A crowd approaching 800 gathered at the Irvine Marriott last Thursday evening for the 16th annual CFO of the Year Awards, to highlight the work of local financial executives that serve many of Orange County’s best-known companies and nonprofits.
Daniel Lubeck, managing director of Newport Beach private equity firm Solis Capital Partners LLC, was this year’s master of ceremonies at the event, which drew the largest crowd in its history.
The event was also the best-attended Business Journal Signature Event since the onset of the pandemic, and drew the biggest crowd for an event at the Irvine Marriott to date this year.
Notable CEOs attending the event included Masimo’s Joe Kiani, 5.11 Tactical’s Francisco Morales, Goodwill of Orange County’s Nicole Suydam, and Fox Racing’s Jeff McGuane, along with numerous leaders from the area’s collection of accounting, legal, and consulting industries.
5 Honorees
This year’s five honorees, selected from 75 nominees, were:
• Micah Young, of Irvine-based medical technology maker Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI), in the Public Company category;
• Mike Feher, of Irvine-based heart-focused device maker CathWorks, in the Private Company category;
• Elizabeth Jensen, of Santa Ana-based Goodwill of Orange County, which aids over 19,200 people annually to find employment, in the Not-for-Profit Organization category;
• Grant Reindl, of Santa Ana engineering service provider Salas O’Brien, in the Rising Star category; and
• Tammy Cooper, from the Irvine office of information technology solutions company, Technologent, earned the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The five award winners will be profiled in the May 22 print edition of the Business Journal.
Upcoming Events
The Business Journal’s next two events are the Family-Owned Business Awards on May 31 followed by the Innovator of the Year Awards on Sept. 7. The deadline to nominate individuals for the latter event is June 14.
Tait & Associates Inc.’s Tom Tait and Trevor Tait will deliver the keynote for the Family-Owned Business Awards.
Kurt Busch, co-founder and chief executive of Irvine semiconductor company Syntiant Corp., will be the keynote speaker at the Innovator of the Year Awards ceremony.
