Larry Thomas’ sabbatical lasted a year and a half. The rejuvenated 53-year-old will return to The Irvine Company July 15 with a promotion, to group senior VP-public affairs, the Insider has learned. Thomas will oversee not only his old corporate communications functions (Rich Elbaum heads the unit and will report to him), but will take over some of Gary Hunt’s old governmental relations functions and have a role in strategic planning. He’ll report to a committee of company chairman Donald Bren and vice chairman Mike McKee It’s fitting that the power crisis is being felt at Edison Field, too. Use of the two message boards outside of the stadium is being kept to a minimum, and only the Big A’s halo, instead of the whole letter, lights up to celebrate Angels’ wins. However, the team’s Web site (www.angels.mlb.com) makes the case for night games. Tom Singer says it costs only $100 to $150 an hour to light the stadium; if 25,000 spectators were at home instead, they’d use 10 times as much electricity The week of April 23 was a pretty good one for Jim Madden. It started with his electronic HR company, Exult Inc. of Irvine, announcing higher sales and better margins for the first quarter and ended with him winning the 54th Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race aboard Stark Raving Mad. If only Exult stock hadn’t dropped a couple of bucks Robert Parry, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, to the OC Forum at the Hilton Costa Mesa: “I strongly doubt we are in a recession I’m not expecting it We could see faster growth by year’s end.” Parry said technological advances have helped companies to get quick control of their inventory levels, a difference from previous slowdowns. Parry cautioned that California’s outlook remains clouded by the tech-stock crash, the energy crisis and Asian economic woes
Peter Ueberroth and sports superagent Jeff Moorad headline Harvard Business School’s Entrepreneurs Conference May 14 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine. For info, www.hbsaoc.org Where are they now? Former OCBJ staff writers Roger Yu, bureau chief of Dow Jones Newswires in his native Korea, and Sherri Lynn Cruz, emerging technology companies reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune When Marriott International and Italian jewelry maker Bulgari unveiled a luxury hotel brand earlier this year, it specified Southern California as one of seven preferred locations (the others being London, Rome, Paris, New York, Miami and islands). So, is Treasure Island, the Athens Group-Marriott project in Laguna Beach, likely to become one of the first Bulgari Hotels & Resorts? No, Sandi Cain is told. The 275 planned rooms may be a bit too many for Bulgari’s boutique tastes. Moreover, with grading under way, the developer is not of a mind to seek government OKs for design changes. It’s taken four years to get this far.
