Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. announced a roster of appointments in portfolio management and business leadership positions in the wake of word that Mohamed El-Erian will step down as chief executive and co-chief investment officer. El-Erian’s resignation will be effective mid-March. Current Chief Operating Officer Douglas Hodge was named the new CEO. Pimco cofounder Bill Gross will serve as chief investment officer, a title he previously shared with El-Erian. (see related OC Insider column, page 3).
Newport Beach-based private equity investor Windjammer Capital Investors sold its stake in Automatic Bar Controls Inc. to Middleby Corp. on undisclosed terms. Vacaville-based Automatic Bar Controls, also known as Wunder-Bar, makes drink and condiment dispensing systems used in restaurants, convenience stores and other food-service operations. It has annual revenue of about $30 million.
MemorialCare Health System named a new chief financial officer and added a title to its corporate treasurer’s title. Karen Testman is the new chief financial officer at the Fountain Valley-based healthcare system. She previously served as MemorialCare’s senior vice president of financial operations and as chief financial officer at two MemorialCare hospitals: Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley and Saddleback Memorial Medical Center. MemorialCare said Rick Graniere now has the title of chief investment officer in addition to his responsibilities as corporate treasurer. Separately, MemorialCare appointed Wendy Dorchester chief administrative officer of its Seaside Health Plan business unit, a new position.
Orange-based Western Dental Services Inc. named Simon Castellanos its new chief executive officer. He succeeds Samuel Gruenbaum, who held the post for about 15 years. Western Dental, with an estimated 79,325 members in Orange County, ranked No. 8 in the 2013 Business Journal list of the county’s largest dental health care plans.
Newport Beach-based Preferred Hotel Group added the Island Hotel Newport Beach to its roster of member properties. Preferred offers sales, marketing and distribution services to more than 650 hotels. Its iPrefer guest loyalty program is one of its newest offerings. Island Hotel is owned by Newport Beach-based Irvine Company. It joins its sister property, Hotel Irvine Jamboree Center, formerly a Hyatt Regency, as a Preferred Hotel member.
Several Orange County properties received nods in the most recent round of travel surveys. Forbes Travel Guide released its Five Star Awards, with the top ratings going to Montage Laguna Beach, The Resort at Pelican Hill and St. Regis Monarch Beach. The Montage’s Studio restaurant was the only local property to receive a five-star rating in the restaurant category. Local spas that received a Forbes five-star rating were Spa Gaucin at St. Regis, Spa Montage Laguna Beach, and The Spa at Pelican Hill. Many of the properties Forbes recognized were also listed as some of the best hotels in the U.S. by Travel + Leisure for its annual World’s Best Awards. Locals included in World’s Best were The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, St. Regis Monarch Beach, The Resort at Pelican Hill and Montage Laguna Beach.
Mark Robinson Jr., managing partner of Newport Beach-based law firm Robinson Calcagnie Robinson Shapiro Davis Inc., was scheduled to be installed as this year’s president of the American Board of Trial Advocates. The board, which was cofounded by Robinson’s father in the 1950s, has about 7,000 lawyers and judges across 97 chapters in the U.S. The Orange County chapter, which has about 200 members, named Christopher Wesierski, managing partner of Wesierski & Zurek LLP in Irvine, president for this year. Attorney Michael Maguire, head of Maguire & Associates in Costa Mesa, will serve as 2014 president for ABOTA National Foundation Trustees.
A judge awarded nearly $5 million to newspaper carriers who worked for U-T San Diego when it was called the San Diego Union-Tribune under prior ownership, ruling that they were employees of the company. Santa Ana lawyer Daniel Callahan of Callahan & Blaine represented the carriers in a class-action lawsuit that claimed the company wrongly classified them as independent contractors. Callahan, who got $6.2 million in attorney fees, won a similar lawsuit and a $38 million settlement from Orange County Register owner Freedom Communications in a case filed in 2009.
Freedom Communications Holdings Inc. agreed to manage a weekly newspaper in Los Angeles County. The company said it will manage the Hermosa Beach-based Easy Reader and its three magazines under a long-term agreement. It’s the company’s first push into the county since starting the Long Beach Register newspaper last summer.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: Employment in Orange County in 2013, when the economy added nearly 35,000 jobs, a gain of 2% that took the labor pool to about 1.46 million jobs.
The trend continued through December, when the gain of 3,600 jobs helped push down the unemployment
rate to 5.2% from 5.7% in November and 6.8%
a year earlier.
