A March 16 Insider item highlighting OC representatives at the forthcoming 35th Annual Ellis Island Medals of Honor event hasn’t aged well; it noted the New York event, scheduled for May 16, was still on track to be held, “assuming health concerns don’t cause a postponement.”
The gala’s been postponed, of course. A new date is “most likely in the fall,” according to officials with Ellis Island, whose local contingent of new members are to include, the March 16 edition noted, Jim Mazzo, Henry and Susan Samueli, Carl St. Clair, and Frank LaFerla.
One more local name to add to that list: wireless technology pioneer Dr. Ahmadreza (Reza) Rofougaran, who along with sister Maryam heads Irvine’s Movandi Corp., a maker of network equipment for 5G wireless systems. Movandi raised $27M last month and was featured in the April 27 print edition of the Business Journal.
“You may not know it, but you likely own one or more devices that contain the wireless technology or systems that he has directly contributed,” the company said last week. The siblings’ prior company, Innovent Systems, was bought by Broadcom in 2000.
Reza holds 868 patents, “ranking him as one of the top 30 patent holders in the world,” the company noted.
Pacific Symphony Music Director St. Clair has more to celebrate: symphony management, musicians and the Orange County Musicians Union last week reached a deal to pay its 78 musicians a portion of their wages through early September. A $2.1M loan through the Paycheck Protection Program is helping to fund the deal, it said.
The coronavirus-related financial troubles facing Pacific Symphony and other area performing arts groups unable to operate as normal were featured in last week’s edition.
“We are all in this together and want to play a pivotal role in helping our community heal,” St. Clair said.
“Our board and management team are moving forward, laser-focused on accomplishing three key priorities: continuing to serve our community, keeping everyone safe, and assuring the long-term viability and vitality of Pacific Symphony.”
OC didn’t win Amazon’s 2018 HQ2 sweepstakes, although you might not have guessed that based on the e-commerce giant’s increasingly omnipresent vehicle presence in the area. The delivery fleet is getting plenty of use these days.
Mike Harrah’s 625 N. Grand Ave. building in Santa Ana—the former HQ of the OC Register, largely vacant for years since the paper’s departure to a smaller base in Anaheim—was one existing area building proposed for HQ2 uses. Big Mike appears to have finally landed Amazon as a tenant for the property, albeit perhaps just for the parking lot that sits along the 5 freeway.
Our Paul Hughes notes an Amazon Prime sign has recently gone up in front of the building (which still sports Register signage), and a heavy amount of trucks using the site for parking.
Amazon last year led a $700M investment in EV startup Rivian, and has plans to deploy some 100,000 of the Michigan-based firm’s electric-powered delivery trucks over the next 10 years.
Much of that design and battery work will be done in Irvine; see our front-page story on Rivian’s growing operations base in the area, now approaching 250,000 square feet.
