long Beach Civic Center, and explain how Sunstone Cities has built on that approach.
That’s just what I did as CEO – the entire Sunstone team was going at top speed through March. We paused long enough to have our second half-day session about leadership and decision-making styles with the amazing Dr. Karen Semien-McBride, equipping the entire team with more tools to work with each other and outside partners as well.
Such training is vital, especially when you are making as many connections as the Sunstone Venture & Innovation Center team. I can’t remember all of their stops, but highlights included TiE LA, Expo West, and the GTC and Sunstone Physical AI session.
Our marketing team has done an amazing job of keeping up with all this activity, and letting the rest of the world know about the great things Sunstone is doing. With their help, the Sunstone Venture & Innovation Center has already gathered more than 1,000 followers on LinkedIn, starting from scratch just a couple of months ago!
Even when we’re really busy, there’s time for fun at Sunstone, and we love our March Madness brackets. We have been closely following all the NCAA tournament action for both men’s and women’s teams.
The Final Four games were still to be played when this article went to press, so I can’t tell you who won – either the tournaments or the bracket challenges. But in a shocker during the Elite Eight, Duke’s men fell to UConn on a last-second heave of a basket. Duke’s women ran into the buzzsaw known as the UCLA Lady Bruins and fell in the Sweet Sixteen.
Still, good playoff runs for the Duke Blue Devils. We’ll be back next year!
We are excited to see how all our components – Sunstone Advisors, Sunstone Cities, Sunstone Investment Management Services – are working to grow as spring turns into summer. I hope I can count on you to join us on our journey!
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.