PAUL F. FOLINO
Director
Emulex Corp., Costa Mesa
CoreLogic Inc., Santa Ana
Microsemi Corp., Aliso Viejo
Lantronix Corp., Irvine
Born in Seattle
Age: 68
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 networks while be-coming one of county’s most en-gaged executives in arts, education, politics.
HOW: Left president’s post at local area networking company, Thomas-Conrad, after sale to Compaq Computer.
RECENT: Joined Lantronix board last June. Also serves on boards of Microsemi and Commercial Bank of California.
PERSONAL: Key member, past chairman of New Majority California. Former board member, chairman, Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Led South Coast Repertory growth, theater named for him. Member of Chapman University’s board, chairman of OC High School of the Arts Foundation advisory board. Also supports UCI, Cal State Fullerton, where street is named for him. Keynote speaker at CSUF’s 2010 commencement, received honorary doctorate. Named one of “100 Most Influential” in Southern California by L.A. Times in 2006. Born into modest home. Lived in public housing. Average student in high school, went to college on basketball scholarship, graduated with honors; worked way through graduate school while at Boeing. Interests include golf, Lakers, Clippers and Angels games. Seattle Seahawks fan. Bachelor’s degree, Central Washington State University. Master’s in business, Seattle University. Honorary doctorate degree from Cal State Fullerton. Daughter, Courtney, married to MLB pitcher Blake Hawksworth.
―Chris Casacchia
JAMES M. MCCLUNEY
Chief executive
Emulex Corp., Costa Mesa
Born in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland
Age: 61
Lives in Laguna Niguel
WHY: Pushing converged network adapter cards, networking chips on motherboards for next-generation servers, and network performance management applications. Competing 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—direct report to Steve Jobs—Digital Equipment, Silicon Valley startup Ridge Technologies.
RECENT: Acquired Endace Ltd. for $130 million, gained technology to record, visualize and monitor network traffic. Buy doubled ad-dressable market in high-margin, high-growth segment. Staved off proxy battle with largest shareholder with addition of two board members. Among burgeoning group of networking-equipment makers competing in 10-gigabit Ethernet connection market for data centers.
PERSONAL: Heavily involved with Project Tomorrow. Past chair of University of California, Irvine’s CEO Roundtable. On board of Mind Research Institute, Octane, Pacific Symphony and PBS SoCal. Dean’s advisory board of Sameuli School of Engineering at UCI, where company endowed chair for electrical engineering and computer science. Born in Ireland, of Scottish descent. Grew up in Glasgow. First job: delivering groceries at age 11. Soft-spoken, known for humor, humility. Brought balanced-democracy management style to Emulex. Writes blog on “disruptive” technologies. Recipient of Samueli school’s Engineering the Future award in 2009, along with Paul Folino (see related entry). Likes walking, cycling, gardening, reading, live music, theater. Bachelor of arts in business and administration from Strathclyde University in Glasgow. Wife, Vivian, two children, two grandchildren.
―Chris Casacchia
ALEJANDRO “ALEX” LOPEZ
Vice President, Boeing Advanced
Network & Space Systems
Site Executive, Huntington Beach
Age: 53
Born in Havana, Cuba
Lives in Anaheim
WHY: Top site executive in Orange County for Chicago-based aerospace and defense contractor with some 6,800 local employees. Huntington Beach operation includes electronics and mission systems, information solutions, strategic missile defense systems, nanosatellites and space exploration technologies. Vice president of Advanced Network & Space Systems in company’s Phantom Works division.
HOW: Joined Rockwell International, 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: Oversees operations of some 5,000 employees, charged with boosting innovation and productivity. Shifts in U.S. defense budget and sequestration present challenges but also opportunities.
PERSONAL: 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 Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana to open Rocket Lab, Orange County Department of Education on Arts Advantage; provided grants to Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks, among others. 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. Honored in 2009 with the Chairman’s Award at the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference. Enjoys family, travel, golf, reading. Bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Princeton University. Master’s in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Two children.
―Chris Casacchia
SCOTT A. MCGREGOR
Chief executive, president
Broadcom Corp., Irvine
Born in St. Louis
Age: 57
Lives in San Juan Capistrano
WHY: Third leader in history of company, now world’s ninth-largest chipmaker. Brought in hand-picked execs, standardized accounting, settled stock options litigation, took aggressive le-gal stance to protect patents from competitors.
HOW: Formerly headed Philips Semiconductors, now NXP Semiconduc-tors. Stints with Santa Cruz Operation Inc., Microsoft, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Digital Equipment. Solidified partnership with Apple in recent years with design wins on iPhones, iPods, iPads and computers.
RECENT: Delivered record revenue of $8.01 billion last year, one of only seven of top 25 chipmakers to grow sales in 2012. Positioned Broadcom to greatly benefit from ongoing smartphone war between Samsung and Apple, company’s largest customers.
PERSONAL: Broadcom Foundation completed second Broadcom Masters and first Masters International competitions, encourages middle school students to study science, technology, engineering and math courses throughout high school. Likes spending time outdoors with family.
Board member of Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro, run by fellow OC 50 member Alain Monié. Bachelor’s in psychology, master’s in computer science and computer engineering from Stanford University. Wife Laurie, three children.
―Chris Casacchia
STEVE MILLIGAN
Chief executive, president
Western Digital Corp., Irvine
Born in Illinois
Age: 49
WHY: Replaced John Coyne, who retired in January, in the top post at OC’s second-lar-gest public company, with $12.4 billion in annual sales. Western Di-gital is world’s lar-gest disk drive maker in units sold, revenue.
HOW: Rejoined Western Digital as president in March 2012. Previously held president and chief executive title at San Jose-based Hitachi Global Storage Technol-ogies, which Western Digital acquired last year for $4.8 million in largest deal to date. First joined Western Digital in 2002 as vice president, finance.
RECENT: Hitachi buy provided entrance to growing server and storage market, key with spread of smartphones, tablets and cloud computing. Has highlighted three areas of focus: the mobility segment and shift to lighter and thinner devices; the corporate cloud network and data centers; and consumer cloud services. Developing hybrid helium drive, could prove an alternative for corporate networks.
PERSONAL: Garnered Wall Street kudos for reshaping unprofitable, mismanaged unit of Japanese parent Hitachi Ltd. into a thriving global competitor and spinoff candidate. Bachelor’s in accounting from Ohio State University. Low public profile so far.
―Chris Casacchia
ALAIN MONIÉ
President, chief executive officer
Ingram Micro Inc., Santa Ana
Born in Marrakech, Morocco
Age: 62
Lives in Newport Beach
WHY: Leads Orange County’s largest public company, with $37.8 billion in revenue in 2012. Tech bellwether biggest distributor of computer, consumer electronics products, software in world. Employs more than 20,800 in 37 countries.
HOW: First joined Ingram Micro in 2003 as executive vice president. Appointed president of Asia-Pacific region a 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 manufac-turer in China; returned in 2011 as president and chief operating officer. Named chief executive January 2012.
RECENT: Achieved record gross profits and revenue. Continues focus on “flawless execution,” improving productivity, growing higher margin specialty businesses. Spear-headed $840 million buy of BrightPoint Inc., largest in company history. Other acquisitions broadened geographic reach in Middle East and Africa.
PERSONAL: Scuba diving, sports cars and good wines. Regrets letting private pilot license lapse.
Serves on the board of Ingram Micro and Amazon.com Inc. Fluent in English, French and Spanish. Has lived and worked in Europe, Mexico, Japan and Singapore. Big execution guy. Driving aggressive merger and acquisition strategy to promote rapid, more profitable growth. Demands accountability, transparency, open communication. 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. Wife, Dominique, from Bordeaux. Couple 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: 45
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 Activision Blizzard, largest game publisher in world with yearly revenue of $4.85 billion. Majority owner is Paris-based Vivendi.
HOW: Started Blizzard with fellow UCLA alumni Allen Adham, Frank Pearce in 1991. Borrowed $15,000 from his grandmother—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. Diablo III top-selling PC game in 2012.
RECENT: Successful global launches of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm in March, Diablo III and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria in 2012. Record PC sales of Diablo III. Deal with Sony brings distribution to PlayStation console, a first. PC card game in development.
PERSONAL: Donates to Jewish Federation of OC’s Young Leadership Division, Daniel Pearl Foundation. Tennis, racquetball, table tennis, video and computer game fan. Follows professional StarCraft II eSports competition. Played in World Series of Poker in Las Vegas but hasn’t placed, “not ready to give up trying.” Placed second in 2006 celebrity poker tournament hosted by Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS). San Fernando Valley boy. Plays bass in Blizzard-themed rock band with other employees. Inducted into AIAS Hall of Fame in 2007. Bachelor’s 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: 57
Lives in Laguna Beach, San Juan Capistrano
WHY: Tenure at OC’s second-lar-gest chipmaker be-gan in 2000, when Microsemi’s annual revenue was $247 million. Has led 20 acquisitions, boosting an-nual revenue past $1 billion.
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 Micro-electronics in New York.
RECENT: Hit longtime goal of $1 billion in revenue. Several Microsemi products used on Curiosity rover during launch and flight to Mars. Spearheading consolidation plan to shed noncore assets and unneeded real estate.
PERSONAL: Philanthropic interests in OC include Discovery Science Center, MIND Research Institute, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of OC, German Shepherd Rescue of OC, Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine, Soka University and Great Park Conservancy. Staunch supporter of education, serves on UCI’s board of trustees, CEO Executive Roundtable, Social Ecology Leadership Council, Engineering Industry Advisory Board, Paul Merage School of Business Advisory Council. Enjoys fishing, landscape gardening, driving fast cars, being a grandparent. Throws legendary annual Super Bowl party. Known by many as “Jimmy P.” Friendly, sunny outlook. Jokes with analysts on calls. Wife, Sheila, six children, six grandchildren.
―Chris Casacchia
HENRY SAMUELI
Cofounder, chief technical officer
Broadcom Corp., Irvine
Born in Buffalo, N.Y.
Age: 58
Lives in Corona del Mar
WHY: Revered as engineering visionary at Broadcom, one of the county’s well-known companies. Owns the Anaheim Ducks and the company that runs Honda Center. Had big hand in moving Broadcom headquarters to campus in University Research Park alongside UCI, recruits engineers from school.
HOW: Former UCLA professor. Worked at PairGain, TRW in 1980s. Started Broadcom in 1991 with Henry “Nick” Nicholas, who left in 2003. Each threw in $5,000. Started recruiting best engineering students from UCLA.
RECENT: Missed out on luring basketball’s Sacramento Kings to Anaheim. Won 2012 Marconi Society Prize and Fellowship, a top honor in IT field. Led chip industry into 5G Wi-Fi. Launched first ultra-high-definition TV home gateway chip at International Consumer Electronics Show. Niche in emerging 10-gig Ethernet market.
PERSONAL: Gave $30 million to UCLA, $20 million to UCI. Both universities named engineering schools after him. Also beneficiaries: 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. Parents, Aaron, Sala, were Holocaust survivors from Poland who met after war, came to America in 1950s and moved to California. Family ran liquor store on Whittier Boulevard, where Samueli worked as teen. Rejoined Broadcom board after lengthy legal battle over backdated stock options. Understated, modest. Lifelong hockey, basketball fan. Skis, hikes. Bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate in electrical engineering from UCLA. 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: 62
Lives in Irvine
WHY: Co-leader of top memory products maker for computers and consumer electronics. Runs county’s second-largest private company, with 2012 sales of $5 billion, down $500 million from record revenue of year before. King-ston employs about 800 local workers, 4,200 worldwide. Plants in Fountain Val-ley, Taiwan, mainland 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: 2012 marked by cooling demand for third-party DRAM, Kingston’s specialty and primary source of revenue, as PC sales waned. DRAM prices dropping. Revenue slide partially offset by growing demand for its smaller line of flash memory products and solid-state drives. Stole thunder at Internatonal Consumer Electronics Show with debut of 1-terabyte USB flash drive.
PERSONAL: 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. 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. Avid golfer. Electrical engineering degree from Tatung Institute of Technology in Taiwan. Married, two children, both work at Kingston.
―Chris Casacchia
JOHN TU
Chief executive
Kingston Technology Co., Fountain Valley
Born in Chongqing, China
Age: 71
Lives in Rolling Hills
WHY: Leads the top memory products maker for computers and consumer electronics, county’s second-largest private company, with 2012 sales of $5 billion, down an estimated $500 million from year before. King-ston employs ab-out 800 local workers, 4,200 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: 2012 marked by cooling demand for third-party DRAM, Kingston’s specialty, as PC sales decreased. DRAM prices dropping. Revenue slide partially offset by growing demand for its smaller line of flash memory products and solid-state drives. Stole some thunder at CES with debut of 1-terabyte USB flash drive.
PERSONAL: UC Irvine cancer diagnostic center named for him, friend Tom Yuen, an AST Researcher cofounder and president of SRS Labs in Santa Ana. 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. Loves Elvis. Heads the JT and California Dreamin’ Band. Tu plays drums. Collects cars. Investor in Yuen’s stem cell startup PrimeGen Biotech. Electrical engineering degree from Technische Hochschule Darmstadt in Germany. 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, leader in 60-inch and larger segment. Ranks among county’s top private companies, with 2012 sales estimated at $3.1 billion. Ex-panded into soundbars, tablets, streaming players, ultrabooks, all-in-one-desktops. Moved company into national spotlight with big endorsement deals, sports sponsorships.
HOW: Started Vizio in 2002. Company designs, markets TVs and other electronics here. Sets made in China, Taiwan, Mexico by Taiwan-based AmTran Technology, a Vizio investor. Forged close partnerships with retailers, suppliers and original design manufacturers. 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: Big market share across HDTV segments. Popular sound bars helped nab 2013 Best of CES Award for Home Theater. Eyeing China for debut smartphone.
PERSONAL: 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. Likes golf, other sports, reading, movies and, of course, TV. Born in Taiwan. Moved to Hawaii at age 12, California at 14. Big on design, innovation, user-friendliness. Egalitarian. Among ’96 survivors from Singapore Airlines crash that killed roughly half of passengers. Bachelor’s in electrical engineering from USC. Wife, Sakura, daughter.
―Chris Casacchia
NAMELY NOTABLE:
H.K. DESAI
Executive chairman
SIMON BIDDISCOMBE
Chief executive, president
Aliso-Viejo-based networking equipment maker QLogic Corp.
PASCAL HOUILLON
Chief executive
Irvine-based software maker Sage Software 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.
