California chambers of commerce that have the ears of lawmakers and enjoy rich economic rewards have one advisor in common: Shaun Lumachi.

“Success is determining the goal, the plan, and having the courage to execute,” said Lumachi, 28, president of Chamber Advocacy, a professional consulting firm that empowers chamber of commerce members to leverage their voices and increase their relevance in public policy discussions and decision-making by building advocacy programs.

The Long Beach resident’s innovative thinking helps chambers of commerce lobby local and state governments to improve the quality of life for their residents by protecting economic vitality.

“The secret to being innovative is to know that a goal comes before a plan,” said Lumachi, who also served as vice president of government affairs for the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. “I bring innovation into my workplace by spending a considerable amount of time with my clients determining what we want accomplished before we figure out how we will get it done.”

Lumachi’s strategy is simple and unusually effective: to know his purpose, build and maintain relationships, set goals, have clear visions, and be authentic, result-driven, and disciplined. Under his leadership as advisor for public policy for the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, the California Chamber of Commerce acknowledged the local organization as its Advocacy Partner of the Year four years in a row, from 2003 to 2006.

“One my favorite quotes is that politics is a game of checkers, not chess,” said Lumachi, who earned a bachelor’s degree in government from California State University, Sacramento. “A steady progression in one direction across a field of play. The quality of my plan is not as important as the quality of my execution.” — LEONA JUNE CHRISTENSEN Architects Gary Lamb and John Glasgow of Interstices celebrate their innovative nature by creatively designing buildings and interiors. Interstices is a Latin word meaning “the space between,” and one of Lamb’s professors in college used the term to describe how the space between two buildings plays a key role in the overall beauty of a project. Lamb and Glasgow focus on the surrounding elements to provide them with a different approach to architectural design. It is their innovative thinking that has allowed Lamb and Glasgow to reach new heights in the architect world.

“In architecture,” Glasgow says, “innovation comes through a creative manipulation of the intersections between physical space constraints, technology, zoning and building codes, and the aesthetic.”

Lamb and Glasgow generate ideas for their architectural work through a great deal of collaboration inside the office, with clients, with government officials, and the community involved.

“Innovative thinking in our business has allowed us to feel that our architectural work contributes to more than just the function and needs of clients,” Glasgow says. “But it also contributes to the greater social and cultural meaning of Long Beach.”

At Interstices, innovative approaches to projects are created through listening, joining forces outside the office, and debating passionately with an open mind about different or conflicting ideas to reach the best decisions. Then, Lamb and Glasgow let the ideas sit for awhile to simmer and grow. The two also travel a great deal to open their minds to new ideas and build on old ones.

“We measure the success of our projects by the responses of our clients and the community in general,” Glasgow says. “Our intention is often to provoke strong reaction.” — GINNY GALVIN Alex Belleheumer is always surprised to be earmarked as a successful man with an innovative mind. This 72-year-old inventor is very modest about the many creations under his belt and those innovative ideas he continues to pursue to better the Long Beach community.

Belleheumer grew up in Connecticut and graduated from CSULB in 1956. It was in 1964 when he was working as a real estate builder and developer in Long Beach that he created his first invention: The State-Wide Housing Development, a fourplex with three apartments and one deluxe owner’s unit. Once the owners pay off the mortgage on the complex, they continue to receive the income from the other three apartments. Over 100 State-Wides were built.

Belleheumer to this day has twelve patents, with three pending. He has invented the non-ice hockey puck for the inline hockey league, collapsible shipping containers, wine devices, and many others.

“Innovation is not deliberate on my part,” Belleheumer says, “nor has it ever been money-motivated. The way my mind works is, if a need is presented in whatever category, I automatically pursue a solution.”

Belleheumer is in the process of satisfying a transportation need of Long Beach by bringing in a main attraction. It is his intent to bring an elevated cable-driven transit system, which he calls connecular, into the community. The name of this system is called The Wave, and is being successfully used in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay.

“The Wave will have six stops,” Belleheumer describes. “Each stop will have a theme, and suggested estimates may generate half a million visitors coming to Long Beach that otherwise would not come.”

Belleheumer is an innovative individual who has gotten where he is by facing challenges of the unknown and the untested. “There is no greater means to meet challenges,” Belleheumer says. “By doing so, we expand our opportunities and personal growth.” — GG Sithea San is vigorously volunteering her time as chairwoman of Cambodia Town and incorporating positive changes into the Cambodian community. Cambodia Town is an organization whose mission is to build new buildings and expand businesses on Anaheim Street, and San is taking the lead by working with the organization, listening to ideas, analyzing thoughts, and carrying out actions to see results.

San brings innovative ideas into her work environment by keeping active in the Cambodian community. Every few weeks, San and other volunteers walk from business to business on Anaheim Street to talk to the owners.

“I want to change the negative image of Anaheim Street,” San explains. “Potential investors think the street is unsafe. That is not true.”

In this spirit, San talks to the business owners to see what can be done to enhance the businesses and create a safe atmosphere. San is confident that by walking the streets herself, she is demonstrating how safe the street actually is and that business will prosper.

San has run into some obstacles while trying to move forward. It’s been over two years since San and Cambodia Town made the initial effort to get the first-ever Cambodian bank in the United States to open here in Long Beach.

“People told me that it could not be done,” San says. “People were negative, but I just stayed focused and positive about what I wanted to accomplish.” San’s dream is now a reality, and the bank is scheduled to open this month.

Long Beach has the largest population of Cambodians outside of Cambodia, and it is San’s innovative thinking that has channeled Cambodia Town to move forward to become a home and a reality. — GG When Robert James graduated college with a degree in political science, he was law school-bound. While studying for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), James started throwing parties to earn money. It wasn’t long before he realized that his part-time gig could be a full-time business.

“I knew the only way to survive as an entrepreneur was to create ideas that stay ahead of the curve,” James said in describing his business motto.

Founded in 2002, The Robert James Group (RJ Productions) is a Long Beach-based event-planning, marketing, and production company. In addition to aiding in the establishment of several prominent nightclubs in the city, his company credits include the annual benefit for The Life Rolls On Foundation, the twenty-sixth birthday party for professional baseball player Milton Bradley, and host of the Spazmatics’ performance at Sachi Bar/Lounge in Long Beach on Saturday nights.

James’s love for Long Beach is the primary reason he started his business, and he is currently planning to expand operations to offer event planning for weddings and corporate events throughout the city. A graduate of Long Beach Poly High School, James is also working to establish the Linda Marie Pangelinan Foundation, a charity that honors his deceased mother, to benefit Poly students who have parents who are afflicted by cancer.

Being innovative is extremely important at RJ Productions. Each week, James holds a meeting with his staff to generate new ideas on how to improve business. James feels fortunate that he doesn’t conform to monotony but instead chooses to create original ideas for his clients and events.

“There’s not one particular formula for being innovative, but that’s what I love about being an entrepreneur,” James said. “There are no boundaries, limits, or set agendas.” — KALISHA DANIEL As musician, husband, father, and CEO, Francis McGrath, founder of Color Broadband Inc. (CBI), is a very busy man but makes a point not to take himself too seriously. CBI is a Long Beach-based telecom company specializing in the design, deployment, integration and operation of broadband VoIP and broadband wireless networking.

“Humor helps to cultivate fresh new perspectives and keeps the creative energy flowing,” says McGrath of his company culture.

In addition to running his five-yearold telecommunications firm, which employs twenty-five people, McGrath also serves on the board of directors of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and Long Beach Inc. Strategic Marketing Group. “Most of the people that I am surrounded by at CBI see innovation as an opportunity to change the world on a daily basis,” he says.

As a resident of Long Beach, McGrath views innovation as vital to the success of the community. As part of the city’s initiative to become technologically modernized and accessible to its residents and guests, CBI has teamed up with Shoreline Village and Long Beach Magazine to provide Shoreline visitors with wireless Internet access when they come to enjoy a meal, relax, or attend an event.

One attribute of the success of CBI is McGrath’s innovative business philosophy of technology being about people, and if used correctly can simplify life’s problems. According to McGrath, when people communicate more effectively, they can work out their problems faster, leaving more time for family and friends.

“Seeing my people having a good time and being happy at work is a significant measurement of success,” McGrath says, with a smile. — KD Growing up in the country back in Ozark, Alabama, Justin Rudd thought that one day he would become a veterinarian. But it was through volunteerism that he became a benefactor to countless animals and their causes. It is a rare resident of the Shore who would not recognize this selfless community innovator who acts as a catalyst for change to promote community unity and action.

Rudd spent close to three years of his time and resources to establish the only off-leash Los Angeles County Dog Beach right here in Long Beach. His nonprofit Community Action Team (CAT) produces innumerable annual community events: 30-Minute Beach Cleanups, $1,000 SoCal Spelling Bee Championships, Operation Easter Basket, Belmont Shore Sidewalk Art Contest, Great American July 4 Kids’ Bike Parade, Long Beach 5K/10K Turkey Trot, Operation Santa Paws, and countless others. When asked where he gets this sense of duty, he says, “Watching my parents’ constant involvement in volunteerism gave me very lofty goals.”

Lofty, indeed—for more than fifteen years, Rudd has been a coach to numerous beauty pageant contestants. In addition to all the innovative events Rudd produces for the community, he is also a personal fitness trainer. He can be seen motivating his Sand Challenge group weekend mornings at the Belmont Shore beach at Granada Avenue.

Explore, dream, discover. It is by those three words that Rudd follows his own path. A coach, a trainer, and a community leader, Rudd lives by his own mantra. Certainly, his parents are proud. — JACKSON MORRIS Adrienne Grant, D.O., doesn’t allow her patients to be “boxed in” by the confines of Western medicine. This innovative physician integrates traditional modalities with alternative treatments like homeopathy, herbs, nutritional therapy and neurofeedback training, adding a healthy dose of straightforward communication to ensure the health and well-being of her patients.

“When I finished my medical residency at the University of California, Irvine, I decided to better serve my patients by exploring avenues for healing other than just traditional medicine,” said Dr. Grant, who opened her private practice specializing in integrative medicine in Long Beach last July. “Alternative therapies and traditional medicine have symbiotic roles in my practice of medicine.

My unique approach to medicine has helped me carve a special niche for myself and create a serene, spalike environment for my patients.”

Under the Long Beach resident’s care, patients are encouraged to take an active role in their health care. Dr. Grant believes that honest communication between herself and her patients optimizes their outcomes.

“An innovator is someone who is willing to think outside the box,” said Dr. Grant. “He or she is not afraid to research and offer sound and, where appropriate, unorthodox ways of solving problems.”

For Dr. Grant, an optimistic outlook is just as essential as a healthy diet or exercise for overall well-being.

“I focus on the good in life instead of the potholes,” said Dr. Grant. “When I look around my life and focus on appreciating what I have, the more I have to appreciate.” — LJS Innovative people commonly share the same qualities and attributes, others have a personal style all their own. For Dave Neary of Westland Construction, a combination of tried-and-true methods along with some out-of-the-box thinking makes this entrepreneur tick.

In 1990, Neary started Westland Construction. Since the company’s inception, Westland has successfully completed over 900 projects, totaling over 4.2 million square feet of development. Neary also owns Da Vinci’s restaurant, some virtual office space, a self-storage facility, and Golden Shore RV Park. Like many individuals in his position, Neary is a firm believer in giving back to the community.

He sits on several boards, including the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Habitat for Humanity South Bay Long Beach, and the Salvation Army Advisory Board in Long Beach.

Neary’s own definition of innovation is “to marry up nonconforming ideas and put a new twist on what has already been done while using synergy to make and create something even better.”

Neary seems to have a particular mindset and way of thinking that has allowed his businesses to achieve the success that they have. He surrounds himself with likeminded individuals. “It has really been a combination of having creative and innovative people around me and bouncing ideas off of them,” Neary says. “You must always move forward and not remain stagnant.”

His advice for other entrepreneurs is to create nontraditional approaches to synergy; think outside the box, he says, and find others who do the same. “When I was first starting out, I had great mentors and was always around good people.”

Like many innovative people, Dave Neary has a quote that sums up his business philosophy. “Never doubt that a small group of dedicated and committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” — BRIAN J. MURPHY If you ask Judy Seal what she is most proud of regarding her involvement in education, you might plan to sit down and relax awhile. Seal has had her hand in multiple arenas in which the victors are always the children.

Her history is as rich as that of the city. A successful grant writer, Seal brings in much-needed funds for the school system. Seal is the executive director of the Long Beach Education Foundation and Long Beach Education Partnership. Together, the foundation and partnership are responsible for facilitating involvement of higher education institutions and the kindergarten through twelfth grade community, as well as grants for other innovative programs like Seamless Education, an effort undertaken by the Long Beach Unified School District, Long Beach City College, and California State University at Long Beach to provide a smooth transition from kindergarten through higher levels of education; the “Principal for a Day” program; and the Bethune Transitional Center for Homeless Students. The latter program identifies homeless children, provides academic support to get them get back into mainstream schooling, and offers both physical and mental health care to the students.

Being an innovator in today’s school system takes more than stamina—it takes inspiration. Seal’s motivation comes from two places—her patient, philosophical father and, of course, a memorable teacher.

“I saw this selfless teacher as a dedicated woman who gave of herself day after day for her students, and that inspired me,” Seal said.

With so many accomplishments, it should come as no surprise to hear that Seal feels pride, joy, and honor out of working with her professional contemporaries whose daily goal is high student achievement. When I asked her what she would offer to fellow educators to make a difference, she said, “I would tell them to picture every student achieving at a high level and then ask yourself, what can I do differently to help them get there?” — JM Paul Garmin, executive director/producer of Musical Theatre West, has been an innovator at the theater since 1963. Before being established as MTW in Long Beach in 1997, the troupe was known as the Whittier Civic Light Opera.

“At the time, there were twenty to thirty civic light operas in the state,” Garmin says. “Some time after I became executive here, I began to see that lightopera organizations weren’t bringing in audiences the way they once did.”

In a move that was not without substantial risks, Garmin decided to drop the light opera tag in favor of its present name, which has a more broadly regional sound. Subsequently, the company’s subscriptions increased by 54 percent. Soon, civic light operas around the country were also changing their labels, and the term musical theater now offered a new nomenclature for this brand of performing art. Regardless of his many achievements, Garmin still believes that in theater, “one is only as good as his last success. Therefore, it’s important to constantly reexamine one’s efforts. You can’t rest on your laurels.”

With the demands of elaborate productions such as Jesus Christ Superstar (1995), My Fair Lady (1999), The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Footloose (both done in MTW’s 2001–02 season), as well as The Full Monty (which opened on February 24),Garmin is constantly challenged to live up to his own expectations of excellence. When staging a show such as Ragtime, which the theater produced in 2005, he says that the staging must convey the epic nature of the story. Every element must coincide and complement the entire production, from costuming to choreography to orchestration. That requires innovation on a daily basis.

Garmin’s personal key to innovation is being willing to look outside the box. He views innovation as the “ability to take an ordinary thing and make it extraordinary.”

“Approach each day with openness,” he says. “Explore new ideas. Let the creative domain of the brain guide the mind.”

The maxim that most resonates in the extraordinarily innovative mind of Paul Garmin is Victor Hugo’s declaration: “All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.” — BEN MILES At 16 years of age, John Morris stepped on American soil after a long voyage from Liverpool, England. When you come that far by yourself and begin a new life, you know you’re dealing with a man of strength and survival abilities, not to mention one who isn’t afraid of hard work!

With no real mentorship or guidance in his personal or professional life, Morris carved a path to success as a loner and preferred to figure out life on his own. An innovative idea was born in Morris’s mind in 1978, just five years after arriving in California, when he and a pal went to a local bar.

“The only form of entertainment in the joint besides having a beer and talking with the boys was sitting in a storage closet,” Morris said. “And the only TV had to be brought out and set on the back counter while someone danced with the bunny ears to tune in the best channel.”

Morris decided then and there that he would a have a bar somewhere and that there should be TVs along with a sports theme in this establishment. He and his partner Dennis Harrah, offensive guard with the L.A. Rams, walked into Harbor Bank with no business plan, no financial projections, and nothing in hand except his gift of gab and a salesman’s optimism. As Morris tells this story, he points to his forehead and says, “It’s was all this up here, baby!”

The banker spent about two and a half hours with Morris as he explained the brand-new concept. Walking out of the bank with money in hand earned him the nickname Smooth, and in 1979 he had invented the first sports bar in America, complete with satellites and big screen TVs. Legends is now referred to as the granddaddy of all sports bars.

Reinvention entered Morris’s mind when he foresaw Pine Street taking a unique turn. The time came to change and Smooth’s Sports Grille was developed in 2004 in less than twenty- five days at the signature popular Mum’s Restaurant location. “In a sense, I went back to my roots full circle,” Morris says. “Sometime innovation comes from looking backwards.” Smooth’s celebrates the history of athletics in Long Beach as the “Home of Long Beach Legends.”

Morris is active in the community and sits on the board of Downtown Long Beach Associates, Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Long Beach Boys and Girls Club. His philosophy: “Respect people and give back to the community that you live in…baby.”

His advice to hopeful entrepreneurs is to “welcome innovation but don’t let the planning process get in the way and blind you from execution.” —STAFF “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” That old maxim is a phrase that was indelibly etched into Ken Reiner by his mother at an early age. He has followed that sage advice as is evidenced in his dogged determination to be successful and innovative in every aspect of his long life of 91 years. For Ken Reiner, solving problems and developing innovative products is all in a day’s work.

“New ideas are constantly needed, whether it is in business, theater, music or just about everything we see around us, and there are great rewards awaiting those able to fill those needs.” As a Purdue engineer graduate, he formed a manufacturing company with a partner and invented his first product—one that came to be a very necessary one in the aeronautical industry.

He invented the nut retainer, a lightweight one-piece self-locking nut that saved tremendous weight on aircraft and was used during the Korean conflict. It reduced the B-52’s weight by 600 pounds and is still used by aircraft makers everywhere. After the war’s end brought the aircraft nut-and-bolt business to a halt, Reiner invented the Lady Ellen Klippie, an improvement on women’s hair clips that captured 90 percent of the salon market in the early 1960s and ushered Ken Reiner into the beauty salon industry.

Nearly forty years ago, Ken Reiner came to Long Beach from Brooklyn, New York to work for Lockheed Aircraft as an engineer, but found entrepreneurship more enticing.

“I’ve been able to start various businesses, and produced products and services that have benefited and satisfied the wants of many millions of people,” Reiner says. “This enabled my business to prosper and grow, and provide gainful employment to many people in our community.

Ken and his wife, Dottie, began their present company, Kayline Enterprises, in 1974. It has become a highly respected and innovative designer and manufacturer of beauty-related furniture and accessories. Ken handles product development and design, and Dottie has the sales background to pull the successful business together.

Because of their business acumen, the Reiners happily support many local nonprofit community organizations, such as the Long Beach Symphony, Musical Theater West, Long Beach Community Hospital, and the Long Beach Playhouse, in addition to helping many other worthwhile groups throughout the nation.

For Ken Reiner, designing has always been all about keeping things simple.

“Almost every one of my inventions have been extremely simple products,” he says. “And for me, innovation means solving a problem in a new, simplified way, and hopefully improving upon the manner or means of the problem that has been solved by others before you.” — STAFF