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Aug 14, 2018

 

Bio


Ron Gonzales (@rongon2000) is President and CEO of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. Gonzales has over 35 years of technology and public policy experience. Prior to leading the Hispanic Foundation, Gonzales was Founder, Chairman and CEO of Presencia, LLC. Presencia, LLC provides marketing and sales consulting services in the government, education, enterprise and SMB markets. Previously, Ron served as Mayor of San José, the Capital of Silicon Valley and the nation’s 10thth largest city from 1999-2006. His achievements included nationally recognized initiatives that strengthened neighborhoods, improved public education, and ensured the economic vitality of the city with high quality public services and effective solutions to affordable housing and regional transportation projects.

 

Before his election as Mayor, Gonzales worked as an executive with the Hewlett-Packard Company, in the areas of marketing, human resources, and corporate philanthropy. Gonzales served for eight years (1989-1996) on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. As a two-time mayor and member of the Sunnyvale City Council (1979-87), Gonzales helped initiate governmental efficiency measures that were recognized in the best-selling book Reinventing Government. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Notre Dame de Namur University, KIPP Bay Area Schools, and Save The Bay. He is married to Guisselle Nuñez and they live in downtown San Jose.

 

Resources

 

Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley

 

Latino Leaders Speak: Personal Stories of Struggle and Triumph by Mickey Ibarra

 

Elon Musk raises red flags with the securities and exchange commission, the City of New York caps ride sharing licenses, and Ron Gonzalez ios my guest

 

News Roundup

 

Elon Musk raises flags over privatization tweet

 

Elon Musk raised red flags with the Securities and Exchange Commission when he tweeted last Tuesday “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.” That share price was about 20% above the stock’s trading price earlier that day.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the SEC is probing whether there was any factual basis to Musk’s tweet. If not, Musk may have violated securities regulations by giving false or misleading information to the public. It’s also looking into whether Musk’s tweet was designed to pump Tesla’s share price in advance of some $920 million in convertible bonds the company has coming due in March that the company may have to tap into its cash flow to pay down if it can’t raise the funds from investors.

 

New York City caps ride sharing licenses

 

The City of New York became the first U.S. city to cap the number of licenses it issues to ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. The New York City Council voted 39-6 to approve the measure, which livery and yellow cab drivers hailed, as they’ve seen their hourly wages decline, as Uber and Lyft have increased their number of drivers from 25,000 to 80,000 over the last three years in the city. Uber and Lyft issued statements against the cap, saying that it would lead to an increase in fares. Lyft spokesman Joseph Okpaku said the move would specifically harm communities of color and passengers in the outer boroughs.

 

Tribune kills $3.9 billion Sinclair deal

 

Tribune Media has killed its $3.9 billion deal with Sinclair citing breach of contract. Tribune us arguing the 15-month deal has taken too long and that Sinclair has been too aggressive with regulators. The announcement came following the FCC’s 4-0 decision to refer the merger to an administrative law judge. It also came amidst a new class-action lawsuit brought by national advertisers and a DOJ investigation into whether Tribune and Sinclair colluded to fix advertising sales rates.

 

Instagram added more users than Snap’s total usership

 

Snapchat parent Snap Inc. reported a 2% drop in its monthly usership in the second quarter—its first reported decline since its founding in 2011--to about 188 million monthly users. Competitor Instagram’s monthly usership, on the other hand, now stands at 1 billion. This translated to a $353 million revenue loss for Snap, which was up by 2 percentage points in after-hours trading Monday to 12.57 per share.

 

Pentagon limits fitness devices in sensitive areas

 

Finding that fitness devices posed a “significant risk” to military personnel, the Pentagon issued an order last week restricting military personnel from wearing fitness tracking devices in sensitive locations. The new order allows commanders to decide whether to ban the devices in their specific area, based on the nature of the military activities happening there. For example, using tracking devices in training areas, such as Fort Hood, would be less of a concern than using the devices in less secure areas during military operations abroad. The new rule is a response to the fact that fitness app Strava publishes a Heatmap that shows where in the world its subscribers, including military personnel, have been exercising, which can shed light on classified troop movements.

Facebook to require more information from page managers

 

Finally, Facebook announced a new authorization process for page managers that will make it more difficult for fake accounts to maintain Facebook pages. The new process will require page managers to secure their account with two-factor authentication. Facebook says it will also be more transparent about who manages each page by adding a “People Who Manage This Page” section. It will also show when pages have been merged. Facebook says it will begin enforcing the new standards later this month and eventually roll out the changes to Instagram as well.