Apparel
Raj Manufacturing LLC in Tustin changed its name to Raj Swim LLC to better showcase the company’s culture. Raj makes and markets swimwear for Oakley Inc., Hurley, Nautica, Reef and other brands.
The Wet Seal LLC in Foothill Ranch named Melanie Cox its new chief executive. Cox, a member of Wet Seal’s board of directors, replaces Ed Thomas, who led the company through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy and later acquisition by Versa Capital Management LLC in April. Thomas said he wants to “evaluate other opportunities.”
Automotive
Hyundai Motor America Inc. in Fountain Valley named Dean Evans its vice president and chief marketing officer. The former chief marketing officer of Subaru of America replaces Steve Shannon, who left the company in November. Evans’ latest post was as chief executive of auto retail platform LotLinx Inc. in San Francisco.
Education
Sierra Club’s magazine named the University of California-Irvine the country’s greenest university for the second consecutive year on its annual ranking. A survey of colleges and universities assessed everything from energy use to instruction in sustainability.
The founding dean of UC Irvine’s School of Fine Arts died July 27 at age 93. Clayton Garrison served as dean of the school for 17 years, helping to establish graduate programs, along with teaching and multiple other roles.
Finance
Newport Beach-based venture capital firm Toba Capital partnered with an information technology company to invest $20 million in WSO2, a software developer in Mountain View. It was founded in 2005 and has raised about $40 million. Toba is headed by Vinny Smith, who founded Quest Software Inc. and sold it to Dell Inc. in 2012 for about $2.8 billion.
Real Estate
Irvine-based real estate investment firm Greenlaw Partners bought the One World Trade Center tower in Long Beach for $105.9 million. The 27-story building is almost half empty. It last sold in 2007 for $149 million to Legacy Partners, which is now known as SteelWave.
Restaurants
Irvine-based Habit Restaurants Inc. will debut in its seventh state with a restaurant opening this year in Meridian, Idaho, a news report said. The fast-casual burger chain has 120 restaurants. It has said it plans to open 26 to 28 company-owned locations this year, along with three to five franchised locations.
Evans Brewing Co. Inc. in Santa Ana said in a regulatory filing it plans to buy Bayhawk Ales Inc. in Irvine and to exchange shares in Evans one-for-one for those in Bayhawk. Evans was formed in July 2013 and sold in April 2014 to a trust affiliated with Michael Rapport for $40,000, according to the S-4 filing. Bayhawk was formed in 1994, produces seven beers and seasonal offerings for restaurants and retail locations, and has about 1,000 shareholders, according to its website.
Services
Taiwan-based Wistron Information Technology & Services established a U.S. headquarters in Irvine. The IT consulting and outsourcing service provider assists Fortune 500 companies, said a news release, which indicated it plans to speed up U.S. growth by focusing on high-demand sectors.
Technology
Former Western Digital Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Matthew Massengill will regain the top board seat following the mandatory retirement of Tom Pardun, who’s 71. The Irvine-based storage products maker announced Pardun will retire in November after 22 years on the board. Massengill, 54, has been a director since 2000. Len Lauer, 58, who’s served as a Western Digital director since 2010, was named lead independent of the board in a related move. He’s chairman and chief executive of San Diego-based printer equipment maker Memjet.
Costa Mesa startup Ultra Mobile has zoomed to the top of the list of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the U.S., according to Inc. Magazine. The no-contract wireless carrier posted a growth increase of 100,849% over the past three years.
Aliso Viejo-based semiconductor maker Microsemi Corp. gave $1 million to Chapman University to support a center scheduled to open in 2018 as part of the Orange-based school’s new Schmid College of Science and Technology. The center will include electronics and software engineering labs with the Microsemi name.
