Purpose Helps Profit
Michael Colglazier, president, managing director, Asia Pacific, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts; author John Wood; Mike Mussallem, chairman, CEO, Edwards Lifesciences; Scott Ullem, COO, Edwards Lifesciences
On Feb. 5, Edwards Lifesciences hosted more than 300 executives from Disneyland, PIMCO, Irvine Co. and other leading Orange County companies to its headquarters in Irvine for a presentation and discussion on how a company’s philanthropic outreach and social responsibility can help it develop a favorable or superior business position.
The main speaker was former Microsoft director John Wood, founder of Room to Read, a nonprofit group focused on girls’ education and children’s literacy in Asia and Africa. Wood discussed the concepts in his book, “Purpose Incorporated: Turning Cause into Your Competitive Advantage.” The book references Edwards Lifesciences, which has incorporated its patients-first focus into company culture.
Masqued and Memorable
David Piazza, campaign director, Radiant Health Centers; Howard Gleicher, CEO, chief investment officer, Aristotle Capital Management LLC; Phil Yaeger, executive director, CEO, Radiant Health Centers
More than 300 revelers gathered at Radiant Health Centers’ annual gala, A Masqued Mardi Gras. The event, which was held on Jan. 27 at the Yost Theater in Santa Ana, raised $285,000. The funds will support programs that help more than 1,400 men, women and children living with HIV in Orange County.
Radiant, formerly known as AIDS Services Foundation Orange County, is adding mental health services for HIV-negative members of the LGBT community, as well as additional health services that will be phased in this year.
A Masqued Mardi Gras was 100% underwritten by sponsors, including Lugano Diamonds, Louis Vuitton and 24 Carrots.
“This year’s annual gala was a beautiful and memorable evening,” said Event Chairman and Radiant Health Centers board member Larry Will. “The incredible generosity of our attendees will help countless people living with HIV and AIDS in Orange County.”
Love Finds a Way
Elsa Greenfield, program director, Wayfinders’ Huntington Beach youth shelter; John Graham, president, Speedo USA
Wayfinders, formerly Community Service Programs, hosted nearly 450 wine lovers and humanitarians to help raise more than $120,000 to benefit Wayfinders’ Huntington Beach Youth Shelter at its eighth annual Love Grows by Giving Wine Tasting fundraiser at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa on Feb. 9. The facility is for homeless, runaway, abused and at-risk youth.
The evening offered wine tastings, beer samplings, live music and a culinary experience from local fine-dining restaurants. Featured participants included Kendall-Jackson, Bianchi, Rodney Strong Vineyards and Main Street Wine Co.
Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa, Angels Baseball, Speedo USA, Chevron, AES Huntington Beach, Honda World, the Woravka Foundation and NuVision Federal Credit Union were among the event sponsors.
Solution in Mind
Dr. Frank LaFerla, UCI MIND co-director; Robert ‘Bob’ Naeve, partner, Jones Day, gala co-chairman; his wife, Virginia; gala co-chairman Dr. Joshua Grill, UCI MIND co-director
A new partnership in Orange County is seeking answers to an essential question affecting global health: Why do more women get Alzheimer’s disease than men?
UCI MIND, the University of California-Irvine’s Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, is partnering with the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement, a nonprofit organization founded by former California first lady Maria Shriver. The initiative, based on collaborative fundraising by both organizations, makes pilot funding available to UCI researchers for high-caliber scientific proposals that investigate the role of sex and gender in Alzheimer’s disease.
“Two out of three Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease today are women,” says Shriver, a national advocate for Alzheimer’s research. “Women are at the epicenter of the Alzheimer’s crisis. That’s why we must be at the heart of the solution.”
Bits & Pieces
Alzheimer’s Orange County received a $25,000 grant from the S. Mark Taper Foundation to support the organization’s programs helping OC residents with memory-afflicting conditions. …Volunteers from the city of Anaheim, Anaheim Family YMCA and Disneyland Resort joined KaBOOM on Feb. 24 to transform an empty site into a kid-designed, state-of-the-art playground at Pearson Park. … MOMS Orange County, a Santa Ana-based nonprofit dedicated to helping mothers and their families have healthy babies, received a $5,000 grant from The Crevier Family Foundation to support its Infant Health and Development Program. … Families Forward is taking on a new role as the family hub for the Family Solutions Collaborative’s effort to streamline services to homeless families across OC cities.
