Via ANTELOPE VALLEY PRESS:
LANCASTER — Antelope Valley Economic Development & Growth Enterprise (AV EDGE) Board of Directors President Martin Tompkins and Executive Director Drew Mercy presented the Navigating Change Award to recipient Kathy Mac Laren-Gomez at Thursday’s AV EDGE Spring Business Summit at the AV Fair & Event Center.
“We’re very fortunate that in our community we’re home to several incredible leaders and got some of the most impressive and accomplished nominees for this year’s Navigating Change award,” Mercy said.
The award honors individuals who have demonstrated exemplary leadership through their community service, significantly improving the quality of life for individuals and/or significantly helping organizations or local governments while meeting the changing circumstances and challenges in the Antelope Valley region.
Mac Laren-Gomez was nominated along with her husband, Dave Gomez, who died last fall. Kathy has the director of Transitional Technologies position for IBEW/NECA/LMCC of Los Angeles County, and Dave served as executive director of Business Development for IBEW/NECA until his passing in November.
“Dave and Kathy have been fixtures in the Antelope Valley for decades,” Mercy said after he invited Kathy on stage. “Their work in business development for IBEW on behalf of hardworking electricians has led to incredible partnerships between local companies with labor and management working together to bring new projects, funding and jobs to the Antelope Valley.”
He added both served on the Palmdale Water District board of directors. Mac Laren-Gomez is president of the board. Dave was a past member of the board.
“Having both served on the Palmdale Water Board, their forward thinking has helped ensure our longterm stability of water supplies for families and businesses throughout our Valley,” he said. “Dave and Kathy were partners in both work as well as life, and you could hardly find a community event they weren’t attending to support. Tragically, we recently lost Davie, but his legacy lives on through a lifetime of public service that Kathy and their incredible family continue.”
Mac Laren-Gomez thanked Mercy and Tompkins for the honor.
“We have always been very happy to work with anybody in the community,” she said. “It’s all about making it a win-win-win situation because it’s not just a win for who I work for. … I represent the contractor and the workers. But it’s a win for whatever organization I partner with, or city that I partner with, and the biggest win is always for our community and our region. We’re working so hard and I’ve got to tell you folks the best is yet to come.”
She encouraged the audience to never speak bad about what’s going on and to always find something good to say and work for something better for the community.
“Let’s keep working together; keep making those partnerships — we have the cities working together — and let’s do more great things because our community deserves it,” she said.
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