Founder of the SanDisk which successfully developed and implemented 14 consecutive generations of flash memory chips, thereby reducing the cost of flash storage by more than 10,000 times cumulatively. SanDisk has reshaped the consumer electronics landscape, enabling flash imaging cards and flash-based MP3, which helped to enable the digital photography and music revolutions, replacing 35mm film as well as tapes and CDs.

Formed in early 1987, The Brenner Group was the first company to institutionalize the idea of interim management as a business, rather than something to do between jobs. Today, the company provides interim executives, as well as restructuring and financial advisory services.

In April of 1909, radio broadcasting was born in San Jose when Charles (a.k.a. "Doc") Herrold, an electronics instructor, constructed the world's first broadcasting station in downtown San Jose. The station, known as "San Jose Calling" (there were no call letters back then), continues to this day as KCBS in San Francisco. Herrold, who was the son of a Santa Clara farmer, also coined the terms "narrowcasting" and "broadcasting," and was the first play music across the airwaves on a regular basis. In 1919, his wife Sybil Herrold became the world's first disc jockey.

The world's first broadcasting station began life in 1909 identified simply as "This is San Jose calling." The brainchild of San Jose scientist and inventor Charles "Doc" Herrold, the station became KQW in 1921 and then KCBS in 1949. In 1968 KCBS debuted the all-news format that it continues to this day.

In 1938, Frank Dorsa invented the mass-produced frozen waffle, making Eggo a household name.

The first Togo’s was opened in downtown San Jose, California, in the late 1960s by two men named Tom and Gordon. The first shop was located in the heart of San Jose State University‚s Fraternity district. The original shop was so small that the sign out front read "Sandwiches To Go" with "To Go" on the second line. Some believe it was the students that nicknamed the shop Togo's, but there is another story. There is a possessive apostrophe between the letters "O" and the "S". Tom and Gordon named the shop after themselves. 1st (2) letters of 'TO'm ('TO') and the first (2) letters of 'GO'rdon ('GO'), then add the possessive apostrophe and the "S" ('S'). 'TO'M & 'GO'RDON'S' = TOGO'S, the only problem with this version is the original sign did not have an apostrophe "s". In 1968 a sandwich was 49 cents. In 1971, they sold the tiny shop to a local SJSU student, Michael T. Cobler, who opened many new locations over the years, building and establishing a well-known reputation. Many of the original shops were located in old houses, which maintained the non-chain feel.

First CPA firm in California to place highest in Accounting Today's Best Places to work nationwide for our firm size category of 25-249 employees.

Apple computers is the first technology company to resign from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as the debate over global warming legislation heats up in Congress. It is also the most significant defector because Apple is a leading American brand and consumers strongly identify with its products.

Original Joe's has been a most beloved restaurant for many years and has brought and still brings business to the downtown San Jose area. The food is great also.

Greenlee's Bakery, founded in San Jose in 1924, is the originator of the popular cinnamon bread that now has nationwide fans and distribution.

Cantoni and Gerrans invented the prune pitter for California Prune & Apricot Growers Association cooperative in 1965, then still home to what would become Sunsweet Growers Inc. and then still the prune capital of the world. (1995 Cantoni obit attached)

San Jose native Amadeo Peter Giannini founded the Bank of Italy, now the Bank of America, following the 1906 earthquake.

The Louisiana Territory's Cajun Cookin Truck is the first "closed" San Jose restaurant to re-appear in San Jose in the form of a Gourmet Lunch Truck, and it posts it's whearabouts on facebook and twitter!www.thelouisianaterritory.com

NVIDIA’s NVISION 2008 was the first-ever visual computing mega-event that took place in Downtown San Jose in August 2008. NVISION gathered the top visual computing professionals, world-class gamers, innovative artists and designers and cutting edge researchers to share their ideas and experiences. Thousands of engineers, designers, artists, enthusiasts, gamers, filmmakers, entrepreneurs and consumers from around the world were in attendance. NVISION 08 was created by Santa Clara‚s own NVIDIA, the world leader in visual computing technologies.

Scott Wharton, CEO of Vidtel, was the first to create a high-definition inter-enterprise video conferencing service. Before Vidtel, companies could only use their high-definition executive video phones and telepresence equipment internally. The breakthrough Vidtel service enables companies to use their HD video gear to video conference with partners, customers, suppliers and other companies with equipment. Vidtel's service also interoperates, for the first time allowing a Tandberg video phone to work with a Polycom video conference, for example. The service enables multi-point video conferencing as well as point-to-point video calling. This innovative service will create an explosion in video usage and will further decrease business travel and environmental burden.

The first integrated social networking program within the 300-plus councils of the Boy Scouts of America was launched in 2009 by the Santa Clara County Council: www.ScoutNow.org uses all the most recent technological tools to keep our Scouts and leaders informed on what's happening within the council. The site provides a forum for leaders to exchange ideas, for Eagle Scouts to share projects and get questions answered, and for current information to be sent out on a timely basis. Linked to the site are three highly-used social networking sites that tie back to ScoutNow.org: Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn plus there's a YouTube site where local units can post videos - one of them won national honors for being the best home-made recruitment video in the nation.  

Kathryn Mathewson was co-founder and first woman professor of the first Urban Landscape Architecture Company in the U.S. at City College in Harlem. In the early 1970s she wrote the first grant to bring Blacks into the profession and this led to the first 2008 black president of ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects). 

The strawberry research at BAREC (Bay Area Research and Extension Center) which introduced Methal Bromide to the world was the only research of its kind in the world. This research led to California growing today about 85 percent of the strawberries in the nation. This is such an important product for California that it was the only agricultural product allowed into China during the 2008 Olympic Games. BAREC is on Winchester Blvd. and from the 1880s until 2003 it had a San Jose address.

Solyndra is the first company to receive a loan guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Energy under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Altogether, Solyndra earned $800 million in private equity this year, and broke ground on a new facility on September 4th. It will produce enough solar panels each year to generate 500 megawatts of energy and may create around 3,000 new jobs. Vice President Joe Biden appeared at the ground breaking via satellite, as well as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who brought out his famous one liner for the occasion: “Hasta la vista to global warming.”

First downtown San Jose grocery store and deli.

City Councilman Pete Constant has announced a new iPhone application that allows users to snap pictures of graffiti, abandoned vehicles and other neighborhood blight using the phone's built-in camera, then register their complaint with Constant's office. His staff then directs the maintenance requests to the proper city department. The application and its use is the first of its kind in the Bay Area. The application works throughout the Bay Area and staffers from District 1 are able to field complaints from all districts.

The opening of the Bloomingdale's store at the Stanford Shopping Center was the first in Silicon Valley and the first on the West Coast.

Opened the Bay Area's First Aveda Lifestyle Salon at Santana Row. They were also the first salon owners in the South Bay Area to win the Global Salon Business Award.