Our Purpose

Bring together purposeful CEOs to help build high performing organizations and a better world

Many CEOs in Orange County believe that community engagement is part of their responsibility as a leader. Moreover, best practices from other regional economies teach us that CEOs working together can help build both a competitive ecosystem and higher quality of life.

The CEO Leadership Alliance of Orange County (CLA-OC) was forged by the leaders of some of the most prominent companies in the county to help shape a positive future for the residents of Orange County. Vibrant communities require cross-sector collaboration to create new opportunities and solve complex challenges. CEOs have the convening power and resources to bring the right people together. We are a diverse community, and it’s too easy to work in silos without a common endpoint in mind.

CLA-OC is not intended to duplicate the efforts of other groups, but instead to help build a vibrant collaboration of multiple stakeholders in higher education, government, business and non-profit to help address the major issues uniquely facing Orange County.

CLA-OC works with community partners to establish more effective regional systems and dismantle silos. As the community becomes involved and shares their input, strategies and focus areas shift. In the long run, we hope to hand off established initiatives to the community as they become sustainable.

Guiding Principles

1.

We work as catalysts to convene the right people and build a unifying vision.

2.

We work in the background and give others the credit.

3.

We think long-term and act with short-term impact in mind; we want to get things done.

4.

We work with measurable facts and business processes to make good decisions and achieve our goals.

5.

We work to make a difference, build momentum, and then hand over to others to lead.

6.

We work to build synergies across our areas of focus.

Leadership

“CEOs collaborating together can help build both a competitive ecosystem and higher quality of life.”

Doug Wilson

Doug Wilson and Dick Gochnauer helped bring our CEOs together. They are both involved with a non-profit called the Center for Higher Ambition Leadership, which formed out of Harvard Business School and is now an independent entity. The center works with CEOs to help build higher performing companies and a better world.

Our Staff

Douglas Wilson, Chair
Mark Percy, President
Jasmine Pachnanda, Senior Vice President, AI SoCal Initiative
Amy Kaufman, Vice President, Experiential Learning and Talent Development
Laurie Smith, Director, Education Programs and Partnerships
Nithin Jilla, EdTech and Strategy Advisor
Peggy Wolff, Program Manager
Karly Simpson, Executive Assistant

Our Advisory Group

Ranjeet Banerjee, CEO, Cold Chain Technologies
Don Beall, Chairman Emeritus/Retired Chairman and CEO, Rockwell
Ken Beall, UCI Applied Innovation Board and Managing Member, Dartbrook Partners, LLC
Richard Davis, Retired CEO of US Bank
Omar Ishrak, Former Chairman and CEO, Medtronic
Scott McGregor, Retired CEO of Broadcom
Paul Merage, Chairman, MIG Investments
Robert Schult, Retired President of Nestle USA , and Co-founder, VMG Partners
Keith Strier, Vice President Worldwide AI Initiatives, NVIDIA