OCBC will miss Tom Wilck, a founding member of the Business Council who passed away last month after a short illness.  Tom’s dedication and hard work on behalf of the Orange County business community, OCBC and more recently the Orange County Housing Trust, will be forever remembered and cherished.

Tom’s business and professional credentials include past Chairman of the Board of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, former chairman of the CORO Foundation of Southern California and the Newport Harbor Chamber of Commerce, a past member of the public affairs advisory committee of the Automobile Club of Southern California, the Board of Trustees of the UCI Foundation, the UCI Chancellor’s Club, and the board of directors of the Lincoln Club of Orange County.

In the 1960s, Tom served as a personal public relations consultant to Walt Disney.  He was later a Vice President of The Irvine Company and appointed Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration. Above all, Tom Wilck was a gentleman and a man of honor and dedication.  Tom’s wife, Nadine Wilck, is planning a memorial service for later this summer. Pace requiem.
 

The Orange County Business Council and UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business teamed up and hit the greens Tuesday, August 5, for the 2008 Executive Invitational Golf Tournament.

This years' tournament was held at the beautiful Monarch Beach Golf Links in Dana Point.  A full field of 144 golfers including business leaders from throughout Orange County teed off for success and on behalf of workforce development. Tournament proceeds for this years' tournament went towards OCBC’s Latino Educational Attainment Initiative and UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business Scholarship Fund.

Team Kaiser Permanente pulled away with top honors on the day with the low score of 53.  Congratulations to team members John Stratman, Bill Haberhmehl, Juan Lopez and Brian McGuire, pictured at right with OCBC President and CEO Lucy Dunn and Andy Policano, Dean of the Merage School of Business.

Six weeks past the constitutional deadline for a State Budget everyone has “drawn lines in the sand” in Sacramento.  Republicans won’t raise taxes, Democrats won’t cap spending and the Governor promises to veto any legislation that crosses his desk unrelated to the state budget until the budget is negotiated and done. 

These stand offs are affecting everyone: state workers and contractors are facing pay cuts and layoffs, and right here in Orange County an important piece of legislation is stalled by the Governor’s veto pledge, even though he supports the bill.  AB 3034 would increase financial oversight and make funding more flexible for the high speed rail network proposed by November’s Proposition 1.  This legislation ensure s  that a planned high speed rail  line has a stop in Anaheim, solid financial controls, private funding, as well as access to  state bond funding.  Unfortunately, the deadline to place these amendments on the November ballot was yesterday.

Deadlines tend to be “fluid” this time of year in Sacramento, but the threat to this project benefits to Orange County is very real.  The business community is hoping that these public pronouncements by Sacramento’s leaders are part of the ritual “kabuki budget dance” and that, as has been reported this week, real progress is being made behind closed doors.  Too much is at stake.

Representative Brown (greeted at right by OCBC Board member Randall Hernandez of Bank of America) is Chairwoman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroad, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, which will oversee the rail portions of the House reauthorization bill scheduled to sunset next year.  OCMoves provided an ideal opportunity to highlight Orange County's high priority rail projects including Anaheim's Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC), Metrolink, and the county's grade separation projects.

Join the Orange County Business Council as the Chairman’s Leadership Breakfast Series continues with newly elected Orange County Sheriff, Sandra Hutchens. The breakfast will be held Monday, September 15, 7:30 a.m. at the Center Club in Costa Mesa.

The Chairman’s Leadership Breakfast is an opportunity for OCBC Investors to hear from business executives and key influencers. Past OCBC Chairman Tom Phelps of Manatt will interview the new sheriff in a candid, no-holds barred format. The audience gains unique insight about her background, rise to influence and leadership philosophy.

Register here or for more information contact Matt Prince at 949.794.7221.
 

OCBC joined the Orange County, Anaheim and Santa Ana Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) to present "Industry Summit Series" Thursday, July 31, at Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD).  A pair of forums addressed rapidly expanding technological industries in Orange County and brought together educators and top employers including Michael Brandman Associates, Southern California Edison, Time Warner Cable and others to discuss how to best prepare workers for these growing professions. 

Susan M. Cooper has been appointed dean of CSU Fullerton’s 3,000 student Irvine Campus.  Cooper will leave her post as Dean of career technical education and workforce development at Irvine Valley College, where she led a consortium of tech prep schools designed to create career pathways between high schools and the community college.

Jamboree Housing Corporation has announced Monarch Pointe Apartment Homes, a new workforce housing development in Anaheim.  Monarch Pointe offers 63 families earning 30 to 60 percent of the area’s median income a place to call home in a community with excellent employment and educational opportunities.

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Goodwill of Orange County
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Townsend Public Affairs

The Orange County Register ran a thoughtful editorial Sunday analyzing the current dispute between the Service Employees International Union and St. Joseph Health System.  The Register referenced an editorial board meeting with the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Catholic order that runs Orange-based St. Joseph Health System, noting that "Catholic social teaching is about giving voice to the voiceless... In this case, granting one union an exclusive agreement would in essence shut out the individual voices of St. Joseph's workers."

OCBC echoes the Register's sentiment that the sisters are doing their level best to uphold workers' rights.  Read the Register's full opinion piece here.