When the Orange County Business Journal began its Women in Business awards in 1995, OC was just pulling out of recession and under the cloud of the county bankruptcy scandal. The county, of course, has since seen a long bubble of prosperity. And the Women in Business event,scheduled this year for May 4,has more than doubled in attendees (last year’s event drew about 900), while the number of women nominated has passed the 100 mark.
But we thought we’d take a look at what’s happened to some of the past winners to see how they’ve fared in the latter half of the ’90s. Some winners have maintained their positions with growing companies, some have changed their focus or careers, and some rising stars have faded due to the temperamental nature of certain industries, while a few have simply chucked the hectic career pace and moved on to more peaceful lives.
Here’s what some of OC’s female movers and shakers have been up to in recent years:
Tried and True
SUSAN CORRALES-DIAZ
1995 winner
The president and CEO of software firm Systems Integrated in Orange, Corrales-Diaz was recently elected to the board of the Automobile Club of Southern California. Her company, which has done business with China, Malaysia and Mexico, was named one of the top 500 women-owned companies by Working Woman magazine in 1998 and last year ranked No. 19 on the OCBJ list of OC’s women-owned businesses with $17.2 million in revenue for 1998. Corrales-Diaz continues to be influential in industry circles, serving on the California Chamber of Commerce board, as a member of the President’s Export Council for national export policies and the Small Business Exporters Association. Last year, due to problems with a former Chinese business partner, she urged the World Trade Organization to revise the process by which businesses can file complaints against foreign firms.
CRISTI CRISTICH
The head of Anaheim-based Cristek Interconnects has grown this technology company from about $4 million in revenue in 1995 to about $10 million in 1999. The company now has about 100 employees. Cristich has become more active in OC, too, heading the local chapter of NAWBO last year and working with the Annual Issues Program for Leadership California,a statewide organization of 50 women dedicated to developing leadership skills among California’s female business owners. Last year, Cristek Interconnects Inc. received a Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative Award from MassMutual in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Nation’s Business magazine and First Business, a daily national television news program.
VICTORIA COLLINS
1997 winner
At the time she was spotlighted, she was a partner at the investment firm Keller, Coad & Collins, Irvine, which managed about $300 million for clients in 1997. The firm now is called Keller, Collins, Hakopian & Leisure and manages more than $1 billion for a client list that includes retirement plans, trusts, charitable institutions and private foundations, on a fee-only basis. Collins said the size of the firm’s portfolio has necessitated repositioning to better compete with bigger players in the investment field.
Collins took a six-month sabbatical last year to reside briefly in London and be closer to her husband’s work in Europe. During that time, she launched a women’s investment conference there similar to the one she began in OC in 1997. Collins’ fifth book, “Invest Beyond Dot-Com,” is due out in July, timing that both Collins and her publisher lament, given April’s market turmoil.
SUZANNE KAI
Kai, president of Newport Beach investment firm CSI International, is a former broadcast journalist from San Francisco who since her award has arranged joint-venture financing for a $100 million high-rise in Beijing, a joint-venture homebuilding program in Korea and several deals for Lehman Bros. Most recently she co-founded AsianConnections.com, a web site designed to “take the Asian market global,” Kai said. Kai, who said CSI is now “heavily into the Internet,” represented AsianConnections at a summit on the Internet and e-commerce at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Kai is principal and EVP of the new effort.
JANA TURNER
1998 winner
Turner had just been named to head CB Richard Ellis’ institutional management services division in LA at the time of the women’s awards in 1998. At the time, that meant managing about 200 million square feet of real estate across the country. Now she has expanded responsibilities, overseeing Assets Services, Facilities Management and Project Management divisions. The portfolio she oversees domestically includes more than 340 million square feet, and there’s another 200 million square feet she supervises overseas.
Turner has moved her office back to Newport Beach from LA, but spends little time there as she is often on the road.
CYNTHIA STAMPER GRAFF
Graff, president of Costa Mesa-based weight-loss specialist Lindora Medical Clinic, has seen its fortunes rise and fall with trends in weight-loss management. The company, which had $17.7 million in revenue in 1997, had about $19 million last year and was named one of the top 500 women-owned companies by Working Woman magazine. Lindora ranked No. 16 on the Business Journal list of women-owned companies last year, down from the No. 11 spot in 1998.
Changing Gears
LORI DOKA
1996 winner
Doka, co-founder of Lori’s Kitchen, once the largest mobile food service in OC, sold the company in 1997 when it was “approaching” $15 million in annual revenue and moved to Hawaii to run a Mexican restaurant she and her husband purchased there in 1990. The company that purchased Lori’s Kitchen subsequently filed for bankruptcy. Doka and her husband now run the restaurant on Oahu and own the Juice Spot franchise on the island. Doka’s Hawaiian endeavors led to a 1998 nomination for a small business of the year award from Hawaii Business.
JULIE NEWCOMB HILL
1995 winner
Hill headed Costain Homes, which at one time had more than 150 homes under development in one year. But when the London-based company decided to wind down its homebuilding activity in 1998, Hill formed a new company with colleague Clinton Hiram Fullen II. Called Hiram-Hill Development, the niche homebuilder set an ambitious revenue goal of about $40 million per year and 150 to 200 homes concentrated on infill projects. Hill said the company was sold at the end of 1999.
“My fondest dream was to take a year off,” Hill said, “but that’s not happening.”
Hill said she is discussing the possibility of heading an e-business venture with two different groups but is still assessing the options.
“I’m fascinated with e-business,” she said.
Hill is a board member with Well Point and now sits on the Women’s Leadership board of the Kennedy School at Harvard University. She still works with other non-profits, including Human Options.
NANCY PARKER
The former president of Winchell’s Donut House left the company in 1996 and is now president of Sports Service America in Buffalo, N.Y. The company specializes in food service for sports venues.
FallEN Stars
COLLETTE COZEAN
1998 winner
Once the darling of the dental research world when her company, Premier Laser, introduced a breakthrough dental laser, Cozean and her company fell on hard times in 1999. The stock, which had risen from $5 to $14 when the company was the first to win FDA clearance to market its laser, fell to just $1 on March 10, the day the company filed for bankruptcy. By then, Cozean, the company’s founder, had been ousted as chairwoman, resigned from the board and filed suit against the company for failure to pay certain benefits and salary.
KATHRYN BRAUN
1997 winner
Braun was executive vice president of Western Digital Corp.’s storage business unit that was one of the top suppliers in the 3.5-inch disk market in 1997. In 1998, she was the only female executive in OC to crack the Register’s list of OC’s 100 best-paid executives with $3.6 million in compensation.
But Western Digital, long subject to the vagaries of the volatile technology sector, saw the storage business slump badly in 1998, posting almost $300 million in losses. And Braun, then 47, said she had decided “several years ago” that she wanted to retire by age 48. So, despite optimism about the prospects for a turnaround, Braun left the company in August 1998 to spend more time with her family and on church and community services.
Through the end of 1999, the company had posted nine straight losing quarters and has shed facilities and employees along the way.
Happily Retired
LOUISE POMEROY
1995 winner
The founder of Abigail Abbott Staffing Services Inc. saw her company take in $17 million in sales that year. She retired in 1997, leaving the company in the hands of H. Wilson Beach, who was brought in as CEO. The company has since reorganized into specialty divisions, moved into the PEO business and renamed itself Abbott Resource Group. Last year, Abbott posted $50 million in sales (for the 12 months ended June 30) and ranked No. 11 on the Business Journal’s list of OC temporary employment agencies.
Meanwhile, though Pomeroy is retired, she keeps her hand in business activities, participating in public events and occasionally dropping into an Abbott branch to visit with employees.
“She really practices what she preaches,” Beach said. “She’s still an inspiration to everyone here.”
MARY ANN SCHULTE
As head of Sukut Construction in Santa Ana, Schulte was once a point person for vendors during OC’s bankruptcy. But after she married an airline pilot in 1998, she decided to retire and travel with her husband, though she has continued with charity work for Second Harvest Food Bank and Working Wardrobes. A former associate said Schulte is enjoying retirement.
SYLVIA WEST
One of OC’s elder stateswomen in business, West founded Newport Stationers in 1964 and was still working part-time until health concerns caused her to retire last year to her home in Newport Beach. The company, which created a business-services division in 1997, recently launched an online catalog and has begun offering Microsoft training at its stores. The company ranked No. 20 on the Business Journal’s list of women-owned businesses last year, with 1998 revenue of approximately $10.5 million.
LAUREL WILKENING
1996 winner
The former UCI chancellor retired from that post in 1997 and now is involved in scientific and community pursuits in Elgin, Ariz.
