Dick Allen
Cofounded home healthcare company Caremark in 1979, led 1987 sale to Baxter International Inc.; president, Irvine-based angel investor Dima Ventures
Edward C. Allred
Owner, Rosemead-based Family Planning Associates Medical Group Inc., Los Alamitos Race Course
Eyal Aronoff
Cofounder, former chief technology officer, Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software Inc.; author of software development books
Art Astor
Owner, chief executive, president, radio stations KSPA AM 1510, KFSD AM 1450, KCEO AM 1000; owner Astor Classics Events Center
Donald B. Ayres Jr.
Southern California postwar homebuilder; founder, Costa Mesa-based Ayres Hotel Group
Alfred and James Baldwin
Cofounders, former Newport Beach-based homebuilder Baldwin Co.; principals, Otay Ranch Co.
Jerry Bartow
Oil well owner, former refinery owner
David Beauchamp
Investor, heir of Orange-based Western Dental Services Inc. founder Robert F. Beauchamp
Donald R. Beall
Partner, Dartbrook Partners LLC; retired chairman, chief executive, Rockwell International Corp.
SCOTT BORAS
Top baseball player agent; president, owner, Scott Boras Corp.
Richard John “RJ” Brandes
Brandes made a fortune in real estate finance. In 1984, he started Belgravia Capital Corp., a commercial real estate finance and mortgage company. In 1997, he sold Belgravia to Arizona’s Finova Group Inc. in a deal reported to be worth $90 million. Around that time, he also sold Belgravia Financial Services LLC, a lender to mobile home buyers, to Ford Motor Credit Co. for undisclosed terms. Last year, Brandes resurrected Belgravia Capital as an independent Irvine investment bank, where he’s chief executive. He also is a director and majority owner of Irvine’s Gatekeeper Systems Inc., a maker of shopping cart theft prevention gear. Wife Gloria Brandes runs Costa Mesa clothing designer BB Dakota.
CARY BREN
Owner, president, Irvine-based California Pacific Homes Inc.
Jane Buchan
Chief executive, managing director, Irvine-based Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co.
KOBE BYRANT
Los Angeles Lakers guard
Allen Chao
Chairman, managing partner, Irvine-based healthcare investor and consultant Newport Healthcare Advisors LLC; cofounder, former chairman, chief executive Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Chih-Ming J. Chen
Founder, chairman, chief executive, Irvine-based generic drug maker Anchen Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Lodwrick “Lod” Cook
Chief executive, Newport Beach-based real estate investor Cook Hill Properties LLC; vice chairman, Beverly Hills-based venture capital firm Pacific Capital Group; chairman emeritus, former chief executive, Atlantic Richfield Co.
JACK CROUL
Former owner, Santa Ana paint maker Behr Process Corp., which was sold in 1999 to Michigan’s Masco Corp.; owner Newport Beach’s Cannery, Seafood of the Pacific restaurant.
Sandra “SANDY” Segerstrom Daniels
As co-managing partner of Costa Mesa-based C.J. Segerstrom & Sons LLC, Segerstrom Daniels runs South Coast Plaza and office buildings alongside Henry Segerstrom, the cousin of her late father, Hal Segerstrom. She’s one of the most powerful women in the county and one of its biggest philanthropists, though she keeps a lower profile than Henry Segerstrom. She, her two sisters and a brother are estimated to own half of C.J. Segerstrom. Henry Segerstrom’s stake is estimated at about a quarter after factoring in his divorce from his first wife.
H.K. Desai
Chairman, longtime chief executive of Aliso Viejo-based networking electronics maker QLogic Corp.
Lawrence “Larry” Dodge
Founding chairman, chief executive, Foot-hill Ranch-based insurance, investment company American Sterling Group of Cos.
DAVID DOYLE
Cofounder, Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software Corp.
RANNEY DRAPER
Founder, principal owner of Costa Mesa-based shopping center developer Diversified Shopping Centers, sold in 1998 to Costa Mesa’s Donahue Schriber; chairman, Newport Beach-based real estate investor Spring Creek Investors LLC
Fritz L. Duda Sr.
Founder, chairman, Newport Beach-based real estate developer, owner Fritz Duda Co.
Andrew Edwards
Owner, president, Anaheim-based audio-video presentation gear maker Extron Electronics Inc.; owner, North Carolina’s Quextron Inc., software maker for labs, hospitals
Kenneth Fait
Principal, Costa Mesa-based Facilities Management West; co-owner Fait Family Trust with investments in energy, real estate, mobile homes, engineering, computer software and cattle operations
ANTHONY FANTICOLA
Retired owner, chairman, chief executive, A. Fanticola Cos., Oil Express Inc., Lube Pit Inc. (parent companies of Jiffy Lube franchises); director, Salt Lake City-based ExtraSpace Storage Inc.
David Gelbaum
Trustee, Newport Beach-based green technology investor Quercus Trust; chief executive, Fort Worth, Texas-based Entech Solar Inc.
WILLIAM Gillespie
Philanthropist, grandson and heir to the founder of Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance Group of Cos.
Jim Glidewell
Chief executive, president, Newport Beach- based dental products company Glidewell Laboratories
CLIFFORD HEINZ
Grandson of H.J. Heinz, founder of Pittsburgh-based H.J. Heinz Co.
Anthony Hsieh
Founder, Irvine’s HomeLoanCenter.com, sold to LendingTree LLC in 2004; founder, chairman, Irvine-based mortgage finance company Grander Financial Inc.; owner, Crow’s Nest Yachts in Newport Beach
LAP SHUN “JOHN” HUI
Owner, Chino-based office products company Joui International LLC; former owner, eMachines Inc., sold in 2004 to Gateway Inc., now part of Acer Inc.
Khosro Khaloghli
Principal, Newport Beach-based real estate developer, apartment owner Caspian Properties Inc.
JOSEPH KIANI
Founder, chairman, chief executive, Irvine-based patient monitoring device maker Masimo Corp.
SONNY KING
Founder, chairman, chief executive, grocery products marketing company Advantage Sales and Marketing LLC
Donald Kennedy
Chairman emeritus, Santa Ana-based title insurer First American Corp. (now First American Financial Corp.)
Dean Koontz
Suspense novelist
William Link
As cofounder and Newport Beach-based managing director of Menlo Park’s Versant Venture Management LLC, Link is the leading healthcare venture capitalist in Orange County. He’s invested in more than 20 medical technology companies, with about half in OC. Earlier, he cofounded and ran Irvine’s Chiron Vision Corp., a maker of eye surgery devices that was sold to Bausch & Lomb Inc. in 1997 for $310 million. Link also started an eye surgery business in 1977 while working for what’s now Baxter International Inc. The business evolved into Advanced Medical Optics Inc., the Santa Ana-based contact lens care and eye surgery company that was acquired by Abbott Laboratories in 2009.
GEORGE LOPEZ
Founder, chairman, chief executive, president, San Clemente-based medical device maker ICU Medical Inc.
HADI MAKARECHIAN
Chairman, Colorado’s Banning Lewis Ranch Management Co., developer of 21,400 acres near Colorado Springs; founder, Newport Beach-based homebuilder Capital Pacific Holdings Inc.; chief executive, Newport Beach-based Makar Properties LLC, owner of the Hilton Anaheim
JAMES MELLOR
Former chairman, chief executive General Dynamics Corp.
ANTHONY MOISO AND FAMILY
Chief executive, president, San Juan Capistrano-based real estate developer, owner Rancho Mission Viejo LLC
MANOUCH Moshayedi
Chairman, chief executive, Santa Ana-based data storage drive maker STEC Inc.
Mark Moshayedi
President, chief operating officer, chief technology officer, STEC
Mike Moshayedi
Cofounder, STEC
James Muzzy
Cofounder, managing director, Newport Beach-based bond fund manager Pacific Investment Management Co.
CRAIG NICKOLOFF
Founder, Irvine-based Claim Jumper Restaurants LLC, sold to Los Angeles-based private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners LP in 2005; chairman, Irvine-based investment firm Nickoloff Cos.
Milan Panic
Founder, former chief executive, ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., now Aliso Viejo-based drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuti-cals International; chairman, chief executive, Santa Ana-based clinical and diagnostics products maker MP Biomedicals Inc.
WILLIAM PODLICH
Cofounder, retired chief executive, Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co.; philanthropist
BRIAN PRATT
Chairman, chief executive, president, Lake Forest-based construction and engineering company Primoris Services Corp.
John Paul Reddam
Founder, chief executive, Anaheim-based CashCall Inc.; founder, former chief executive, Irvine’s Ditech Funding Corp., sold in 1999 to GMAC Inc. (now Ally Financial Inc.)
JOHN SAUNDERS
Chairman, Core Realty Holdings LLC, owner of 10.6 million square feet of apartments, other commercial real estate; owner, Newport Beach collectibles dealer London Coin Galleries Inc.
Joseph S. Schuchert Jr.
Chairman, Newport Beach-based investment manager First Q Capital LLC
Henry Segerstrom
Co-managing partner, Costa Mesa-based C.J. Segerstrom & Sons
KOSTI SHIRVANIAN
Owner, Gardena-based Waste Resources Inc.; founder, Western Waste Industries, sold in 1995 to U.S.A. Waste Services, now Waste Management Inc.
Chad Steelberg, Ryan Steelberg
The Steelbergs are entrepreneurial brothers with a knack for selling startups to big buyers that didn’t have as much luck with them. In 2002, they started Irvine radio advertising company dMarc Broad-casting Inc. and sold it in 2006 to Google Inc. Google shut down the business in 2009. In 1999, they sold Costa Mesa online advertising company AdForce Inc. to CMGI Inc., now ModusLink Global Solutions Inc., which closed AdForce in 2001. They now run Irvine-based Brand Affinity Technologies Inc., which hooks up athletes and celebrities with advertisers via an online network. Chad Steelberg is chief technology officer. Ryan Steelberg is chief executive.
Edward Thorp
President, Newport Beach-based hedge fund operator Edward O. Thorp and Associates LP; author of “Beat the Dealer,” 1962 book credited as the first to mathematically prove how to win at blackjack by card counting
Peter Ueberroth
Managing director, Newport Beach-based private equity firm Contrarian Group Inc.
DAVID WILSON
Chairman, chief executive, Orange-based David Wilson Automotive Group, owner of Toyota of Orange, Newport Lexus, other auto dealerships
KENNETH WALKER
Former chief executive, Farmers & Merchants Bank; president, Long Beach branch; grandson of founder C.J. Walker
Jim Warmington Sr.
Former chairman, president, Warmington Homes; grandson of founder William C. Warmington
LOUIS WELCH
President, Irvine-based LA Fitness International LLC
Mark Wetterau
As chairman, chief executive and majority owner of Irvine-based Golden State Foods Corp., Mark Wetterau runs one of the county’s largest private companies. Golden State has yearly sales of $4.2 billion and supplies meat, sauces, buns and others products to McDonald’s Corp. and other restaurant chains. Wetterau owns a majority of the company through St. Louis-based Wetterau Associates, a family company he runs with brother Conrad Wetterau. Mark Wetterau started his career in 1980 with St. Louis-based Wetterau Inc., a food maker and distributor founded by his great-grandfather. He rose through the ranks of the publicly traded company to become president in 1990. Two years later, he oversaw the sale of Wetterau Inc. to Minneapolis-based SuperValu Stores Inc.
DAVID WILSON
A former car washer and oil change mechanic, David Wilson now owns one of the largest auto dealership empires in Orange County. The Iowa native is chairman and chief executive of Orange-based David Wilson Auto-motive Group, owner of Toyota of Orange, Newport Lexus, other auto dealerships. He worked his way through college in the late 1960s selling cars. He’s likely one of the few dealers with a degree in religion and philosophy. Wilson bought his first dealership, Toyota of Orange, with a $4 million loan in 1985. His company had 2009 revenue of $1 billion, down 20% from a year earlier amid the auto industry’s worst year in decades. Like other dealers, Wilson is seeing a rebound this year.
