Olen Properties table (top) Jayne Taylor and Derek Ostensen of Olen Properties, Natalia Ostensen,
Kaelee Gifford of Olen Properties, Dale Lyon, nominee Julie Ault-Snyder of Olen Properties, (bottom)
Jan Bullington, Igor Olenicoff, and Kevin Morgenstern of Olen Properties, and David Snyder of Midland
Credit Management
Over 275 local attorneys and business executives attended the Business Journal’s 15th annual General Counsel Awards held Nov. 6 at the Irvine Marriott.
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, again hosted the evening event as master of ceremonies, entertaining the audience with jokes while also introducing sponsored speakers.
Chemerinsky served as dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law for nearly a decade before stepping down in 2017 to take the same post at UC Berkeley. He is the founding dean of the Irvine law school, and a well-known professor and author with a focus on First Amendment law.
This year’s five winners hail from a diverse industry base—from medtech to manufacturing companies—and were selected from over 40 nominees.
Below is a selection of photos from the ceremony, and a pre-event gathering for nominees, sponsors and prior GCA winners.
Sponsor Lindsay Hulley of Rutan & Tucker with Business Journal Publisher Richard Reisman and sponsor Gloria Lee of Rutan & Tucker
Sponsor Brandon Smith of Morgan Lewis & Bockius with sponsor
Michael Katz of Katz Ruby & Carle and Samuel Katz of Optica Industries
Tarsus Pharmaceuticals group Dianne Whitfield, Ashley Waring, Erika Frazer, Tom Flores, winner Bryan Wahl, Kristine Ejercito Mengoli, Valentyna Chebanova and Sesha Neervannan
Sponsor Michael Sexton of Ogletree Deakins presents the award to winner
Scott Becker of Willow Innovations
Sponsor Todd Wulffson of CDF Labor Law, Master of Ceremonies Erwin Chemerinsky, dean, University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and sponsor Charlene Azema of Knobbe Martens
Matthew Tanios of Alliant, sponsor John Bradley of Troutman Pepper
Locke and winner Ako Shimada of Ushio America Inc.
Birthday boy Richard Reisman
Sponsor Roger Scott of Buchalter with past winner David Goodwin of Vast
Past winner Shawn Murphy of Mazda North America Inc., with nominee Monica Johnson of MSI and past winner and nominee John Page of Golden State Foods
Sponsors Marcus McCutcheon, Mark Itri and Jung Kim of Baker & Hostetler
Business Journal Publisher Richard Reisman with sponsor Michael Katz of Katz Ruby & Carle, winner Mark Blake of Medtronic, and past winner Avi Schwartz of Edwards Lifesciences
Past winner representing Jacuzzi Group, Jason Weintraub, now at El
Pollo Loco, sponsor Nikole Kingston of O’Melveny & Myers and the
Business Journal’s Carol Fox
Want more from the best local business newspaper in the country?
Sign-up for our FREE Daily eNews update to get the latest Orange County news delivered right to your inbox!
Sonia Chung joined the Orange County Business Journal in 2021 as their Marketing Creative Director. In her role she creates all visual content as it relates to the marketing needs for the sales and events teams.
Her responsibilities include the creation of marketing materials for six annual corporate events, weekly print advertisements, sales flyers in correspondence to the editorial calendar, social media graphics, PowerPoint presentation decks, e-blasts, and maintains the online presence for Orange County Business Journal’s corporate events.
