In the well-ordered world of OC 50,the Business Journal’s annual listing of the most influential people here,this year’s group represents a shake-up.
Two surprising executive exits, a major acquisition, a company move and other shifts brought big changes to our yearbook of movers and shakers, which starts on page 23.
Granted, most of this year’s entries are unchanged and include many names you’d expect to see. But for a group that usually sees little change from year to year, the loss of a handful of faces from last year is striking.
None more so than Wayne Inouye and Richard Cohen. The two change-minded chief executives stunned many with abrupt resignations earlier this year.
Inouye, who debuted on the OC 50 in 2004, restored Irvine computer maker Gateway Inc. to profitability last year by pushing sales through stores and by cutting costs.
Two years ago, Inouye pulled off the sale of eMachines Inc. to Gateway and ended up calling the shots at the combined company, which he promptly moved from San Diego to Irvine.
In February, Inouye said he was quitting “to pursue other interests.” Gateway directors saw Inouye riding less profitable retail sales alone, as sales to businesses and directly to consumers suffered.
Many,including here at the Business Journal,were baffled by Inouye’s apparent ouster. The Deal.com, a savvy investment banking news site, called Inouye’s departure the latest blunder for Gateway, itself “one, long pratfall” and the “Inspector Clouseau of computer companies.”
Rick Snyder, Gateway’s chairman and onetime operations chief under founder Ted Waitt, has taken over as interim chief executive. We’ve included Snyder in the OC 50 as a caretaker who’s set to continue as chairman after a new chief executive is found.
Cohen, who debuted on the OC 50 last year as head of Irvine-based St. John Knits International Inc., capped a dizzying year and a half of change with his April exit.
Since late 2004, Cohen brought dramatic shifts at the women’s clothier, best known for outfitting celebrities and socialites.
As the remaining members of the founding Gray family stepped back, Cohen brought in a group of hand-picked executives and went full charge after younger buyers with new styles and the hiring of Angelina Jolie as the company’s model.
Cohen and St. John said he left the company for “family reasons” and has moved back to the New York area. Cohen’s strategy,and fallout from St. John’s old guard customers,seemed to have played a big part in his departure (see story, page 1).
Philip Miller, a St. John director and former chief executive at Saks Inc.’s Saks Fifth Avenue, has taken over as the company seeks a permanent replacement.
PacifiCare, Fluor
OC’s loss of two Fortune 500 companies in the past five months brought the departure of two executives from the OC 50.
Howard Phanstiel, former chief executive of Cypress-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., is off after the health insurer’s December sale to Minnesota’s UnitedHealth Group Inc.
Phanstiel now is an executive vice president at UnitedHealth.
Alan Boeckmann, chief executive of Fluor Corp., is gone after the company officially made its move from Aliso Viejo to Texas last month (Fluor left behind about 1,175 people in OC and Long Beach).
Boeckmann, who’s said to have personal ties to Texas, moved to the Dallas area in October.
Here’s a look at other changes in this year’s OC 50 by industry:
Technology
Besides Inouye’s exit, Boeing Co.’s entry has a new face.
Gary Toyoma, who oversees all of Boeing’s Southern California facilities, replaced Bill Collopy, who held the spot for the past few years.
Collopy, who oversaw a turbulent time for Boeing’s satellite business, retired in September. He’s still chairman of Long Beach-based Sea Launch Co., a Boeing commercial satellite launch venture with European partners.
Western Digital Corp.’s entry now is a dual one. Arif Shakeel, the disk drive maker’s former chief operating officer, joined the list alongside longtime OC 50er Matt Massengill, who now is executive chairman.
Shakeel, who has run the company with Massengill for years, was named chief executive in October.
Some speculated the move was prompted by another company’s courting of Shakeel. He says no.
Apparel
The departure of St. John’s Cohen opened a space among the county’s garmentos.
(We decided not to include Miller, a St. John director and interim boss, since he’s unlikely to take the job on a permanent basis. We did include Miller as an honorable mention, given St. John’s size as the largest apparel maker here by workers.)
Paul Naude, head of Billabong USA, the Irvine-based North American arm of Australian surfwear maker Billabong International Ltd., debuts in the OC 50’s apparel group.
Naude runs the industry’s No. 2 surfwear operation after OC 50er Bob McKnight’s Quiksilver Inc.
Billabong USA counts yearly sales of $300 million, or 46% of all business for his parent company. He’s overseen a big push here for Billabong with acquisitions of retailers and apparel designers.
Naude, a former professional surfer in his native South Africa, also is a bigwig in surf circles as a key member of Surf Industry Manufacturers Association, an Aliso Viejo-based trade group for surfwear makers.
Another change: Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. is represented solely by Chief Executive Seth Johnson. Greg Weaver, the company’s former chief executive and executive chairman, left the company after developing its new shoe store chain.
Industry & Services
Don Robert, who heads Experian Group in Costa Mesa, joins in the group with the departure of Fluor’s Boeckmann.
Credit reporting company Experian counts yearly sales of $3 billion and is set to spin off from British parent GUS PLC in the next year or so, boosting Robert’s profile. The company could count a market value of $12 billion.
Robert’s stay in the OC 50 could be temporary. An independent Experian is set to be based in London with operational headquarters in Costa Mesa and Nottingham, England. Robert, who lives in Newport Coast, is yet to decide whether he’ll split his time between here and there, or move to London with Experian’s other top brass.
Real Estate
OC 50’s real estate section lived up to its reputation as the most static of the group. With entrenched, domineering players such as Don Bren, George Argyros and Henry Segerstrom, the group sees little change from year to year.
And this year is no exception.
The only sizable change came at J.F. Shea Co.’s triple entry. Colm Macken joins alongside boss Peter Shea and Bert Selva, head of Shea Homes.
Macken oversees 7,500 apartments and 5.4 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space for Shea. He replaced former OC 50er William Gaboury, who retired last year.
And a footnote to the real estate section: We added Bill Halford, former head of office space at The Irvine Company and now chief executive of Newport Beach-based Bixby Land Co., as an honorable mention.
Healthcare
Phanstiel’s exit from the healthcare group opened up room for one of OC’s eye guys: Jim Mazzo.
The chief executive of Santa Ana-based Advanced Medical Optics Inc. earned his way on by building up the maker of eye surgery products and contact lens solutions and by staking a high profile with his work with the University of California, Irvine and Octane.
Government & Institutions
We decided to shake up the OC 50 section that’s home to university bosses and top politicians.
Christopher Cox, a perennial OC 50er, now appears as an honorable mention with his appointment as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission last year.
Cox’s place on the OC 50 was the subject of a lot of debate. Frankly, a strong case can be made either way for him.
As SEC chairman, Cox now has great influence with public companies here and elsewhere. And his name recognition and contacts in OC are as good as they get.
But his influence here also diminished some with the appointment. He went from a congressman with a strong local focus to a national figure who deals with companies here no differently than those in New York, Illinois and elsewhere.
In the end, we decided to free up Cox’s spot on the OC 50 for someone with more direct focus on the county.
Ditto for Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who was among the OC 50 last year and is an honorable mention this time around.
The case for Sanchez hasn’t changed. As a Hispanic female Democrat, she in many ways represents the slowly changing nature of politics here. But there’s no denying her pull in GOP dominated Washington, D.C., isn’t what it was during the Clinton administration.
Enter two kingpins of local politics.
Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle and Irvine Councilman Larry Agran join the OC 50 this time around. The two visionary politicians are remaking their cities, sometimes in similar ways, sometimes in decidedly different ones.
And UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake took his spot alongside the heads of California State University, Fullerton and Chapman University.
UCI’s spot was vacant last year, as the school searched for a replacement for former OC 50er Ralph Cicerone, who now heads the National Academies of Science in Washington, D.C.
About the OC 50
The OC 50 is our admittedly subjective roll call of the key players here. In fact, there actually are 63 members this year, including entries with two or even three people. There are another 50 or so honorable mentions.
The 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?
The process is less than scientific. But 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.
A note on the writing: the OC 50 uses what’s called telegraph style, which Forbes uses for its annual Forbes 400. The sentences are choppy and truncated, with most articles and some verbs dropped. With 50-plus entries, the goal is to provide readers with quick yet detailed looks at the most influential people here.
