Tony Livoti, President, Monterey Bay International Trade Association (MBITA)

Tony Livoti has been involved in small business development his entire career – starting and successfully operating a creative management company in Hollywood, a small manufacturing company in Felton, California,  working as a business broker in the sale of businesses throughout the Monterey Bay region and forming and operating an Export Management Company for companies throughout California. (EMC).

In 1984, Livoti saw a need for an international trade association for the burgeoning Monterey Bay region and its array of entrepreneurial enterprises, and as a result, founded the Monterey Bay International Trade Association (MBITA).

Under his leadership, the MBITA in 1995 became a founding partner in the BAYTRADE public-private sector export promotion program that has helped generate over $350 million in ‘new-to-market’ exports representing exporting companies throughout 17 counties in Northern California.  

Under his guidance as its President, MBITA has grown over the years to become a wholly self-sustaining non-profit with over 200 members and clients and foreign cooperative partnerships throughout the Pacific Rim, the European Union, and the Americas.

MBITA has also become a leader in California on utilizing web based solutions for conducting, facilitating and consummating global trade transactions for small to mid-sized enterprises.  This includes desktop to desktop global eCommerce training and a web based eTraining program for online global trade in partnership with the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) and the GLOBE project. 

MBITA manages TradePort.org owned by the L.A. Chamber of Commerce (LACC) and the Bay Area Economic Forum (BAEF) and has created and currently operating the U.S’s first statewide ‘intranet’ for trade promotion services called the TradePort Collaborator supported by 40 public and private sector trade promotion organizations located throughout the California

John Proctor, CEO, Better Place

Joel Kubby, Baskin School of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC)

Marty Kurtovich, Senior Business Development Manager, Chevron Energy Solutions (CES

Marty Kurtovich currently manages business development efforts for Chevron Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Chevron U.S. A., in San Francisco, CA, His over twenty years of professional experience include positions at the California Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington DC, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company.  His past assignments include development of environmental policies to address groundwater pollution in Silicon Valley, as a Special Assistant in the Clinton Administration worked on sustainable technologies with the Western Governors Association, and developed and evaluated utility energy efficiency programs in California.  Kurtovich’s current focus is on linking the nexus between policy, technology, and economics to enable new markets for green technologies and renewable energy.  Kurtovich’s educational background is in environmental engineering and policy, with degrees from UC Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University.

John Knapp, President and CEO, Power Shaver, Energy Savings Systems

John Knapp has been happily married to his sweetheart bride Lisa for almost 19 years, and has two teenagers, a daughter Savanna, 15 and son Dallas, 13.  Knapp is actively involved in his community, serves at his local church in many facets, works with Junior High students, enjoys doing and has been involved in humanitarian work at home and overseas.  Knapp hopes to be able to use much of the profit from his company Power Shaver to continue and expand his volunteering opportunities. 

Greg Sellers, President, Burnham Energy