Ambassador Committee

Al Varga is the principal of WSI – Varga Group, a veteran-owned digital marketing agency serving Walnut Creek and the surrounding Bay Area. He helps small and midsize businesses attract more qualified customers through marketing strategy, website design and optimization, local SEO, AI search optimization, paid advertising and social media.

Al takes a consultant-led approach, first understanding each company’s goals and challenges before recommending practical strategies designed to produce measurable results.

Originally from Michigan, Al moved to California in 1996. He now lives in Walnut Creek’s Northgate neighborhood with his wife, Jen, and their daughter, Yolande. An avid golfer, he especially enjoys playing at Boundary Oak, conveniently located just down the road. Al is also active in the local business community and enjoys building relationships, connecting people and helping business owners navigate the changing digital landscape.

By understanding your needs, Val can help you find the right financial solutions and move your business forward. 

Val’s talents within finance have brought her numerous accolades such as Top Performer 2017, 2018, 2019. She received the National President’s award in 2019-20. Her pivotal moment came in 2020 when she was awarded and became a team lead for the Payroll Protection Program. This was when Val realized she wanted to focus on working with business owners and dedicate her career to helping those grow within their respective industry and has never looked back. In addition to her vast experience in business and personal finance. Val is also passionate about philanthropy and has served with multiple local non-profits. She currently sits on 4 different boards as a member that includes “Friends of Camp Concord,” “Diablo Ballet,” “Las Lomas Boosters Foundation,” and "Las Lomas Football Foundation.” Val also serves as a "Co-Chair Ambassador" to the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce; she is highly dedicated to her community and involvement.

Fleur Anderson is a chef-entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of BOCOBITES, an award-winning French food brand based in the San Francisco Bay Area. BOCOBITES® was created with a simple mission: to make authentic, restaurant-quality French cuisine accessible, convenient, and sustainable.

Each recipe is chef-crafted, preserved in reusable glass jars, shelf-stable for up to one year, and ready to enjoy in minutes. The brand serves customers, retailers, wineries, hotels, corporate clients, and specialty food partners looking for premium prepared meals with a strong culinary identity.

In 2026, BOCOBITES received the Innovation Award at the East Bay Women’s Conference, recognizing its approach to culinary innovation, sustainability, and modern food experiences.

Fleur is passionate about food innovation, brand storytelling, and building meaningful partnerships that bring French gastronomy to new audiences across the Bay Area and beyond.

Joanne Castillo is the Founder and Head Coach of Infalible Fit, a strength and longevity coaching company helping driven adults build strength for the life they want to live.

A former Air Force medic with 15+ years of healthcare experience, Joanne brings a unique perspective to fitness by combining her clinical background, strength coaching expertise, and her own experience transforming her health through a 50-pound weight loss and competitive boxing.

Infalible Fit was built around a simple belief: the strength you build today shapes how you live tomorrow. Through personalized personal training, virtual coaching, and online coaching programs, Joanne helps adults 40+ get stronger, move better, increase their energy, and build sustainable habits that support long-term health and independence.

Infalible Fit is also expanding its work into corporate wellness, partnering with organizations to bring practical, sustainable health and fitness solutions into the workplace.

At the heart of Joanne's work are three principles: Strength. Longevity. Confidence. Her goal isn't simply to help people exercise, it's to help them build the strength and confidence to keep doing the things that matter to them for years to come.

Teri Day is a Fractional COO & Founder Partner with 30 years of corporate experience, including two decades in operational leadership and 10 years in executive roles. She works with founders and leaders with 10+ employees who are scaling and need operational efficiency, clear leadership structure, and steady executive partnership.

Teri is known for bringing calm authority to complex environments, strengthening systems, clarifying standards, and helping founders lead without carrying the entire organization on their shoulders.

Kim Falahati, Founded Family Matters in 2013. A one stop shop that helps with any transition in the home, specializing in downsizing, seniors and “collectors”. With over 25 years experience working with families, a degree in Psychology, her personal experience with her senior parents and her passion for helping others, she has the knowledge and compassion to help her clients when they are overwhelmed and asking the daunting question, "Where do I start?" 

With her 4 teams; Moving, Hauling, Organizing and Estate Sales, Kim is the Family Facilitator and knows that no single approach is the right one for every individual. She customizes a plan that is specific to her clients needs, helping save time and money. 

Travel Advisors curate personalized, hassle-free travel experiences by handling research, bookings, and planning for cruises, flights, rail journeys, hotels & resorts, excursions, tours, and travel insurance, among others. They provide expert, insider knowledge, often securing exclusive benefits (upgrades, free breakfast, credits) and function as advocates to fix disruptions like flight cancellations and others.

Key Services & Benefits:

• Time Savings & Expertise: They research and plan complex itineraries, saving you hours of searching while providing firsthand knowledge of destinations.
• Exclusive Perks & Upgrades: Access to amenities not available to the public, such as complimentary room upgrades, resort credits, and early check-in.
• Personalized Planning: Tailoring vacations to specific needs such as honeymoons, family, or business—rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
• Stress Relief & Support: Acting as a personal assistant during your trip to manage booking issues, emergencies, or logistical hitches, among others.
• Often Free to Use: Many advisors are paid commission by suppliers (hotels, cruise lines), meaning you get expert service without extra costs.

Affiliation:

Our parent company is the Internova Travel Group.

Our network includes more than 114, 000 Advisors in more than eighty countries worldwide.

Our network produces more than $10B in annual sales.

We are among the top ten retail travel suppliers in the world and highly respected in the travel industry.

Professionally, this agency is associated with the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Locally, we are long-time members of the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau where our Principal and General Manager (Ron Hermanson) is a former member of the Board of Directors, a member of the Ambassadors team and former Chair of the Civic Affairs Program. .  

Travel Advisors curate personalized, hassle-free travel experiences by handling research, bookings, and planning for cruises, flights, rail journeys, hotels & resorts, excursions, tours, and travel insurance, among others. They provide expert, insider knowledge, often securing exclusive benefits (upgrades, free breakfast, credits) and function as advocates to fix disruptions like flight cancellations and others.

About AlphaGraphics Walnut Creek

AlphaGraphics Walnut Creek has proudly served our community since 1999, with roots and relationships throughout Contra Costa, Alameda, and Solano Counties that run even deeper. Today, we proudly partner with businesses, nonprofits, schools, and community organizations across the East Bay and Solano County.

From business cards to banners, signage to direct mail, and integrated marketing campaigns, we help organizations get noticed, get business, and make a lasting impression.

Our experienced team brings over 100 years of combined print and marketing expertise, delivering more than exceptional printing—we provide peace of mind through creativity, craftsmanship, and dependable service.

We believe every project is more than ink on paper—it's an opportunity to tell a story, strengthen a brand, and help our customers make an impact in the communities they serve.

Rep Info

One of my favorite ideas comes from Robert Wright's Nonzero: human progress advances not merely through competition, but through expanding opportunities for mutual gain. That's exactly how I view our Chamber. When businesses, nonprofits, schools, civic leaders, and our community work together, we create an ecosystem where everyone grows stronger.

I believe the Chamber is much more than a networking organization—it's a community of people investing in one another's success. If I can help make one introduction, solve one problem, or inspire one new idea, then I've done my job as an Ambassador.

Whether you're exploring a new idea, tackling a business challenge, or simply looking for another perspective, I'd be happy to listen, ask questions, and serve as a sounding board.

Our Mission
To empower businesses, creators, and community organizations by bringing their ideas to life through print and marketing solutions that capture attention, inspire action, and create lasting impact.

Our Promise
We deliver on this mission through exceptional service, creative problem-solving, and unwavering craftsmanship.
Our Motto
"Let noble thoughts come to us from every direction."
(Rig Veda 1.89.1)

Michael Nathan is the Founder & Global Managing Partner of Meritage.Group, a boutique global strategic advisory firm helping startups to local businesses embrace AI-native and emerging technologies to build their go-to-market strategies, partner ecosystems, and investor narratives they need to scale — with engagements across the Bay Area, London, India, Italy, Switzerland, and Japan.

Michael brings 20+ years of Fortune 500 partnership leadership — including Microsoft, Cisco, Apple, and HP — combined with venture-side business development at Sierra Ventures, IBM Ventures, and Quake Capital. He has closed multimillion-dollar enterprise deals, structured capital raises, and guided AI companies from first deployment to national pipelines and pre-seed close. He currently serves as Interim Chief Business Officer for Blaze Guardian, a wildfire-resilience technology company.

A Walnut Creek resident, Michael lives in the Northgate Neighborhood with his wife and dog, Rocco.  Their eldest daughter graduated with a business degree from Saint Mary’s College in 2025 and works in Silicon Valley, their eldest son graduated with a Business management degree from Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles in May of this year and works for the University and their youngest son graduated from De La Salle High School this May and is heading to Southern California to pursue his Business Degree at Loyola Marymount University this Fall.  

Michael welcomes conversations with community business owners and management, residents and fellow Chamber members about partnerships, GTM strategy, business storytelling, Product Market Fit to capital-raise readiness — reach him at Michael@Meritage.Group or https://Meritage.Group.

Former business owner in technology space, now I assist small businesses with all things people related from hire to retire.  

Zubin Thomas is building his financial advising practice at Golden Summit Wealth in Walnut Creek, where he helps individuals, families, and business owners across the Bay build and protect their financial lives. Zubin was born in Melbourne, Australia and raised in San Ramon. After college he worked in investment banking at Citi’s headquarters in Manhattan and in real estate private equity at Behring Capital, a firm founded by the family that developed the Blackhawk community. After returning home to the Bay, he decided to bring these experiences to a practice built on one simple promise: Wall Street experience with a personal touch. Zubin is an active member and Ambassador of the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce and is passionate about financial education, building educational tools that help clients understand the “why” behind every decision, and giving back to this community that raised him. A life motto and lesson he carries throughout his life and into his practice is that ‘kindness is the highest returning investment a person can make’. Outside of work, Zubin enjoys cooking, playing soccer, and spending time with his girlfriend and family around the East Bay