This year’s OC 50 has an unprecedented infusion of new blood.
The Business Journal’s annual inventory of the most influential members of the business community here features a turnover of about 20% from last year, with 11 new members and 10 new entries.
There are actually 55 individuals on the list, thanks to five dual entries in cases in which two executives are closely bound by professional circumstances or family ties.
Plenty of familiar names remain—from Argyros, Bren and Creed to Sun, Tu and Ueberroth.
The turnover, meanwhile, comes in part on a wave of retirements and transfers—and a firing in one case. One-time perennial members of the list who retired in the past year include John Coyne, who said goodbye as chief executive of Irvine-based data storage products maker Western Digital Corp.; Thomas McKernan, who gave up the chief executive’s post at Automobile Club of Southern California in Costa Mesa, where he retains the title of chairman of the mutual benefit corporation; and Jim Mazzo, who stepped down as president of Abbott Medical Optics Inc. in Santa Ana after a long run in charge of a key company in OC’s concentration of ophthalmological businesses (see related story, page 3).
A couple of other spots came open with other personal moves. Susan McGalla was fired as chief executive of Foothill Ranch-based retailer Wet Seal Inc. after a little more than a year. George Kalogridis gave up his post as president of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim for the same position with the Walt Disney World Resort in his home state of Florida.
Some other entries fell off the list based on our annual recalculation of the local landscape, which includes a best effort to gauge the waxing and waning fortunes of executives, their companies and industries.
Some of the open spots were filled by replacements for executives who retired or were transferred—Kalogridis’ successor, Michael Colglazier, took a spot on the list based on the overarching importance of the Disneyland Resort as OC’s main driver of tourism and largest employer.
Steve Milligan got similar consideration as the successor to Coyne at Western Digital, the world’s largest maker of disk drives.
A reconsideration of the importance of the local healthcare industry in general and hospitals in particular—combined with an action-packed year in the sector—led to several more newcomers. Richard Afable made the list based on his recent appointment as chief executive of Irvine-based Covenant Health Network.
Deborah Proctor, who runs Orange-based St. Joseph Health System, which joined its four OC hospitals with Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian to form Covenant—also debuts on this year’s list.
Kimberly Cripe is another newcomer, based on her duties running Children’s Hospital of Orange County, which opened a $560 million patient tower earlier this year.
Barry Arbuckle also made the list for the first time after a year that saw the MemorialCare Health System he oversees pursue a number of strategic initiatives, including the $34 million purchase of a new headquarters in Costa Mesa.
This year’s OC 50 added a couple of members in the finance category, although neither started there. Vinny Smith made the list after his sale of Quest Software brought him $800 million or so for his stake, lifted him into the ranks of OC billionaires, and led him to start Toba Capital, a venture capital firm that targets the “next generation of IT infrastructure.”
Paul Merage, who made his fortune in the food business, also is new to the list this year—an inclusion based on his widespread involvement in OC’s business and civic life, and has likely been overdue for some time.
Wing Lam, cofounder of Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, made the list as a representative of a quintessential OC brand that’s been built on links to the local surfwear industry and shows no signs of slowing down. Neither does Lam himself, who is broadly engaged in philanthropy and other community links here as he expands the chain nationally and globally.
Gary Jabara debuts on the OC 50 as a real estate executive, even though there’s a decidedly high-tech aspect to the operations that brought him one fortune and look to be laying the groundwork for another.
Another newcomer in the real estate category is Bill H. Lyon, son of Gen. William Lyon and chief executive of the homebuilder that bears his father’s name (see related story, page 3).
The younger Lyon points up the relative youth of most of the newcomers on this year’s list. First-timers average about 50 years of age—approximately 10 years below the average for the overall list.
Bill H. Lyon, at 39, is the youngest of all listed. His dad shares honors for the top of the age chart with Henry Segerstrom, both at 90.
Age is mostly an afterthought when it comes to the OC 50, where spots are earned with actions and achievements that help shape the local landscape. Turn to page 29 for the start of a special section that includes profiles on this year’s entries. n
