Nomination applications are now available for Orange County Business Councils' 12th annual Turning Red Tape Into Red Carpet Awards. The awards honor local agencies, leaders, programs, and public-private sector partnerships that cut through red tape and encourage jobs and economic growth in Orange County. Cities, special districts and educational institutions, among others, offering groundbreaking and cost-reducing government programs in Orange County are encouraged to apply. Past winners have included Fullerton's CARES Act Programs, Santa Ana's Heroes Landing, Irvine's IrvineREADY!, Placentia's Veterans Village, Huntington Beach's OneHB Supporting local Business, County of Orange Chief Executive Officer Frank Kim and the County of Orange Clerk-Recorder for its hitched at Honda Center event. There is no limit on application submissions. Deadline for nominations is Friday, Sept. 9, 2022. Save the date for the awards reception on November 17, 2022 in Irvine.

Help the Business Council, CalChamber and the state economy by lending your voice to stop SB 1162 (Limón), a Job Killer bill that seeks to require all pay data reports submitted to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing be posted online and identifiable by company. Your business could be exposed to new litigation by plaintiff’s attorneys and publicly shamed based on misleading data not intended to be used to compare wages between companies nor show unlawful conduct. You can help stop this Job Killer legislation by clicking HERE to send a message to your state representatives. Click here for more details on SB 1162.

Dr. Susan Huang is the Chief Medical Officer of Providence Southern California, the region’s largest integrated delivery network and part of the third largest not-for-profit health system in the United States. In her role, Dr. Huang ensures the patient is at the forefront of all strategic and operational decisions and brings focus to the achievement of the Quadruple Aim in healthcare. Prior to this role, Dr. Huang was the Chief Value Medical Officer of the Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group/Palo Alto Medical Foundation of Sutter Health, and served on the Board of Directors for Sutter Health Plus health plan. She is a healthcare innovator with healthcare industry experience who helped develop an AI model powering a CE marked Class I medical device with Google. A board-certified dermatologist by background, she received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, completed her medical internship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, residency in the Harvard dermatology program where she was selected to be a chief resident, and completed executive education at Harvard Business School.

Dr. Todd Newton is the Medical Director and Chief of Staff for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group of Orange County. He leads more than 1,300 physicians providing care for 600,000 members at two Kaiser Foundation hospitals, two outpatient surgery centers, and 25 outpatient medical offices. Dr. Newton has served in many leadership roles within KP including Chief of Emergency Medicine for KP OC, SCAL Regional Chief of Emergency Medicine and Interregional Chair, Physician Director of Medical Services, and President of Professional Staff. Dr. Newton is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician. He completed his residency training in Emergency Medicine at the University of California, Irvine where he was Academic Chief Resident during his final year and won the award for Best Residency Research Project for work that subsequently became a publication on diagnostic approaches for subarachnoid hemorrhage. Dr. Newton is a well-respected, compassionate clinician and leader who has an interest in mentoring young women and men from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Council investor Concordia University Irvine has won four 2022 Telly Awards for its PBS production and broadcast "Repeat the Sounding Joy!: A Concordia Christmas." Most notable, Concordia won gold in Television Craft: Use of Music, a specialty category that considers the artful use of music; only about three percent of all entries earn this honor. The Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television across all screens worldwide. 

Johnny Dunning Jr. has been named Chief Operating Officer of the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), a Council investor. Dunning, whose industry experience spans 25 years, is responsible for leading OCTA's Operations groups, including bus, commuter rail and OC Streetcar (under construction), paratransit, microtransit, and mobility management. He will also oversee vehicle and facilities maintenance. Dunning, who joined OCTA in 2017, had been serving as interim COO since January.