Roseville chamber looks to manufacturing sector for CEO as local industry grows
Roseville’s lead business group announced that it has hired a new CEO Monday, a vice president from the state’s manufacturing association, as the fast-growing city looks to capitalize on investments by the semiconductor industry.
Ananda Rochita, vice president of communications and strategic initiatives for the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, said in an interview Monday that she wants to focus on helping grow the pool of workers for manufacturers in the area. She cited recent investments by Bosch, the German tech conglomerate that acquired a Roseville-based semiconductor company in 2023.
At the time, Bosch said it planned to spend $1.5 billion readying the site to manufacture chips for electric cars by 2026. Last year the site received an additional boost, in a $225 million federal funding agreement. Plus, when large manufacturers move into a region, Rochita said, their suppliers often follow, and those companies will also need a base of qualified, prospective workers.
“We have all of these incredible companies,” Rochita said. “They’re struggling to find a workforce.”
The region has a good foundation of workforce development programs, Rochita said, between its community colleges and Sacramento State. But there’s still work to be done, in changing young people’s perceptions around manufacturing jobs.
Rochita, who grew up in San Francisco, worked at TV stations in Maryland and Virginia before moving to the Sacramento region to anchor and report for ABC 10 in 2016. She then moved to a public relations job at the California Manufacturers and Technology Association.
She said, over nearly a decade living and working in the region, she’s watched Roseville grow, and seen it develop a reputation as an attractive place for families to move.
“People don’t realize that Roseville is a great place to live, but it’s also a great place to do business,” Rochita said.
Rochita will step into the chamber’s CEO role on Aug. 1.
This story was originally published July 1, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
