Better Business Bureau serving San Diego, Orange and Imperial Counties officially announces its expansion after merging with BBB Greater Arizona. Now as BBB Pacific Southwest (BBB), the non-profit, which helps consumers find businesses and charities they can trust, has influence over nearly 12 million residents.
As one of the largest BBB’s in North America, the newly combined service area represents more than 19,000 BBB Accredited Businesses who support the mission of the standards-based organization. Additionally, BBB operates community campuses in Orange, San Diego, Maricopa (Phoenix), Mohave, Yavapai and Yuma counties providing services ranging from meditation and arbitration to business meeting and training space.
Matthew Fehling, who formerly led the award-winning Greater Arizona BBB with 23 years of BBB experience was named president and chief executive officer of BBB Pacific Southwest.
"The merger is following a proven model of success that has generated positive results through over 30 BBB mergers in the past 20 years,” Fehling said. “The diligence and dedication of our 46 board members and 125 staff are the reason we reached this point of success.”
BBB Boards of Directors from each of the previous organization were key players in the execution of the merger ensuring the right leader created a vision of more relevance for BBB Accredited Businesses and brought innovation to the 106-year old brand.
“We needed a visionary, someone to come in and take us to the next level. We knew Matt Fehling was the person to make this happen because we were so blown away by what he was doing in Arizona,” BBB Pacific Southwest Board Chairman and Owner of Coastal Payroll Jonathan Gallagher said. “I think of BBB as a 100-year old startup. What we’ve done for the last 100 years and what we will do for the next 100 years will be so different, yet so impactful to this community.”
BBB Pacific Southwest plans to expand its presence by building industry associations with local owners and experts, special advisory committees and reinforce its commitment to create a community of trustworthy businesses.
Another priority for BBB Pacific Southwest is to emulate the current Phoenix Business Community Center in San Diego and Orange County.
“We would like BBB in San Diego and Orange County to become a meeting destination for the business community at-large by providing conference space to host clients, staff, board meetings and leadership training,” Fehling said.
BBB will also continue its crucial engagement with younger generations and honoring local, ethical, high school students through scholarship grants and educational programming.
About Better Business Bureau Serving Pacific Southwest
For more than 100 years, Better Business Bureau (BBB) has been helping people find businesses and charities they can trust. In 2017, people turned to BBB more than 167 million times by checking more than 5.2 million Business Profiles and on 11,000 charities on Charity Reports - all available to the public for free at bbb.org. Incorporated locally in 1938, BBB Serving Pacific Southwest merged on April 1, 2018 and now covers key campuses in Phoenix, San Diego, Orange, Prescott, Yuma and Lake Havasu City. BBB PSW is supported by over 19,000 BBB Accredited Businesses, making it one of the largest BBB nationwide. Businesses that earn BBB Accreditation contractually agree and adhere to high standards of ethical business practices in the marketplace. BBB provides objective expertise and educational programs on topics affecting marketplace trust.
