All About the Inaugural OC 500

Still need a reason to get over the recent election season? Paid subscribers get a whole book of them with the inaugural OC 500, which arrives with this issue of the Business Journal … The book offers a timely reminder of the talent, drive and goodwill at the local level in America. Give the OC 500 a look and you might just realize there’s plenty that matters and plenty to like on the ground around here and around our country, regardless of how anyone views the election results … Plenty of overlap between the OC 500, which was celebrated at a swanky cocktail party at the Resort at Pelican Hill, and the Orange County Community Foundation’s annual luncheon meeting held at Hotel Irvine on the same day last week. Chapman’s Jim Doti—a member of the OC 500—started his keynote with a prediction that whatever rainbows or thunderstorms you might see in the pending Trump Administration will likely look more like the regular political grind in short order, leaving most of the work that matters in local hands … One pair of those hands belong to OCCF President Shelley Hoss, who also made the OC 500—and here’s a line from the annual meeting that we can add to her write-up next year: The organization will make $60 million in grants this year, putting it in the top 10 of local community foundations nationwide … Handling a list the size of the OC 500 comes with some name games, and we erred on several. Start with the mix-up that got Steve Jones, CEO of Allied Universal, pictured twice—once with his own entry and again with the write-up for Stephen Jones, CEO of Snyder Langston … Note also, please, that the entry for Charles Harris, who’s managing partner for Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, carries a photo of the Charles Harris who’s SVP of marketing for Visit Anaheim … We did better at distinguishing between Patrick Fusco of United Healthgroup and Pat Fuscoe of Fuscoe Engineering … We could have used the ‘e’ from latter Fuscoe in Shelley Hoss’ first name in her listing, by the way—apologies on that one, too … The OC 500 overlapped with Fortune’s Business Person of the Year, which includes 50 executives from around the world for 2016, including two featured in our book—the magazine ranked Monster Energy CEO Rodney Sacks No. 9, and Edwards Lifesciences boss Mike Mussallem No. 42 … The OC 500 is chock-full of high achievers at various stages of their careers, which means it wasn’t going to remain intact for long. But Dennis Parrott didn’t even wait for the book to get off the press before rendering his entry outdated. Parrott was written up as managing partner of KPMG’s office in Irvine but moved on to the role of lead partner on major accounts just before the ink dried … A sad note on another change in the OC 500 lineup: RIP to Al Weber of Apex Parks Group, who died suddenly while on vacation last week (see Addendum, page 23) … Back to the election, and this shot of OC 500 member John Clarey, who dropped by the Insider’s office the other day and flashed an impressive bit of nonpartisan fashion sense … A finishing touch of good humor in this tidbit, overheard at the OC 500 party: “Who are you with?”—“The Angels”—“Investors?”—“No, baseball team.”