BBB Photo | Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego (left) and BBB President and CEO Matthew Fehling (right) celebrate BBB's 85th anniversary at the Phoenix campus.

In July, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) merged BBB Central California and the Inland Empire with BBB Serving the Pacific Southwest, generating excitement throughout both entities.

The new name following the merger is BBB Pacific Southwest, Central & Inland California. The merger allowed BBB to expand its footprint, with hubs in Fresno, Bakersfield, San Diego and Newport Beach, along with Arizona cities Phoenix, Prescott, Yuma and Lake Havasu City.

BBB focuses on helping people get information on businesses so they can make educated decisions.

“Since the merger, we’ve noticed a promising cultural shift, with enthusiasm for new benefits and programs on the rise,” Matthew Fehling, president and CEO of BBB Pacific Southwest, Central & Inland California, said via email. “The integration of resources shows the promise that we hope for — to increase our efficiency.”

The merger came at the tail end of Blair Looney’s career as the former president and CEO of BBB Serving Central California & Inland Empire Counties. Looney held this role for 13 years.

“Our companies have grown from similar foundations and are culturally compatible,” Looney said after the announcement of the merger in July. “We are incredibly excited to bring our two BBB teams together.”

With the merger, BBB now covers communities with a combined total of more than 20 million residents and 23,700 BBB-accredited businesses.

Nathan Gilbert took over as the regional director of the Fresno branch on Sept. 16 and described the merger’s aftermath as a “whirlwind.”

Prior to joining BBB, Gilbert spent eight years as the director of franchise development for Deli Delicious from 2012 to 2020. Since then, Gilbert has consulted and held positions with other companies.

Gilbert saw firsthand how the facilities in Phoenix and San Diego operate and came away inspired. Once he returned to Fresno, he felt an “overwhelming swell of enthusiasm.”

BBB prides itself on its eight standards of trust it holds for itself and member businesses. These standards include building trust, advertising honestly, telling the truth, being transparent, honoring promises, being responsive, safeguarding privacy and embodying integrity.

As announced in July, some of the new programs coming to Fresno are the BBB Business Incubator, BBB + Empower by GoDaddy Main St. Accelerator, ignite sparked by BBB coworking spaces, access to capital with KIVA loans, educational summits, BBB4Good and more.

Gilbert aspires to bring what he learned in Phoenix and San Diego to Fresno. He believes that what he learned can amplify the eight standards of trust.

Fehling, president and CEO of the combined BBB organization, said that Gilbert has already brought new ideas and “will inspire innovation and strengthen our innovation.”

Even though Fehling, who was CEO and president of BBB Serving the Pacific Southwest prior to the merger, is now working with more branches, he hasn’t seen much of a change outside of working with more people.

“Thus far, the biggest change in my role has been the additional awesome team members that I’m blessed to support,” Fehling said.

In the months following the merger, Fehling has noticed the different ways that branches operate.

“We’ve observed a variety of innovative approaches to community service, education, and business engagement,” Fehling said. “We’re excited to continue to analyze these approaches and look forward to integrating many aspects across the organization.”