Hospitality
AC Hotel Irvine General Manager Paul Maddison was named to the same post at Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa, and Irvine-based Pacific Hospitality Group, which runs both properties for investor groups it participates in, will hire a new GM in Irvine. A spokesperson said Maddison’s “main focus will be Estancia only.” He’s helmed AC Hotel Irvine since December 2016. The lifestyle hotel—AC is a hip Marriott brand—opened in May 2017.
— Paul Hughes
Philanthropy
Tel Aviv University is scheduled to honor Henry and Susan Samueli at its International Gala in Los Angeles on Dec. 12. The couple recently presented a $20 million gift to the school to establish the Susan and Henry Samueli Engineering and Health Research Fund, and to name a building being constructed on campus funded by Broadcom, the chipmaker Henry Samueli founded. The building will house a Broadcom research and development center and the school’s engineering faculty.
— Hannah Mitchell
A study by New York-based financial technology firm SmartAsset shows Orange County taxpayers are among the most charitable in California. By the measures of how much money they donated as a percentage of their net incomes, and the proportion of them who donated to charities, OC taxpayers ranked eighth at 31% and 67% in 2016, respectively, SmartAsset said, quoting Internal Revenue Service figures. Santa Clara County tops the ranking. See more information on the area’s nonprofit organizations in this week’s list, which begins on page 16.
— Hannah Mitchell
Restaurants
Costa Mesa-based El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. named Hector Muñoz chief marketing officer before a scheduled spring brand relaunch. He comes from Church’s Chicken and has worked at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, both in Atlanta. Earlier in his career he worked for an advertising agency handling Irvine-based Taco Bell’s account, his LinkedIn profile said.
— Paul Hughes
Sports
Anaheim Arena Management LLC and the city of Anaheim extended a Honda Center arena-management contract to keep the Ducks hockey team in town at least through 2048 and named after the city, the team announced. The company, owned by Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli, will also pay $10 million to buy 16 acres of surrounding parking lots to be partially developed into homes, retail and offices. Anaheim will now take a bigger share of revenue at the city-owned arena. The agreement also makes the company manager of the nearby Arctic transportation center, the Orange County Register reported.
— Hannah Mitchell
