Who’s Orange County’s treasurer? It’s understandable if you couldn’t name Shari Freidenrich, CPA and former Huntington Beach treasurer who has been in office for nine months. After Bob Citron, John Moorlach and Chriss Street—headline makers for better or worse—Freidenrich is taking a low-key approach to managing the county’s $6 billion portfolio: “I’m doing my job, not making waves, keeping the money safe.” Low-key but not low-energy. Freidenrich has beefed up investment credit reviews and cut approved corporate issuers by half. (Bonds of such financial giants as Wells Fargo, B of A and JP Morgan no longer qualify for purchase.) She’s pinched pennies, saving $10,000 annually, for example, by replacing Street’s multi-color tax bills with a single tint. She’s leveraging her department’s cash management capabilities to streamline billing and collections for restaurant permits and pet licenses. With the semi-annual property tax bills going out this week, Freidenrich is touting a more user-friendly website that includes such data as prior-year bills and unclaimed funds, in addition to allowing for on-line payment. Freidenrich says she got some ideas in April by chatting with property owners as they waited in line at the treasurer’s office to pay with checks. Her peers respect her—she’s president-elect of the National Association of County Treasurers …
Chris Cox, former OC congressman now with law firm Bingham McCutchen in Costa Mesa, is cover boy for the fall issue of Thom-son Reuters’ Accelus Informer. The interview does not get into Cox’s role as SEC chairman during the financial crisis, instead focusing on the intricacies of new financial regulations. He does comment on his many years in government. The Reagan White House “was at least closer to my experience at Bingham… but in Congress and at the SEC, decision making is by committee” …
Lt. Gov and former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom joked about bringing Bay Area weather with him to his luncheon talk at the Hilton Irvine/OC Airport last week: “It’s good. You need rain, don’t you?” Newsom said he’s been visiting SoCal every week, and why not? The OC Forum/Biz Council crowd gave him a standing O …
It took both EE RR and Kevin O’Callaghan to replace late emcee-auctioneer Chuck Dreyer as the City of Hope gala honoring Gary Hunt raised $330,000. South Coast Repertory’s gala raised $500,000. CHOC’s Miracle for Kids gala raised almost $700,000. Glenn and Mindy Stearns’ star-studded Life Changing Lives gala raised more than $1 million …
Chapman U is hosting a Cirque du Soleil symposium Oct. 21-23, with officials and technicians from the famous circus company conducting classes for backstage personnel and performers. There will be public screenings of Cirque shows, too. Believe it or not, it wasn’t Doti’s idea—credit goes to husband-wife Chapman profs Don Guy and Alicia Okouchi-Guy.
