Watch for one-time socialite Matt Schafnitz to make some news in the coming months, but strictly for his Laguna Niguel-based insurance brokerage. Partner Jim Brakke has retired and cashed out; he was feted at a party last week at Arroyo Trabuco GC that was attended by more than 200 friends and colleagues. Brakke will stay on part-time and the agency will continue to be called Brakke-Schafnitz Insurance Brokers. But Schafnitz becomes sole owner of one of OC’s largest brokers with a reported 76 employees, more than 3,500 clients and more than $150 million in premiums. And he plans to expand, using cash to acquire other agencies at recession prices: “Watch for a flurry of actions,” says COO John Kookootsedes. And what of Matt’s glamorous wife, Tina, who disappeared from public view after doing time for drug crimes in 1998? Per Matt, here’s the untold story: She was diagnosed in jail with Pick’s Disease, a form of dementia that explained her increasingly erratic behavior. Matt has cared for her ever since, raised their two boys and tended to business-higher priorities, he says, than the social scene …
More attention for 2009 OCBJ Excellence in Entrepreneurship winner Henrik Fisker and his luxury sports hybrid, Karma: They’re on the cover of the June 8 Forbes, which searches for “The Next Detroit” …
Ray Jacobi has replaced Fred Glusman at The Ritz. Fifi has the details, page 16 …
The supes’ search for a sheriff last year was news for weeks. The OC Fire Authority sought a new chief this year, but did you even know it? Thirty-eight-year veteran Chip Prather retires after 12 years heading an agency that serves half the county. His replacement is Contra Costa County Fire Chief Keith Richter …
The Insider hears that the Anaheim City Council has narrowed its city manager search to four candidates-two from outside the state, one from another California city and Assistant City Manager Tom Wood, who is seen by many as having the inside track. Dave Morgan retires after 35 years with Anaheim, the last eight in the top job overseeing a billion-dollar budget, 3,000 employees and a slew of development projects. Morgan says he’s talking with a consulting firm and Chapman U’s renamed adult education school, Brandman University: “I definitely plan to stay busy” …
New arrival: Derek Gregory Venegas, to Lincoln Club Executive Director Clare and Linc Group sales exec Matt Venegas …
OC’s shrinking media market, continued: OC Weekly reports two more departures from the OC Register-business reporter John Gittelsohn (to Bloomberg in New York) and government reporter Norberto Santana (for an undisclosed “new opportunity”)-and another departure from the L.A. Times’ OC bureau-investigative reporter Christine Hanley (to “new adventures.”)
