Lucetta “Lucy” Dunn, a longtime local housing executive who left last year to become director of California’s Department of Housing and Community Development, has been named to head the Orange County Business Council.
Dunn is set to become president and chief executive of the county’s largest business group on Nov. 1.
She replaces Stan Oftelie, the former Orange County Transportation Authority chief who headed the council since 1997.
Oftelie said he was stepping down in June and stayed on until the Business Council found a replacement. He’s serving as a consultant to the group on transportation issues.
Dunn returns to OC from Sacramento. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tapped her to head the state’s housing and community development agency in early 2004.
Before Dunn’s state job, she was executive vice president of Hearthside Homes, a unit of Irvine-based California Coastal Communities Inc., which plans to build homes on part of the Bolsa Chica mesa in Huntington Beach.
Before Hearthside Homes, Dunn was senior vice president for Koll Development Co. and worked as general counsel for Signal Landmark, another real estate company.
She’s a graduate of California State University, Fullerton, and Western State University College of Law. She was in private law practice from 1981 to 1987.
