LB Director of Technology, Innovation Appointed: RL NEWS Briefs June 2, 2015

LB Director of Technology, Innovation Appointed
LONG BEACH — City Manager Pat West named Bryan M. Sastokas director of technology and innovation. His appointment will be effective June 15.
The Department of Technology and Innovation plans and develops the technology infrastructure for the city. The department works emphasizes transparency, openness and civic engagement. The department also runs LBTV, the city’s cable channel.
Mr. Sastokas is replacing Curtis Tani, who retired in September 2014.
Sastokas earned a master of science in management from Cambridge College. He attended undergraduate school with a focus on computer engineering at Pennsylvania State University, completed graduate studies at Harvard University in software engineering, and earned a graduate certificate in senior executive leadership from Georgetown University.
Sastokas, a technology executive with 20 years of experience in the public and private sectors, has served as chief information officer for Oakland since 2014, where he is responsible for overseeing technology initiatives and for the delivery of information technology services. Prior to joining the City of Oakland, Sastokas had executive positions with Modesto, Calif, Coral Springs, Fla., and with several private sector companies including: the Universal Service Administrative Company; John Hancock Financial Services; Bay Networks, Inc; and Stream International Inc.
Under Sastokas’ leadership, his cities have been ranked in the Top 10 by the Center for Digital Government and a recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Professionally, Sastokas has been recognized nationally as one of the “Premier 100 IT Leaders” by Computerworld, named one of Government Technology’s “Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers for 2015”, and has been acknowledged by the San Francisco Business Times & Silicon Valley Business Journal as a “Community Champion” in the 2015 Bay Area CIO Awards.

Ports Create Supply Chain Working Groups
LONG BEACH — On May 27, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announced the creation of working groups focusing on peak operations and terminal optimization to develop ways to strengthen the competitiveness of the San Pedro Bay port complex.
Participants in the issue-specific working groups will be drawn from goods movement industry stakeholders, including shipping lines, cargo owners, labor, railroads, trucking interests, equipment owners and more.
The Peak Season 2015 working group will be the first to meet — in early June — kicking off a series of intensive sessions. The job of this first working group will be to drill down on this year’s peak demand needs at the port complex. The mission of the supply chain optimization effort overall is to build upon the economic benefits the port complex provides to the region.
The seven working groups are Peak Season 2015, Container Terminal Optimization, Chassis, Off-dock Solutions, Key Performance Indicators/Data Solutions, Intermodal Rail, and Drayage.
The ports’ Supply Chain Optimization effort springs from an agreement approved by the Federal Maritime Commission earlier this year that allows the neighboring ports to discuss new efficiencies and other improvements that would improve the ports’ business competitiveness, environmental sustainability and security.
The Supply Chain Optimization Steering Committee – comprised of port leaders – is reaching out to stakeholders across the industry for participants for the seven working groups, starting with the Peak Season 2015 working group.
In addition, the ports will convene advisory groups of additional environmental, industry, community and government stakeholders to be asked for input on proposals put forth by the working groups.

LACCD, LA Regional Career Pathways Project Wins $15 Million Grant
LOS ANGELES — On May 29, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that the Los Angeles Community College District has received a $15 million California Career Pathways grant to help prepare more Angelenos for jobs in high demand and high growth sectors.
The funding is secured in part by the Los Angeles Economic and Workforce Development Department.
The grant will expand on the existing partnership between the City of Los Angeles Workforce Investment Board, the Economic and Workforce Development Department, the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles Community College District.
Funding from this grant will go towards career readiness programming at the City’s YouthSource Centers, a network of 16 organizations that offer intensive education and job training assistance, paid work experience, work readiness career exploration and college preparation for youth ages 14 to 24. The YouthSource System is managed by the Economic and Workforce Development Department.
This grant is a portion of $244 million awarded by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson to 40 programs that blend academic and career technical education, connect employers with schools and train students for jobs in high-growth fields, including: information technology, advanced manufacturing, health care and software development.
In addition to the $15 million in direct funding, the grant includes more than $1.7 million of in-kind and matched resources that will help further expand Career Pathways Trust funding and enable the partnership to serve more than 6,000 participants in total. The partnership will work with more than 95 employers to offer more than 1,800 internship opportunities that allow students to get first-hand exposure to the world of work and better prepare for post-secondary education.
The grants are provided through the California Career Pathways Trust, the largest program of its kind in the nation, providing nearly $500 million in career tech grants over a two-year period.