Amusement
Disneyland visitation was up 9% last year, when 18.2 million people walked through the Anaheim park’s gates, according to Burbank-based Themed Entertainment Association.
Education
Chapman University announced that Thomas Piechota will be the school’s first vice president of research, effective Sept. 1. The new position reflects Chapman’s growth in research activities and funding, said current chancellor and incoming president Daniele Struppa. Piechota comes from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he’s served in various capacities since 1999, most recently as vice president for research and economic development. At UNLV, he’s helped advance research efforts, resulting in an increase in research funding, outside partnerships and entrepreneurial activities, according to Chapman.
Healthcare
Robert Grant stepped down from the chief executive role at Irvine-based Alphaeon Corp., the lifestyle healthcare company he founded three years ago. Alphaeon serves healthcare providers whose work isn’t covered by insurance, including plastic surgery, ophthalmology and dermatology. The company, which Grant founded in 2013 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Newport Beach private equity firm Strathspey Crown LLC, works with board-certified doctors. Alphaeon Chairman William Link said Grant’s move is intended for him “to focus more on Strathspey Crown activities.” He said Grant will remain on Alphaeon’s board and that the board will soon start searching for a new chief executive.
Technology
Irvine-based storage products maker Western Digital Corp. will cut nearly 100 more jobs in Orange County as it starts to integrate its $17 billion buy of SanDisk Corp. that closed two weeks ago. The world’s largest disk drive maker is eliminating 81 jobs in Irvine and 18 jobs in Santa Ana, according to filings with California’s Employment Development Department. The cuts take effect by June 17, and 105 jobs in Fremont will be slashed by July 3. The company entered May with about 1,700 local workers, down 10.7% from a year earlier, according to Business Journal research. It was hit particularly hard last year as global PC sales sunk to the lowest levels since 2008.
Costa Mesa-based Newlight Technologies LLC, founded to make technology that captures and converts carbon and methane into plastics, received $29.2 million in Form D venture funding, according to a regulatory filing. Plastics are commonly made from oil, a fossil fuel, and Newlight says its methods reduce environmental damage. The company reportedly gets its raw materials from farms, water treatment plants, and municipal landfills. About 125 investors put up a minimum of $30,000 apiece in the “exempt offering of securities” that’s sometimes a way to bypass or put off an initial public offering. It brings the firm’s reported funding to date to about $48 million.
Huntington Beach-based olloclip and Newport Beach-based Polar Pro teamed with Colorado-based consumer electronics accessories producer OtterBox to craft accessories for the iPhone 6. Olloclip makes detachable camera lenses for Apple and Android devices. Its attachment for OtterBox’s iPhone 6 case system has four quick-change lenses. Polar Pro, which makes accessories for GoPro cameras, is introducing seven accessories, from a mobile speaker to a tripod.
Other
Newport Beach and Yorba Linda were listed among the 100 wealthiest cities in the U.S. by personal finance data provider NerdWallet Inc. The former has a median household income of $106,801 and was ranked No. 4. Yorba Linda has a median household income of $117,368 and ranked No. 6. Cities also were ranked by the percentage of homes with no mortgage and the average credit limit. Thirty-one percent of Newport Beach homes have no mortgage, and the average credit limit is $82,811. In Yorba Linda, 19% of homes have no mortgage, and the average credit limit is $72,395. Newport Beach’s median home value was $1.6 million, and Yorba Linda’s was $782,000.
Newport Beach City Council unanimously approved a resolution designating May 26 as John Wayne Day in honor of the late actor, who lived in the city. The decision followed a similar but failed attempt last month on the state level in Sacramento. May 26 is Wayne’s birthday. The state Assembly measure failed 35-20 after some legislators opposed it due to critical comments they said Wayne made about racial minorities. The county-operated airport in Santa Ana was renamed after Wayne in 1979, the year he died.
