Achieve Like a Girl
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SIMI VALLEY SAN FERNANDO CALABASAS AGOURA HILLS ANTELOPE VALLEY SIMI VALLEY SAN FERNANDO CALABASAS AGOURA HILLS ANTELOPE VALLEY 9.28.15_front_Layout 1 9/25/15 12:16 PM Page 1 ocbj.com ORANGE COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL TM $1.50 VOL. 38 NO. 39 THE COMMUNITY OF BUSINESS SEPTEMBER 28-OCTOBER 4, 2015 INSIDE Achieve Like a Girl Innovators Honored 3 High-Profile OC Execs page 7 4321 Jamboree: Israel-based company recently com- Count Gold Award as Precursor mitted to lease extension through 2027 to Bountiful Careers By KIM HAMAN Out of Ordinary for There was a budding business mind behind the Newport Beach: cherubic face selling cookies door-to-door. It was 1968, and the face belonged to Cyd Brand- Factory Upgrade vein, a 10-year-old Girl Scout. She approached the assignment with determina- TECHNOLOGY: Chipmaker to put tion, knocking on every single door in her New York City apartment building, armed with a pitch and a $15M or more into plant on Jamboree Special Report smile. Brandvein: has gone from Ed Sullivan to AECOM, By CHRIS CASACCHIA T page 15 She sold 3,000 boxes of remained part of organization as director of OC Beyond Work Girl Scout cookies— chapter Israel-based Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is in- enough to earn her a guest spot on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” where along with vesting $15 million to $20 million to upgrade its other record-breaking cookie sellers, she sang the “God Bless America” accompanied by an orchestra Newport Beach manufacturing plant to meet led by the song’s composer, Irving Berlin. growing demand for new generations of chips for “It was really one of the best experiences of my whole life,” Brandvein says, reflecting back on the smartphones and other wireless devices. friendliness with which Sullivan and his staff treated her and the other Girl Scouts. “The best part was The added business, fueled by the booming In- we got to meet the Supremes!” ternet of Things market, has led the company to Diana Ross was especially kind, encouraging the Girl Scouts and helping ease their nerves back- boost local employment by more than 40 people stage. this year and by nearly 150 since January 2014. Brandvein now lives in Irvine and serves as a global corporate vice president at AECOM, a publicly “We’ve added a lot of factory workers, but we Ł Ł Girl Scouts 56 Chipmaker 13 Luxury Homes page 27 OC on Road Map for Why Google Has Eyes for Irvine Autonomous Vehicles Quality Counts as City Joins SD, Louisville on ENGINEERING: Short List for Fiber Program Link to Bay Area By CHRIS CASACCHIA test station runs through Irvine By KATE SCHWARTZ Irvine’s diverse economy, increasingly vibrant startup scene, affluent demo- Orange County has be- graphics, and residential mix all helped come a key pit stop in the put Orange County’s third largest city on race to develop a fully au- Workers Unionize track for Google Inc.’s new Internet and tonomous car. page 45 TV service. The role has come via Irvine’s population of 250,000 or so Alberta, Canada-based doesn’t come close to two other cities Stantec Inc.’s western under consideration for the Google Fiber U.S. headquarters in program—Louisville and San Diego— Irvine. That’s where Stantec’s Rohani: but the local business landscape is ex- Arya Rohani, a recently “people are in- ceptional in terms of size and range. hired senior transporta- trigued” by potential for automated vehi- The cadre of big businesses that call tion principal, has set up cles in master- Irvine home include the world’s largest shop. planned The Vine: one of several incubators and co-working spaces cited His main duty: project communities technology products distributor, Ingram by Google as part of attractive landscape for startups in Irvine Micro Inc.; the world’s largest disk management of the engi- drive maker, Western Digital Corp., Broadcom food behemoth Taco Bell; and medical device neering firm’s role as a partner in a year-old Corp., the world’s eighth largest chipmaker; maker Edward Lifesciences Corp., among others. effort by the city of Concord to turn 20 miles video game giant Blizzard Entertainment Inc.; The city’s base of big companies is comple- of idle roads, tunnels, bridges and other infra- OC in Space Vizio Inc., the U.S. leader in smart TV sales; LA mented by midsize and smaller enterprises that structure into a secure test station for the Ł Ł page 50 Fitness parent Fitness International LLC; fast- Google Fiber 47 Stantec 55 9.28.15_front_Layout 1 9/25/15 12:17 PM Page 2 56 ORANGE COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL Local breaking news: www.ocbj.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2015 try new things, thanks to what I learned in the Girl Scouts.” Ł The Girl Scout experiences also helped Girlfrom page Scouts 1 her hone mental focus, Jolly said, giving her traded architecture and engineering firm the ability to see to the end goal. A two- Gold Standard with more than 30,000 employees company- week camping trip when she was 11—a trip The Gold Award is the highest achieve- Green” to teach younger children what wide, headquarters in downtown Los Ange- paid for with money she’d earned selling ment bestowed by Girl Scouts of the they can do to help the environment. les, and an office in Orange, where Girl Scout cookies—involved a 36-mile USA, an honor earned by just 8% of eligi- The candidate found a publisher on her Brandvein spends much of her time (see re- hike along the Appalachian Trail, finishing ble Girl Scouts, according to Nancy Ny- own and created distribution channels so lated lists in Special Report: Architecture & with a climb to the crest of Stone Mountain gren, chief executive of the Girls Scouts that elementary school-aged children Engineering, starting on page 15). in Georgia. of Orange County. throughout Orange County can receive a The road she’s taken since her days ped- “I learned to pull my own weight,” Jolly An eligible Girl Scout—she must be in free copy. dling cookies led to a degree from the Uni- says. “Even more, I learned that I could do ninth through 12th grades and have Gold Award winners have painted versity of California-Los Angeles, whatever I set my mind to, even if completed her Girl Scout murals in children’s hos- world travel, and a steady rise to a it seemed tough at first.” Silver Award—identifies a pital wards; launched Sis- top executive role at AECOM. She approached her pursuit of social issue that reaches be- ter City festivals with A constant has been work with the Gold Award in the same way yond the organization to af- Girl Scout Troops in other numerous volunteer organiza- when the time came for her to fect the larger countries; cam- tions, including the Girl Scouts of tackle her project, which she did in community, then devel- paigned for drunk Orange County, which she 1984. ops a service project driving awareness; serves as a director. Jolly wanted to expand the Girl proposal that outlines a and much more, all Brandvein’s success in business Scout’s annual “World Thinking specific plan to address the programs designed to and her star turn on network TV Day,” a day when members raised issue. make a difference on an The Girl Scout must take important issue. have company when it comes to Buchan: Girl Scout funds to help girls in need all over her personal highlight reel. Right experience “made me the world. The program had been ownership of the plan in “One of the most im- up there is the Girl Scout First comfortable with my around since 1926 yet had no cor- every way once the Girl Scout Gold portant things that girls learn when Class Award she received as a skills and comfort- responding local event in Naples, Award Committee ap- working on their able with myself” The award: candidate must take ownership teenager. The honor—now known Fla., where Jolly lived. She envi- proves her project, of the plan in every way Gold Award project as the Girl Scout Gold Award—is earned by sioned launching a celebration that would from managing a is that challenges a fraction of the organization’s membership. bring people together to learn about differ- budget to soliciting involvement from oth- can—and do—arise,” Nygren says. It’s a distinction that’s about on par with the ent cultures while raising money, plus rein- ers when needed. “She has to be ready with a plan to tackle Boy Scouts Eagle Scout award, which is force the bond Girl Scouts share, no matter “It’s a complex, multitiered process that a problem and deal with the unexpected about as rare but generally much better what country they live in. usually takes a girl a minimum of about 80 while still reaching her goal.” known. Jolly wrote countless letters to other Girl hours to plan and complete the project,” Colleges and universities look favorably Scout troops all over the world, asking for Nygren says. “The projects that result are on the Gold Award in their admission Foundation their support. She visited other Girl Scout amazing.” process, Nygren says, as do all the The requirements were slightly different Troops throughout Florida to build interest She describes a 2015 Gold Award proj- branches of the United States military, when Brandvein earned the top honor—she in the event. As a 17-year-old, she coordi- ect through which Orange County Girl which she says will automatically promote was required to master four unique chal- nated with city officials for use of a public Scouts created the “I Dream Express” pro- a recruit with a Gold Award to the next lenges that represented the guiding princi- park to hold the event.