Five entrepreneurs,from a maker of shampoos and other hair care products to the county’s top Toyota seller,were honored at Thursday’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards luncheon in Irvine put on by the Business Journal.
Jim Markham, founder and chief executive of Irvine-based PureOlogy Research LLC, was among the winners.
Originally a barber and hairstylist to Paul Newman, Frank Sinatra and others, Markham developed the Abba Pure & Natural Hair Care line, which he later sold and planned to retire on.
Then the bug hit him again.
He said he saw a need for products for dyed hair and started PureOlogy in 2001.
The company now has yearly sales of about $55 million.
David Wilson, president of Orange-based auto dealer Wilson Automotive Group, was another honoree. A self-described “farm boy from Iowa,” Wilson started in the business washing cars and changing oil. He worked his way through college in the late 1960s selling cars.
Wilson now owns 15 dealerships with yearly sales of $2 billion. Last year, he opened Newport Lexus in Newport Beach, across from the county’s top dealership by revenue, Mercedes dealer Fletcher Jones Motorcars.
Robert “Bob” Olson, chief executive of Irvine’s R.D. Olson Development and R.D. Olson Construction, was honored for his work starting and growing the construction and hotel development company.
Olson started his construction business at age 23. He had no college degree and about five years of experience working in construction.
Today, R.D. Olson does about $130 million a year in revenue and ranks among the top 400 U.S. construction companies, according to trade publication Engineering News Record.
The difference between being a young entrepreneur and an old one: “I couldn’t pronounce ‘entrepreneur’ when I was 30,” Olson said.
Glenn Stearns, founder and chairman of Santa Ana-based Stearns Cos., was honored,not for his stint as the millionaire on reality TV show “The Real Gilligan’s Island”,but for his business feats.
Raised poor in Washington, D.C., Stearns failed fourth grade. He became a dad at 14 and saw his grandparents raise his daughter. He’s now a grandfather himself.
Stearns worked his way through college, graduating with a C average. His life turned around when he came to Orange County.
Amazed at the homes, he mistakenly asked a gardener how long it took to buy a house. The gardener set him straight and told him the owner was in real estate.
Stearns started working as a loan officer and later started his own mortgage company. He now owns some 20 companies with estimated yearly revenue of $130 million.
Ralph Opacic, founder and executive director of Orange County High School of the Arts, was honored for his work at the Santa Ana school.
Opacic started the school 20 years ago in Los Alamitos with 110 students. It now has about 1,350. Backers include Emulex Corp.’s Paul Folino and Walt Disney Co.
The Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards luncheon was held at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.
Ted Smith, founder of Costa Mesa’s FileNet Corp., now part of IBM Corp., was the keynote speaker.
