“Chicks in charge.” The phrase got a lot of mileage from presenters and honorees at the OCBJ’s Women in Business Awards at the Hyatt Regency Irvine (see stories starting on page 1). But it was Cox Business Services’ burly VP David Montierth who stole the show, provoking “ahs” from the predominantly female crowd of 820 when he broke down reciting a poem his mother used to read him. Several attendees inquired afterward about David’s availability. Sorry, ladies, the sensitive hunk is happily married to Lorie with five kids …
Democrat donor/OC developer Michael Ray wants Al Gore to run for president …
Noted designer Patrick Robinson is on a roll: He recently hit Target with a line of “bohemian chic” women’s clothes. And now he’s been hired by Gap as exec VP of design. Robinson went to Fullerton’s Sunny Hills High School and started his own surfwear line here before hitting it big in New York with Giorgio Armani and Anne Klein. He’s a high school friend (but obviously not a fashion adviser) of Editor Mike Lyster …
Also in Target: Buttoned Up, a line of document organizers, moving kits and related products. The company was founded by four women entrepreneurs from around the country, including Laguna Beach’s Nancy Meyer. Hubby Mike Meyer is keeping busy, too: He has put up an AMG Realty Investors shingle at Newport Center, wryly noting that he and partner Alex Phillips “have 65 years experience in real estate.” Ten of those years belong to Alex …
KOCE has leapfrogged KQED in San Francisco to become the sixth most-watched PBS affiliate …
Fund-raising vet Kurt Mische, previously of public TV station KLVX in Las Vegas, has joined KOCE as VP of advancement …
Henry and Elizabeth Segerstrom make the Manhattan social scene, too. Their photograph accompanied ones of such East Coast glitterati as the Rockefellers, Jo Carole Lauder and Princess Firyal of Jordan in the New York Social Diary’s coverage of a MOMA gala honoring architect Richard Serra …
Janice Smith thought an Agent 007 theme would be perfect for Pacific Symphony’s 007 gala. Kia Motors America’s new HQ in Irvine provided a turbo-charged backdrop as 500 tuxedoed James Bonds and femme fatales raised $1 million-plus …
Gloria Zigner’s one-year break is ending. The CHOC Follies returns next March 14 and 15 to Chapman U’s Memorial Auditorium …
Chapman U fund-raiser Sheryl Bourgeois has been promoted to the newly created position of EVP for university advancement …
Former Supe Tom Wilson and wife Nancy aren’t the only OCers who hail from the former boomtown of Oil City, Pa. So does retired college administrator Joan Kraft. She and hubbie/Chapman U biz dean Art Kraft are going back to Oil City for her mom’s 90th birthday.
