2021 OC 50: Building A Stronger Safety Net

BILL GROSS
Founder
William, Jeff and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation
Laguna Beach
Co-Founder, Retired
Co-Chief Investment Officer
Pimco
Newport Beach

BIO: Long OC’s best-known finance executive, used to oversee trillions at Pimco. Nowadays, the retiree—the Bond King stepped down from his position at Janus Funds in 2019—is managing $482M for his family foundation that launched in 2019. Separately, he also oversees his own personal wealth, which the Business Journal in July estimated at about $1.65B.

NOTABLE: The foundation has donated more than $60M to nonprofit organizations since 2017. Aims to pay out $20M or more annually. Encourages OC’s other wealthy to follow suit.
See page 73 Leader Board for more.

QUOTABLE: Giving to “people in need is like a shot of adrenaline to the heart. It makes me feel I’m doing something worthwhile,” he previously told the Business Journal.

Nicole Suydam
CEO, President
Goodwill of Orange County
Santa Ana

ocgoodwill.org

BIO: Oversees OC’s largest nonprofit, with $126.3 million in local revenue for the 12 months ended June 30. ­­Counts two dozen Orange County stores, which pre-pandemic brought in roughly $5 million a month. Group’s mission is to help those with disabilities and other challenges to obtain work via education and workforce development programs, among other services.

NOTABLE: Santa Ana nonprofit also built and operates the increasingly valuable shopgoodwill.com online store, which is the e-commerce platform for most local Goodwills across the country. The online site saw cumulative sales recently top $1 billion. Half of those sales were generated in the past three years, with 2020 site sales totaling $171.3 million, up 22% from 2019.

QUOTABLE: In March, told the Business Journal that “so many of the Goodwills were impacted by the pandemic and all of us had to shut our stores down, depending on local communities and now some are dealing with continued restrictions. For many, it accelerated their journey to e-commerce.”