When Ramin Bastani spoke at a men’s health event at the White House in early January, the chief executive of Healthvana Inc., a West Hollywood maker of a patient engagement platform for clinics, had to pinch himself.

“I still can’t really believe it happened,” said Bastani, 40. “It was an incredible honor to be there.”

Other speakers at the roughly 200-person event included U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, White House Cabinet Secretary Broderick D. Johnson and representatives from the YMCA, Boy Scouts of America and professional football teams such as the Green Bay Packers.

“How many chances do you have where you get invited to the White House, let alone to speak in such an influential group of people,” Bastani said of his talk about delivering test results to patients’ smartphones in real time.

He said one of the highlights was being pulled aside with several of the first speakers to chat with members of the administration about the work their organizations have been doing. Bastani also really enjoyed meeting Murthy, who despite his silver hair is in his late 30s and the country’s youngest surgeon general ever, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“Talk about unique opportunities,” Bastani said.

Football a Big Score

The 1993 film “Sandlot,” about a group of boys trying to reclaim an autographed baseball may have been fiction, but the plot struck close to home for Richard Giller.

A principal at the Century City office of law firm Polsinelli had his own “Sandlot” moment when he was in junior high.

His father, an underwriter for Mutual of Omaha, had a work connection with the Green Bay Packers and every Christmas Giller and his brother received a package from the team.

“One year we got a ball signed by the whole team in 1967,” Giller, 57, said. “It was their first Super Bowl year and I think there was 12 Hall of Famers on that ball.”

A couple years later, Giller and his brother were playing football in the front yard when their ball popped. So they decided to use the signed football.

“We’re trying to be careful, but you know it hits the ground a couple times so a couple names are scratched,” Giller said. “So, we kept playing with it and ruined the whole ball.”

Staff reporters Marni Usheroff and Subrina Hudson contributed to this column.