25th OC 50 … most influential businesspeople starts at the start: Our cover has newcomers like Natalia Ostensen Olenicoff, Olen Properties, Steve Jones, boss of Allied Universal. We also start at the start of OC 50 with Editor at Large Rick Reiff talking about the genesis, the tough calls—just as this year—and a list that’s mirrored the growth and depth of the OC ecosystem. (OC 50 stories, page 1, inside Special Report).
A year after launching OC 50, the Business Journal launched its first award and event, Women of the Year. Great energy for the 24th last Thursday, 600-plus at Hotel Irvine. Terrific nominees and honorees, among them Patty Arvielo, president and co-founder of Tustin-based mortgage lender New American Funding.
“I love being a woman,” Arvielo told comrades, “love being the face of an immigrant who came to this country, took advantage of opportunity. It’s OK to be powerful and a woman … and yes, it’s OK to be rich.” Arvielo used to help her mom clean real estate offices. Today, New American funds does close to $1 billion in home loans a month, employs 2,700. Arvielo and fellow honorees featured in our May 14 edition.
Judge Andrew Guilford denied Jim Mazzo’s lawyers bid to stop a third trial for insider trading against the former Advanced Medical CEO. Sitting in Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse Monday, reading Guilford’s ruling, clear to this observer, Guilford ruled because there was no legal precedent, no authority to dismiss, even after this spring’s second trial, when jurors voted 10-2 for acquittal on 19 of 20 counts.
“Would you say a sixth trial would be fair,” Guilford asked the government’s lawyers, “there would still be no authority under fairness?” Tentative trial date June 5.
What full employment feels like … U.S. jobless rate fell to 18-year low of 3.9%, but underwhelming 164,000 new jobs might tamp down the Federal Reserve’s rate-hiking. PIMCO’s Richard Clarida, President Trump’s vice chair nominee, is New Keynsian. Chairman Jerome Powell also no hawk …
Back to seeking job seekers … County’s 2.8% unemployment in March, lowest since Prince days of 1999, also characterized by fewer job seekers rather than new jobs, made worse by steady loss of 25-44s, 40,000, or 10%, since Y2K. “No shortage of jobs to fill,” Brian Moriarty said, “shortage of high-quality engineers to fill them.” Moriarty’s a practice manager in Irvine with national tech recruiter Jobspring Partners, specializing in high-demand IT jobs: open-source, network security, data science. “Hard to get people to come here (OC transplants),” Moriarty said. He and Jobspring fight the good fight, firm runs one of the largest tech meetups in U.S., Tech in Motion. “We don’t have a lot of supported industries here,” Moriarty said.
