Grads of UCI Merage business school appear to be faring better in the recession than those from the most elite b-schools who are finding fewer openings on Wall Street. Dean Andy Policano cites a survey of 10 top schools that shows 65% to 80% of their 2009 grads finding work, below Merage’s 88% rate. (The surveyed schools aren’t identified, but they come from a group of 20 that includes Kellogg, Harvard and Wharton). “Where other top schools place heavily in investment banking and consulting, the Merage school’s strengths in IT, marketing, corporate finance and operations mesh well with sectors that continue to do well in the current environment,” says Policano. Meanwhile, Merage’s new building campaign has received gifts of $550,000 from Experian and $500,000 from Jane Driscoll’s Irvine-based Pacific Alternative Asset Management. And Policano has been elected chair of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the accrediting agency for b-schools worldwide. Chapman U biz dean Art Kraft notes that when he headed the association three years ago, it met in Paris; the first meeting Policano chairs will be in Anaheim …
Title insurer First American, OC’s oldest company and one of the biggest, is marking its 120th anniversary. “We’ve survived 23 economic downturns, including the Great Depression,” says spokeswoman Carrie Gaska. After being slowed by downturn No. 23, First American says it will proceed with a plan to divide into two companies (insurance and information) in the first half of 2010. The split will mark another milestone: Parker Kennedy, great-grandson of the founder, will relinquish the CEO title and become executive chairman of the two companies, the first time his family will not be in charge of day-to-day operations …
Here are the go-to guys and gals on the push to buy the OC Fairgrounds from the state: fair board member Dave Ellis (quarterbacking the effort), former state lawmaker Dick Ackerman (lobbying), Jones Day partner Tom Malcolm (handling legal) and Kristina Dodge, succeeding Julie Vandermost as fair board chair …
Amazon, Twitter, Wikipedia, Facebook—and Shopgoodwill.com. The auction site developed and maintained by Goodwill of Orange County has joined elite company on Time.com’s list of 50 Best Websites. GOC veep Joan Dombach says the site has generated $75 million over 10 years for Goodwills nationwide …
OC author Steven M. Thomas has another spellbinder set in SoCal, “Criminal Karma” (Ballantine) … The L.A. Times and OC Register barely compete anymore—the Times is even taking over home delivery of the Register as the papers cooperate in order to survive. But thanks to the legal entanglements of Broadcom cofounder Henry Nicholas, two participants in the ’80s and ’90s newspaper wars are again in opposing camps: Former Times OC Prez Bob Magnuson is one of Nick’s advisers while former Register Publisher Chris Anderson is doing PR for Nick’s ex-wife, Stacey.
