YEAR OF CHANGE
2004’s OC 50 Sees New Faces Thanks to Departures, Deals, Boardroom Shifts
By Michael Lyster
This year’s OC 50, the Business Journal’s annual listing of the most influential businesspeople here, ushers in the most change the group has seen in years.
Acquisitions, boardroom power plays, tough business conditions and even a retirement led to a handful of executives dropping out of this year’s group. In all, eight executives who were part of the 2003 group aren’t in the 2004 class.
That made room for newcomers, including one OC 50 returnee: Peter Ueberroth. The managing director of Newport Beach-based Contrarian Group Inc. first made the OC 50 in the early 1990s. We decided to bring him back in light of his notable investments, directorships, connections and even his governor run, failed as it was.
The OC 50 listing is our admittedly subjective roll call of the key movers and shakers in Orange County.
The 50 business, government and educational leaders are selected and screened in a variety of ways: company size, community involvement and by what we dub the phone test,is a call from the person likely to go straight through?
While the final cut is less than scientific, this year’s OC 50 includes all the names you’d expect, and then some. We look forward to hearing feedback on our selections, omissions and candidates for next year.
The most striking thing about this year’s group: new faces.
In the industry and services category, there’s Anaheim Angels owner Arturo “Arte” Moreno. To be sure, the billboard tycoon warrants inclusion because of his $184 million buy of the baseball team last year, and his efforts to market the Angels to a wider regional audience.
But there’s more to Moreno’s selection, and it shows how our selections go beyond just titles and ownership.
In October, Moreno spoke at the Business Journal’s annual luncheon for OC 50 members at the Center Club in Costa Mesa. Our event always draws big names, but Moreno brought added appeal.
Among those who came out to hear him: Capital Pacific Holding Inc.’s Hadi Makarechian, lawyer Wylie Aitken, sports agent Jeff Moorad and FileNet Corp. founder Ted Smith.
I personally got to introduce Moreno to perennial OC 50er Henry Segerstrom, who was thrilled to meet the Tucson native. The two talked about Europe, the Arizona heat and compared notes on personal jets.
Another newcomer: Wayne Inouye, chief executive of Gateway Inc. Inouye was an honorable mention in last year’s OC 50 and was promoted to the main group with his ascendance at Gateway.
After turning around Irvine-based eMachines Inc., Inouye ended up running Gateway after the Poway-based computer maker bought eMachines earlier this year. His next move is to relocate the company to OC this summer.
Inouye also brings flavor to this year’s group. He dropped out of the University of California, Berkeley in the 1970s to start a blues band. He still loves to play the blues standard “Crossroads” on guitar.
The entry for Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. got a little longer this year. We added Scott Garrett alongside Chief Executive Jack Wareham. Garrett was named president last year and is in line to replace Wareham.
Other debuts came on the heels of departures.
Matt Ouimet, president of Walt Disney Co.’s Disneyland Resort, took the place of Cynthia Harriss, who resigned in the fall amid tough going at Disney’s California Adventure.
And Kim Burdick took the place of Tara Balfour as Bank of America Corp.’s president for OC. Balfour left BofA last year after 18 years with the bank.
The loss of Harriss and Balfour cut the number of women on the OC 50 by half. Remaining are Kelly Gray, co-chief executive of Irvine-based St. John Knits International Inc., and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.
The entry for Santa Ana-based technology products distributor Ingram Micro Inc. saw a big change. Last year, Michael Grainger shared the space with Chief Executive Kent Foster. This year it’s all Foster.
Grainger, chief operating officer and president, shocked company watchers earlier this year by announcing his retirement. The move came after Ingram’s board promoted two executives as co-presidents.
Look for Grainger to resurface. For now he has a non-compete pact with Ingram Micro.
Other departures:
n Donald Kennedy retired as chairman of First American Corp., leaving son and Chief Executive Parker Kennedy.
n William Foley, chief executive of Fidelity National Financial Inc., came off after his company moved from Irvine to Florida.
n The heads of Irvine-based Sicor Inc., Chief Executive Marvin Samson and Art LeBlanc, president of the company’s largest business unit, aren’t in this year’s group after Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. bought Sicor earlier this year. (LeBlanc, who now runs Teva’s Irvine operation, is a healthcare honorable mention.)
n Richard Statuto also appears as a healthcare honorable mention this year after being part of the OC 50 in 2003. The president of Orange-based St. Joseph Health System plans to retire later this year and move to Pennsylvania.
The real estate group saw only subtle changes. To The Irvine Company’s entry, we added Joe Davis alongside Michael McKee, vice chairman and chief operating officer, and Clarence Barker, head of the Investment Properties Group. Davis heads up Irvine Community Development, arguably the hottest part of the company in the past year amid the housing boom.
Chairman Donald Bren repeats as a standalone entry.
We also added Natale “Nat” Bosa, president of Canada’s Bosa Development Corp., as a real estate honorable mention. Bosa passes the influence test for the impact he’s had on OC with his twin condominium towers going up in Irvine.
