JOHN COYNE
Chief executive, president
Western Digital Corp., Irvine
Born in Dublin, Ireland
Age: 61
Lives in Laguna Beach
WHY: Positioned company to battle for top spot among all disk drive makers. Spearheaded recovery efforts on Thailand operations after devastating flood. Runs county’s second-lar-gest public company with $9.5 billion in annual revenue.
HOW: Joined in 1983 to start company’s circuit board operations in Ireland. Went on to oversee manufacturing in Irvine, board production worldwide. Left to join circuit board maker SCI Systems, then tapped to run European operations of onetime Anaheim circuit board maker Data-Design Laborato-ries in early 1990s. Rejoined Western Digital in 1996, overseeing Malaysia operations. Consolidated drive production there, closed 2,000-person Singapore plant in bid to cuts costs amid falling prices. Led expansion into Thailand, where most production now done. Senior VP, worldwide operations, 2000 to 2005. Named president, COO in 2006. Chief executive since 2007.
RECENT: April brought comeback from worst Thailand floods in decades. Heavily damaged operations there can now meet supply demands. Closed $4.8 million acquisition of San Jose-based Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Ltd., the company’s largest deal ever, in March. Wrangled with federal and international regulators on antitrust concerns. Forced to sell small hard drive business as concession. Hitachi buy provides entree to growing server and storage market, key with spread of smart phones, tablets and cloud computing.
INTERESTS: Rally racing champion as young man in Ireland. Says sport taught him critical lessons for business.
PERSONAL: Slightly faded Irish brogue. Low key, shies away from media attention. Business Journal’s 2009 Businessperson of the Year.
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s in mechanical engineering, University College, Dublin.
—Chris Casacchia
ALEJANDRO “ALEX” LOPEZ
Vice President, Boeing Advanced Network &
Space Systems
Site Executive, Anaheim/Huntington Beach
Age: 52
Born in Havana, Cuba
Lives in Anaheim
WHY: Top site executive in Orange Coun-ty for Chicago-based aerospace and defense contractor with some 8,000 local employees. Huntington Beach operation home to di-verse group of programs, including electronics and mission systems, information solutions, strategic missile defense systems, nanosatellites and space exploration technologies. Vice president of Advanced Net-work & Space Systems within company’s Phantom Works division.
HOW: Lopez joined Rockwell Inter-national, later bought by Boeing, in 1981 as communication systems engineer working on GPS satellites. Advanced through ranks, becoming chief scientist for Communicating, Tracking and Location Systems. Oversaw numerous programs, including development of Combat Survivor Evader Locator system, which allows rescue teams to locate isolated personnel by providing real-time communications and enhanced coordination with downed pilots.
RECENT: Named Anaheim/Huntington Beach site executive in February. Oversees operations of 5,000-member team, charged with boosting innovation and productivity. Shifts in U.S. defense budget priorities present challenges but also opportunities.
COMMUNITY: Serves on the board of Great Minds in STEM, a nonprofit organization that promotes science, technology, engineering and math careers in underserved communities. Boeing has partnered with the Dis-covery Science Center in Santa Ana to open a hands-on educational Rocket Lab; Orange County Department of Education on Arts Advantage, a countywide effort to bring arts education into the classroom; provided grants to Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks, among others.
INTERESTS: Enjoys family, dogs, travel, golf, reading.
PERSONAL: Immigrated to the U.S. at 2 with his parents and sister. Grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Received Corporate Achievement Award in 2011 from Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. Hon-ored in 2009 with the Chairman’s Award at the Hispanic Engineer National Achieve-ment Awards Conference.
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s of science in electrical engineering from Princeton University. Master’s in electrical engineering from Stanford University.
FAMILY: Two children.
—Chris Casacchia
JAMES M. MCCLUNEY
Chief executive
Emulex Corp., Costa Mesa
Born in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland
Age: 60
Lives in Laguna Niguel
WHY: Pushing converged network adap-ter cards, networking chips on motherboards for next generation servers. Com-peting for design wins with local rivals QLogic, Broadcom.
HOW: Former company, Vixel—which he took public in 1999—bought by Emulex in 2003. Prior stints at Apple, Digital Equip-ment, Silicon Valley startup Ridge Tech-nologies.
RECENT: Operations recovering from disruptions in Thailand due to widespread floods. Among burgeoning group of networking-equipment makers competing in 10-gigabit Ethernet connection market for data centers. Has early market share lead.
COMMUNITY: Heavily involved with Project Tomorrow, a business and education nonprofit collaborative dedicated to enhancing K-12 science education in Orange County schools. Chairman of the University of Cali-fornia, Irvine, CEO Roundtable. On board of Mind Research Institute, nonprofit focused on improving K-12 math education nationwide, Octane and PBS Socal. Dean’s Advisory Board of Sameuli School of Engineering at UCI, where company funded endowed chair for electrical engineering and computer science.
INTERESTS: Likes walking, cycling, gardening, reading, live music, theater.
PERSONAL: Born in Ireland, of Scottish descent. Grew up in Glasgow. First job: delivered groceries at age 11. Soft-spoken, known for humor, humility. Brought own management style to Emulex. Runs as “balanced democracy.” Writes blog on “disruptive” technologies for company website. Recipient of Samueli school’s Engineering the Future award in 2009, along with Paul Folino (see related entry).
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s of arts in business and administration from Strathclyde Uni-versity in Glasgow.
FAMILY: Wife Vivian, two children, two grandchildren.
—Chris Casacchia
PAUL F. FOLINO
Director
Emulex Corp., Costa Mesa
CoreLogic Inc., Santa Ana
Microsemi Corp., Aliso Viejo
Born in Seattle
Age: 67
Lives in Coto de Caza, Rancho Mirage
WHY: Chief executive of Emulex from 1993 to 2006, executive chairman from 2006 to 2011. Grew company into dominant supplier of electronics for data storage network while becoming one of county’s most engaged exe-cutives in arts, education, politics.
HOW: Left post at computer distributor Eczel in 1980s after mismanagement by James Goldsmith, corporate raider who nearly took over Goodyear. Joined Emulex in 1992, oversaw shakeup after his arrival.
RECENT: Appointed to CoreLogic board in July 2011, stepped down as Emulex executive chairman in November. Could see busy summer at CoreLogic, where a major shareholder is pushing for change. Also serves on board of Commercial Bank of California.
COMMUNITY: Key member, past chairman of New Majority. Former board member, chair, Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Led South Coast Repertory growth, theater named for him. Member of Chapman Uni-versity’s board, chairman of OC High School of the Arts Foundation advisory board. Also supports UCI, Cal State Fuller-ton, where street is named for him. Keynote speaker at CSUF’s 2010 commencement, re-ceived honorary doctorate. Named one of “100 Most Influential” in Southern California by L.A. Times in 2006.
INTERESTS: Golf, Lakers, Clippers, Ducks, Angels games. Seattle Seahawks fan.
PERSONAL: Born into modest Seattle home. Lived in public housing. Average student in high school, went to college on basketball scholarship, graduated with honors; worked way through graduate school at Boeing.
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree, Central Washington State University. Master’s in business, Seattle University.
FAMILY: Daughter, Courtney, married to Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Hawks-worth.
—Jerry Sullivan
SCOTT A. MCGREGOR
Chief executive, president
Broadcom Corp., Irvine
Born in St. Louis
Age: 56
Lives in San Juan Capistrano
WHY: Only third leader in company’s history. Brought in hand-picked execs, standardized accounting, settled stock options litigation, took aggressive legal stance to protect patents from competitors. Oversees world’s 10th-largest chipmaker.
HOW: McGregor formerly headed Phil-ips Semiconductors, now NXP Semicon-ductors. Stints with Santa Cruz Oper-ation Inc., Micro-soft, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Digital Equipment. Solidified partnership with Apple in recent years with design wins on iPhones, iPods, iPads and computers.
RECENT: Struck $3.7 billion deal in February for Santa Clara-based NetLogic, the company’s largest to date and one of priciest among chipmakers in recent years. Extends reach in 4G wireless networks and processors. Closed $195 million buy of Israel-based BroadLight Ltd., which makes chips and software for fiber optic broadband networks. Introduced industry’s first 5G chip this year.
COMMUNITY: Launched Broadcom Mas-ters competition in October sponsored by Broadcom Foundation. Encourages middle school students to study science, technology, engineering and math courses throughout high school.
INTERESTS: Likes spending time outdoors, with family.
PERSONAL: Board member of Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro, run by fellow OC 50er Alain Monié.
EDUCATION: Bachelors in psychology, masters in computer science and computer engineering from Stanford University.
FAMILY: Wife, three children.
—Chris Casacchia
ALAIN MONIÉ
President, chief executive officer
Ingram Micro Inc., Santa Ana
Born in Marrakech, Morocco
Age: 61
Lives in Newport Beach
WHY: Leads Orange County’s largest public company with $36.3 billion in revenue in 2011. Tech bellwether biggest distributor of computer, consumer electronics products, software in world. Employs more than 15,000 in 26 countries.
HOW: First joined Ingram Micro in 2003 as executive vice president. Appointed president of Asia-Pacific region year later. Doubled region’s size after acquisition of Tech Pacific, transforming a break-even business into company’s largest growth market. Left in 2010 to head manufacturer in China; returned in 2011 as president and chief operating officer.
RECENT: Promoted in January to chief executive, replacing Gregory Spierkel. Addressing major software and hardware integration glitch in Australia, which dogged company the last year. Focus on “flawless execution,” improving productivity, growing higher margin specialty businesses and investing in cloud services.
COMMUNITY: Plans to be involved in OC phil-anthropy, extend partnerships with academia.
INTERESTS: Loves scuba diving, sports cars and good wines. Regrets letting private pilot license lapse. Serves on the board of Ingram Micro and Amazon.com.
PERSONAL: Fluent in English, French and Spanish. Has lived and worked in Europe, U.S., Mexico, Japan and Singapore. Big execution guy. Plans aggressive mergers and acquisitions strategy. Big on accountability, transparency, open communications.
EDUCATION: Educated in France. Received high honors in automation engineering studies at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Metiers. MBA from Institut Supérieur des Affaires in Jouy en Josas.
FAMILY: Wife Dominique from Bordeaux. Duo has moved 16 times, raised three sons. Three grandchildren, hopes for more.
—Chris Casacchia
MICHAEL S. MORHAIME
Cofounder, chief executive
Blizzard Entertainment Inc., Irvine
Born in Panorama City
Age: 44
Lives in Newport Coast
WHY: Pioneer of multiplayer Internet games. Blizzard’s Battle.net serves as the tech backbone for the company’s online gaming services. Key part of 2008 agreement to combine with Santa Monica-based Activision in $18 billion deal, creating Acti-vision Blizzard, largest game publisher with yearly revenue of $4.8 billion. Majority owner is Paris-based Vivendi.
HOW: Started Blizzard with college buddies Allen Adham, Frank Pearce in 1991. Borrowed $15,000 from his grandmother—still has handwritten loan contract on office wall. Blizzard’s forerunner bought by Torrance educational software publisher Davidson & Associates in 1994, then by predecessor to New Jersey-based Cendant in 1996. Sold to Havas in France in 1998, later bought by Vivendi. Blizzard had two top-10 PC games in North America and Europe in 2011 with StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
RECENT: Set to release Diablo III this month. Diablo II, released in 2000, sold more than 1 million copies first two weeks, fastest-selling game in history at the time. More than 4 million copies sold to date. Trying to recapture WoW subscribers, lost 900,000 since October. Honored along with cofounders with 2010 Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award.
COMMUNITY: Donates to Jewish Feder-ation of OC’s Young Leadership Division, Daniel Pearl Foundation.
INTERESTS: Tennis, racquetball, ping-pong, video and computer games. Poker enthusiast. Played in World Series of Poker in Las Vegas in past years but hasn’t placed in money. Says he’s “not ready to give up trying.”
PERSONAL: Valley Boy. Plays bass in Blizzard-themed band with other employees. Band name: Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftain. Placed second in 2006 celebrity poker tournament hosted by Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Inducted into AIAS Hall of Fame in 2007.
EDUCATION: Bachelors in electrical engineering, University of California, Los Angeles.
—Chris Casacchia
JAMES J. PETERSON
Chief executive, president
Microsemi Corp., Aliso Viejo
Born in Port Jefferson, N.Y.
Age: 56
Lives in Laguna Beach,
San Juan Capistrano
WHY: Tenure at OC’s third largest chipmaker began in 2000, when Mic- rosemi’s annual revenue was $247 million. Has led 20 acquisitions, boosting an-nual revenue to $835 million. On pace to surpass $1 billion this year.
HOW: Ran Garden Grove-based LinFinity Microelectonics, unit of SymmetriCom in San Jose. Microsemi bought Linfinity in 1999 for $24 million. Ran LinFinity as Microsemi division before promotion to top spot. Earlier held senior worldwide marketing and sales management positions with Silicon Systems Inc. Also held marketing management positions with Rockwell Corp. in Newport Beach and General Instruments Microelectronics in New York.
RECENT: Led company through chip sector’s first successful hostile takeover in the U.S. or Canada with the acquisition of Ottawa-based Zarlink Semiconductor in October 2011 for $623.8 million—Microsemi’s largest deal to date. Bought the timing and synchronization business from Sunnyvale Calif.-based Maxim Integrated Products Inc. for undisclosed terms in January. Relocated headquarters from Irvine to Aliso Viejo last year, gradually incorporating teams from the other OC offices.
COMMUNITY: Named “Outstanding Phil-anthropist” with wife Sheila in 2011 by the Orange County Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Philanthropic interests in Orange County include Discov-ery Science Center, CASA (Court Ap-pointed Special Advocates) of OC, German Shepherd Rescue of OC, Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine, Soka University and Great Park Conservancy.
INTERESTS: Staunch supporter of education, serves on UCI’s Board of Trustees, Social Ecology Leadership Council, En-gineering Industry Advisory Board, Paul Merage School of Business Advisory Coun-cil, Santa Ana-based MIND Research Inst-itute.
PERSONAL: Enjoys fishing, landscape gardening, driving fast cars, being a grandparent. Learning to play drums. Throws a legendary annual Super Bowl party. Took golf lessons in San Juan Capistrano to improve handicap. Known by many as “Jimmy P.” Friendly, sunny outlook. Jokes with analysts on calls.
EDUCATION: Attended Brigham Young University.
FAMILY: Wife Sheila, six children, four grandchildren.
—Chris Casacchia
HENRY SAMUELI
Cofounder, chief technical officer
Broadcom Corp., Irvine
Born in Buffalo, N.Y.
Age: 57
Lives in Corona del Mar
WHY: Revered as engineering visionary at Broadcom, one of the county’s highest profile companies. Owns the Anaheim Ducks and the company that runs Honda Center. Had big hand in moving Broadcom HQ to campus in University Re-search Park alongside UCI, recruits engineers from school.
HOW: Former UCLA professor. Worked at PairGain, TRW in 1980s. Started Broad-com in 1991 with cofounder Henry “Nick” Nicholas, who left in 2003. Each threw in $5,000. Recruited best engineering students from UCLA.
RECENT: Continues to come up in talks about possibility of luring basketball’s Sacramento Kings to Anaheim. Green lighted $20 million Grand Terrace addition to Honda Center, set to open early next year. Signed Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s “Giving Pledge,” committing at least half of wealth to charity.
COMMUNITY: Gave $30 million to UCLA, $20 million to UCI. Both universities named engineering schools after him. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, OC High School of the Arts, PBS SoCal, Discovery Science Center, Tarbut V’Torah day school, Ocean Institute, Jewish Federation of OC, Shoah Foundation, University Synagogue also beneficiaries.
INTERESTS: Lifelong hockey, basketball fan. Skis, hikes.
PERSONAL: Parents, Aaron, Sala, were Holocaust survivors from Poland. Met after war. Came to America in 1950s, moved to California. Family ran liquor store on Whittier Boulevard, where Samueli worked as teen. Rejoined Broadcom board a year ago after lengthy legal battle over backdated stock options. Understated, modest.
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate in electrical engineering from UCLA.
FAMILY: Wife Susan jointly runs Corona del Mar-based Samueli Foundation. Three children.
—Chris Casacchia
DAVID SUN
Chief operating officer, vice president
Kingston Technology Co., Fountain Valley
Born in Taichung, Taiwan
Age: 61
Lives in Irvine
WHY: Co-leader of top memory products maker for computers and consumer electronics. Runs county’s largest private company, with 2011 sales pegged at $5.8 billion, down $700 million from record revenue of $6.5 billion the year before. Kingston em-ploys about 800 local workers, 4,000 worldwide. Plants in Fountain Valley, Taiwan, China.
HOW: Sun started Camintonn in garage with partner John Tu (see related entry) in early 1980s. Became division VPs when former computer maker AST Research bought Camintonn. Left to start Kingston in 1987 after losing millions in stock market crash.
RECENT: Company entered 2012 with a warning that it was “extremely unlikely to meet the same sort of revenue” as the prior year. Decline stems from cooling demand for third-party DRAM, Kingston’s specialty in that segment and primary source of revenue. Offset in part by signs of strength in its smaller line of flash memory products. Boosted Kingston ownership stake in a Taiwanese storage device maker Rexchip Electronics Corp. in March deal worth an estimated $128 million.
COMMUNITY: Famous for handing out $100 million to workers after selling 80% of Kingston to Softbank in 1990s. Sun, Tu bought back Kingston in 1999 for fraction of what Softbank paid.
INTERESTS: Avid golfer.
PERSONAL: Came from Taiwan in 1977, was chief engineer at Alpha Micro Systems in Costa Mesa, 1978 to 1982. Lively, unconventional operations man. Kingston culture not big on titles, productivity stats. No reserved parking, corner offices, glitzy conference rooms.
EDUCATION: Electrical engineering degree from Tatung Institute of Technology in Taiwan.
FAMILY: Married, two children, both work at Kingston.
—Chris Casacchia
JOHN TU
Chief executive
Kingston Technology Co., Fountain Valley
Born in Chongqing, China
Age: 70
Lives in Rolling Hills
WHY: Leads the top memory products maker for computers and consumer electronics, county’s lar-gest private company, with 2011 sales pegged at $5.8 billion, down an estimated $700 million from record $6.5 billion year before. Kingston em-ploys about 800 local workers, 4,000 worldwide. Plants in Fountain Valley, Taiwan, China.
HOW: Started Camintonn in garage with partner David Sun (see related entry) in early 1980s. Became division VPs when former computer maker AST Research bought Camintonn. Left to start Kingston in 1987 after losing millions in stock market crash.
RECENT: Company entered 2011 with a warning that it was “extremely unlikely to meet the same sort of revenue” as the prior year. Decline stems from cooling demand for third-party DRAM, Kingston’s specialty in that segment and primary source of revenue. Offset in part by signs of strength in its smaller line of flash memory products. Boosted Kingston ownership stake in a Taiwanese storage device maker Rexchip Electronics Corp. in a deal in March worth an estimated $128 million.
COMMUNITY: UC Irvine cancer diagnostic center named for him, friend Tom Yuen, an AST cofounder and president of SRS Labs in Santa Ana.
INTERESTS: Loves Elvis. Heads JT and California Dreamin’ Band. Tu plays drums. Collects cars. Investor in Yuen’s stem cell startup PrimeGen Biotech.
PERSONAL: Family fled China for Taiwan in 1949. Sent to Germany as kid to live with uncle who owned Chinese restaurant. Says he “doesn’t like to study.” Expelled from several high schools. Came to U.S. in 1972. Funny, soft-spoken public face of company.
EDUCATION: Electrical engineering degree from Technische Hochschule Darmstadt in Germany.
FAMILY: Married, two children.
—Chris Casacchia
WILLIAM W. WANG
Founder, chief executive
Vizio Inc., Irvine
Born in Taipei, Taiwan
Age: 49
Lives in Newport Beach
WHY: Flat-TV titan battles Samsung for top market share. Sells 6 million TVs annually. Ranks among county’s top private companies with sales estimated at $3 billion in 2011. Ex-panding into other consumer gadgets, soundbars, tablets. Helps shape the look, feel of products. Moved company into national spotlight with big endorsement deals, sports sponsorships.
HOW: Wang started Vizio in 2002. Company designs, markets TVs here. Sets made in China, Taiwan, Mexico by Taiwan-based AmTran Technology, a Vizio investor. Used similar model for prior companies—monitor sellers Mag InnoVision, Princeton Digital—in 1990s. Both took off early, ended poorly. Started Mag InnoVision at age 26 with $350,000 from family, friends, Asian investor. Company struggled when PC prices dropped, after making tons of money in tech boom. Taiwan-based Mag Technology, which made the monitors, bought business in 1998.
RECENT: Lost title as top flat-TV seller in June quarter. Eyeing other consumer electronics to offset maturing market, diversify company. Line of ultrabooks, desktops set to debut this summer.
COMMUNITY: Board of Segerstrom Center, gives to Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Second Harvest Food Bank, others. Member of Committee of 100, group of distinguished Chinese-Americans.
INTERESTS: Golf, other sports; reading, movies and, of course, TV.
PERSONAL: Born in Taiwan. Moved to Hawaii at age 12, California at 14. Big on design, innovation, user-friendliness. Egali-tarian, doesn’t micromanage. Said to be “product visionary.” Among 96 survivors from Singapore Airlines crash that killed roughly half of passengers.
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s in electrical engineering from USC.
FAMILY: Wife Sakura, daughter.
—Chris Casacchia
OTHER MEMBERS
H.K. DESAI
Executive chairman
SIMON BIDDISCOMBE
Chief executive, president
Aliso-Viejo-based networking equipment maker QLogic Corp.
VINCENT C. “VINNY” SMITH JR.
Executive chairman, chief executive
Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software Inc.
PASCAL HOUILLON
Chief executive
Irvine-based software maker Sage Software Inc.
MANOUCH MOSHAYEDI
Chairman, chief executive
Santa Ana-based solid-state disk drive maker STEC Inc.
MARK SIMONS
Chief executive, president
Irvine-based consumer electronics company Toshiba America Information Systems Inc.
KENTON K. ALDER
Chief executive, president
Santa Ana-based circuit board maker TTM Technologies Inc.
