TONY SMITH CO-FOUNDER / CEO RESTAURANT365 WHY: In 2011, co-founded Irvine-based restaurant-specific accounting and back-office software platform, Restaurant365. Firm has topped $100M in annual revenue and is among Orange County’s most valuable privately held companies with a valuation of $1B or above. Total employee headcount up to 900 after acquiring Read More
Reza Rofougaran and Maryam Rofougaran MARYAM ROFOUGARAN CO-FOUNDER / CEO MOVANDI REZA ROFOUGARAN CO-FOUNDER / CTO MOVANDI WHY: Iranian siblings who immigrated after Islamic revolution, co-founded Innovent Systems, which was bought by Broadcom where they became star engineers. Then in 2016 co-founded Movandi, a wireless technology equipment maker looking to Read More
TAYLOR SHUPE CEO/FOUNDER FUTURESTITCH TAYLOR SHUPE CEO / FOUNDER FUTURESTITCH WHY: Founder and CEO of textile manufacturer FutureStitch, based in San Clemente with 20K-square-feet of production facilities in Oceanside. His first local venture was San Clemente-based Stance. Making socks, sleeves and knit footwear using Italian circular knitting machines for retail Read More
RJ SCARINGE FOUNDER/CEO RIVIAN AUTOMOTIVE INC. RJ SCARINGE FOUNDER / CEO RIVIAN AUTOMOTIVE INC WHY: Founder and chief executive of Irvine-based electric vehicle company Rivian Automotive Inc. (NYSE: RIVN), Orange County’s largest automaker based on local headcount. Led the EV maker to annual sales of almost $5B, which has more Read More
DAN RODRIGUES CO-FOUNDER / CEO TEBRA TECHNOLOGIES INC. WHY: Co-founded Scour, a music search engine that was sold in 2000. In 2004, founded company to make medical billing easier for doctors and their staff. In 2022, raised $72M with a $1B valuation. Tebra was derived from “vertebrae” and symbolizes its Read More
Tim Nguyen and Nicolaas Vlok, CEO of MeridianLink TIM NGUYEN CO-FOUNDER / FORMER CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER MERIDIANLINK WHY: Co-founded in 1998 MeridianLink, a software company that provides software for credit unions, small banks and consumer reporting agencies. Raised $343M when company went public in 2021; now sports $1.3B market cap Read More
TAM NGUYEN CHAIRMAN ADVANCE BEAUTY COLLEGE WHY: Chairman of Garden Grove-based Advance Beauty College, which also has campus in Laguna Hills. College has 50K graduates. Founding board member of Newport Beach-based Genesis Bank. NOTABLE: Active in OC community. Serves on the board of the Orange County Community Foundation, was Chairman Read More
FRANCISCO MORALES CO-FOUNDER / EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN 5.11 INC. WHY: Co-founder and executive chairman of tactical apparel and gear maker 5.11 Inc. headquartered in Costa Mesa with $533M in sales in 2024. Appointed CEO in 2018 by parent company Compass Diversified and helped 5.11 expand from 40 to 124 retail stores. Read More
NEWTH MORRIS/JARED SMITH CO-FOUNDERS ANKONA CAPITAL PARTNERS NEWTH MORRIS AND JARED SMITH CO-FOUNDERS / MANAGING DIRECTORS ANKONA CAPITAL PARTNERS WHO: Morris co-founded logistics software maker Telogis, which was sold for $900M to Verizon in 2016; the prior year Morris received Innovator of the Year Award from the Business Journal. Smith Read More
VIC MERJANIAN FOUNDER / CEO TITAN HST WHY: Founded an industry-leading mass communication and incident reporting platform focused on saving lives and reducing response times in various areas including hospitality, municipalities, education, sports and entertainment. Titan HST says it “modernizes your emergency communications and business continuity with industry-leading simplicity & Read More
