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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
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