Neighbors

One of Orange County’s largest general contracting firms hired Randy

Meier as preconstruction director. Meier joins McCarthy Building Cos.

Inc., with offices in Newport Beach, having 24 years of experience in the

construction industry. He has owned his own construction company and was

recently the project manager for the CBS Studio Center parking structure

that won the 1998 Excellence in Concrete award from the American Concrete

Institute. The Encinitas resident will be responsible for estimating,

preconstruction, design/build management and procurement of parking

structure projects. McCarthy has delivered more than 300 parking

facilities totaling nearly $1 billion nationwide. The firm is the

nation’s oldest privately held construction company and one of

California’s largest commercial builders. . . . Dorrie Steele was elected

president of the local chapter of the Community Associations Institute, a

national nonprofit group created in 1973 to educate and represent the

country’s 205,000 community associations that include condominium

associations, homeowner associations and cooperatives. Steele is manager

of the Community Assn. Development, John Laing Homes Inc., of Newport

Beach. She, along with other officers, were elected by the 15-member

board of directors at a Feb. 13 meeting in Mission Viejo. . . . Forrest

Mack of Corona del Mar completed an expedition-style course in Baja

California with the National Outdoor Leadership School in the spring. The

78-day semester consisted of lessons in backpacking, sailing and sea

kayaking. Students traveled along the Baja coastline, learning skills in

coastal navigation, seamanship, sail handling, map and weather reading

and route selection, among other things. . . . Jeremy A. Wilson of

Newport Beach graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Recruit Training Center

in Cape May, N.J. The eight-week course Wilson completed consisted of

various academic and practical instruction on water safety and survival,

military customs and courtesies, seamanship skills, first aid, fire

fighting, and marksmanship. Focusing on the Coast Guard’s three core

values of honor, respect and devotion to duty, Wilson now joins the

36,000 other men and women in the Coast Guard’s force. . . . Lauren

Thompson of Costa Mesa was among the 354 students at Marymount Manhattan

College named to the dean’s list for the 2001 fall semester. The dean’s

list honor is awarded once yearly to all students who have completed 18

or more credits at the college during the academic year and attained a

minimum 3.5 grade-point average. Marymount Manhattan College is an urban

liberal arts college with 2,600 students.

* NEIGHBORS spotlights achievements in the community. Please direct

noteworthy information to Bryce Alderton via fax at (949) 646-4170, or

send e-mail to o7 bryce.alderton@latimes.comf7 .