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Noaki Schwartz

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HE IS: Tom Wall

City of residence: Newport Beach

City of work: Newport Beach

Present position: Executive Director, Orange County Airport Alliance

When were you hired: May 1999

Family status: Single with two sons and granddaughter

Age: 54

Education: bachelor’s from Penn State in arts and science, master’s

from University of Minnesota in communication theory and management;

master’s from USC in systems management; master’s from Pepperdine

University in business administration.

Past positions: Lt. Col. U.S. Marine Corps (Ret). Part owner of three

real estate development and commercial property management companies.

Present occupation: Base reuse consultant and owner of an

international preventative health care distribution company.

Explanation of Alliance position in 15 words or less: Provide and

promote factual information about the El Toro reuse planning process.

Your greatest professional achievement: Rebounding and profiting from

life’s speed bumps.

Personal motto: Life requires an unending series of choices. Take the

fork that lets you fall asleep with a smile on your face.

Greatest extravagance: Asking questions of others.

Best book you’ve read: The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

Compact disc in your car right now: Don Henley’s Greatest Hits.

Most treasured possession: Memories of the people I’ve known and

loved.

Word or phrase you most overuse: Quit whining and take responsibility

for your actions and control of your own life.

What can you cook: Hard boiled eggs and protein shakes.

A habit you wish you could change: None. It’s taken me many years to

develop the ones I have. I intend to cross life’s finish line at a

sprint.

College major you almost took: Aerospace engineering.

Last charitable act: Founder and annual chair of the Irvine Excellence

in Teaching program.

As a child, what did schoolmates tease you about? In the sixth grade,

my mom bought me a sport coat from the “portly” department of a Robert

Hall Department Store. That was a wake-up call to make changes in my

self-esteem.

What is in you trunk right now? My gym bag, a box of Alliance videos

and two back issues of the Orange County Business Journal.

Worst idea you ever had: Purchasing a gym franchise from Joe Weider.

What would you have been voted in high school? A kid who, through hard

word, lived a good life and helped a few people along the way.

Who are your heroes? Former Commandant of the Marine Corps General

Louis Wilson; my former wife Elizabeth and my son David.

Favorite escape from reality: Competing with weights at the gym.

One thing you would change about the world if you could: Man’s

incredible ability to be self-centered and cruel to others.

Your idea of exercise: Competing with weights at the gym.

The thing you dislike most about your appearance: None. I am a “work

in progress,” and president of my own fan club.

I have a dream that: Everyone I know and love will have the guts to do

what it takes to achieve their goals.

Phone: (949) 717-6831

E-mail: o7 tom@tomwall.comf7