S. Paul Musco is a businessman (Santa Ana-based chemical company Gemini Industries) and philanthropist. He’s both simultaneously when it comes to the Relief Pod, a versatile 200-pound survival kit that he has spent $2 million developing. Fourteen pods have been taken to earthquake-ravaged Haiti by Hope Force International and 20 more are going out with the Red Cross, says Debbie Coleman, president of Santa Ana-based Relief Pod International. The company would send more, she says, “but the challenge with a situation like Haiti is getting the supplies in there.” The patented pods float and fold out into stretchers; they hold enough supplies—food, water, a tent, shovel, first aid, blankets and gloves—to support 12 people for six days. Coleman says relief agencies are enthusiastic about the pods, which were also deployed when Hurricane Ike hit the Caribbean and Gulf Coast in 2008. The company, backed by Musco and his nephew, Paul C. Musco, wants to sell the pods to governments, corporations and relief groups, creating a viable enterprise that could continue to donate pods in disasters. Coleman, former CEO of Bellflower-based purse designer Isabella Fiore, came aboard in July to expand the marketing effort. She’s now rolling out personal emergency kits. She says Musco’s buddy, restaurateur Anthony Cagnolo of Antonello Ristorante in South Coast Plaza Village, recently helped the cause, telling friends in the Italian government they should check out the Relief Pod; two members of the Italian Parliament did just that, showing up at the company and bringing along a NATO representative, too …
More philanthropy: Musco plays the title role in the CHOC Follies’ “The Wizard of OC” April 1 to 3 at Orange Coast College …
Divorce lawyer Jeff Lalloway is making it official: He’s running for Irvine City Council in a challenge to Larry Agran’s 3-2 majority …
The Vancouver Sun reports that the hottest ticket at the Olympics isn’t for the men’s hockey finals, it’s for one of the 70 seats on the Alberta government’s luxury train that ferries VIPs. The three-hour trip through scenic Howe Sound and the Coast Mountains comes with meals, libations and a complimentary Stetson. A reporter rode along with government ministers, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada and Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli …
UCI’s Merage School ranks 72nd globally on the Financial Times’ new B-school list. Merage places first among U.S. schools for the percentage of MBA students employed three months after graduation, and it ranks fourth globally for percentage of women faculty …
Honorees at the Forum for Corporate Directors annual dinner at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel included Automobile Club of Southern California CEO and racing enthusiast Tom McKernan and Conexant Systems chief Scott Mercer, a sports car enthusiast whose team won the 25-hour Thunderhill race in Northern California in December. “Scott tried to get insurance tonight and I turned him down,” McKernan quipped to the crowd of 400.
