2024 Newport Chamber Honors – Citizen of the Year MARIE CASE and Business Persons of the Year EAGLE FOUR PARTNERS
Online reservations are no longer available. Please call the Chamber at 949-729-4400 for possible seating.
You are invited to attend the 2024 Newport Beach Chamber Honors Dinner. At this event, we will be presenting two prestigious awards. We will recognize our Business Persons of the Year from Eagle Four Partners and our Citizen of the Year, Marie Case.
Both awards honor the significant contributions and dedicated efforts in leadership, philanthropy and investment in the community of Newport Beach.
For reservations, please use the link below. For sponsorship, please contact Steve Rosansky at 949-729-4404.
PRESENTING SPONSORS
SUPPORTING SPONSOR
CENTERPIECE SPONSOR
PROGRAM SPONSORS
2024 CITIZEN OF THE YEAR
Marie Case
MARIE CASE has been a resident of Newport Beach since 1987 and for many of the years since she arrived, she has participated in a variety of community boards, events and causes.
Her ‘formative years’ instilled a work and ‘give back’ ethic that came from family and a solid education. After college, curiosity about the world took her from the South Bay beaches of her home in Southern California on an extended tour through Europe. A brief return to the homeland in Manhattan Beach after seven months of the ‘European Tour’, she set off for the Rocky Mountains. Her affinity for the beach and the mountains would turn out to be a career path.
Her career began in Aspen, Colorado in the travel industry, developing national and international programs and strategies for resort properties, their restaurants and recreational facilities in the Rocky Mountains, Hawaii and Lake Tahoe.
Jackson Hole, Wyoming was her next stop where she founded an advertising and marketing firm and developed a client list that included hotels and resort properties in Colorado and Wyoming, activewear manufacturers, health clubs and retail stores.
Prior to establishing Case Communications here in Newport Beach, she worked for an advertising agency as an Account Director and Planner. She has managed large multi-million-dollar budgets for multinational companies and implements plans for clients with smaller budgets. She continues to work with clients to develop their brands and grow their businesses.
Marie is past Chair and continues to serve on the Board of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of the Commodores Club and she was the first woman to serve as Skipper of the Commodores. She has served and contributed to many Chamber and Commodores Committees including the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade Committee. She has served on the boards of Leadership Tomorrow, the American Advertising Federation District 15 and is past President of the Orange County Advertising Federation. She currently is on the Board of KOCI 101.5 Radio and on committees at Sherman Gardens and the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation. She still loves the beach and also spends some time in the mountains of Idaho.
2024 BUSINESS PERSONS OF THE YEAR
Eagle Four Partners
Eagle Four Partners is a Newport Beach, CA-based private equity group specializing in strategic hospitality, golf, lifestyle residential, and sports entertainment investments. Founded in 1996, Eagle Four has participated as the lead equity investor in more than $3 billion of transactions including most recently the acquisition of the Pendry Newport Beach, formerly the Fashion Island Hotel. Eagle Four’s current real estate asset portfolio consists of other notable Newport Beach properties including VEA Newport Beach, Balboa Bay Resort & Club and Newport Beach Country Club, along with other independent and branded hotels and resorts in California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and Hawaii. Eagle Four’s expertise includes building strategic partnerships, being good stewards of assets, aggressive asset management, and creative deal structuring all with the goal of generating substantial value. Eagle Four Partners takes seriously the call to share the fruits of their labor within the community. It is the reason they support local charities and regional not-for-profit groups making a profound difference in the lives of others. Most recently, a $25 million contribution to Hoag Hospital Foundation by the Martin/Pickup families facilitated the creation of the CareMar Recovery Center. This new addiction treatment facility will be unlike any other in Orange County, offering both residential and outpatient services for individuals struggling with alcohol and substance use disorders.
Kevin Martin
Kevin Martin is a founding partner with Eagle Four Partners. Kevin specializes in acquisition, development and repositioning of hospitality and golf course assets. Kevin’s focus is business operations and management, including strategic business planning to enhance and maximize value. He is a lifetime member of the PGA of America and serves on numerous corporate and non-profit boards. He resides with his family in Newport Beach and enjoys golf, fly fishing, skiing and beach volleyball. Most recently, Kevin produced and hosted the 2nd Annual Newport Beach Volleyball Invitational that brought world-class professional beach volleyball to Newport Beach for the first time.
Todd Pickup
Todd Pickup is a partner with Eagle Four Partners specializing in public securities, private corporate investments, private portfolio management and hospitality assets. A seasoned investment strategist, Todd is a graduate of the University of Southern California and currently serves on the Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County. Prior to Eagle Four, he was an associate at several boutique investment firms. Todd also serves as a principal in Plus Four Management, LLC supervising several private equity funds. Todd resides with his family in Newport Beach, CA and enjoys golfing, USC football, AFC Bournemouth, and the Vegas Golden Knights.
Joe Moody
Joe Moody is a partner at Eagle Four and its financial officer overseeing all reporting and investment analytics. A private equity investor and CPA specializing in portfolio asset management and underwriting of complex transactions, Joe is a graduate of the University of Southern California and holds a MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Prior to Eagle Four, he was an accountant at Ernst & Young and then an investment banker at Security Pacific National Bank and several boutique firms specializing in structuring management-led leveraged buyouts. Joe also serves as a principal in Plus Four Management, LLC supervising several private equity funds. Joe resides in Newport Beach with his wife where he is an avid golfer and USC enthusiast.
Rick Weiner
Rick Weiner is a partner with Eagle Four Partners and serves as its general counsel focusing on acquisitions, dispositions, development financing, asset management, risk management, legal matters, and investor relations. Rick also structures joint ventures with equity partners, collaborates on investment strategy and contributes to the group’s acquisition and portfolio management. He is a practicing attorney licensed in both California and Nevada specializing in tax, advanced estate planning, and complex corporate and real estate transactions. Rick graduated from Arizona State University Law School and received his BA from UCLA. He is also licensed in California as a CPA and real estate broker. He is the president of The Law Offices of Rick S. Weiner P.C. advising notable high net-worth clients.
Kory Kramer
Kory Kramer is a Partner with Newport Beach based Eagle Four Partners. Kory specializes in hospitality and other real estate investment activities including acquisition and disposition of hotel properties, development and construction, financing, asset management, strategy and investor relations. He has led over $3 billion of real estate asset transactions including most recently the acquisition of the former Fashion Island Hotel recently repositioned as Pendry Newport Beach and the Newport Beach Marriott recently repositioned as VEA Newport Beach while also obtaining entitlements for the now under development Ritz-Carlton Residences Newport Beach. Kory is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School and received both his BA and MA degrees from Boston College. Kory served as a former Planning Commissioner for the City of Newport Beach and enjoys his family, the beach and boating, politics, AFC Bournemouth soccer, charities and traveling.
Past Newport Beach Citizens of the Year
1949
Robert “Bob” Murphy
1950
Harry Welch
1951
Robert Callis
1952 Myford Irvine
1953
O.W. “Dick” Richards
1954
Dora O. Hill
1955
Joseph A. Beek
1956
Edward Milum, M.D.
1957
J.L. “Les” Steffensen | James “Jim” Edwards
1958
William “Bill” Spurgeon
1959
David Nielsen, M.D.
1960
Gerald Lynch
1961
Carroll Beek
1962
Paul A. Palmer
1963
Dr. Basil H. Peterson
1964
Robert Reed
1965
Isabel Pease
1966
Theodore Robins
1967
John Murdy
1968
Judge Robert Gardner | Walter Longmoor
1969
A. Vincent Jorgenson
1970
Fred Schope
1971
John Macnab | Doreen Marshall
1972
John Lawson
1973
Phil Tozer
1974
George Hoag
1975
Richard “Dick” Stevens
1976
Ray Watson
1977
Arvo Haapa
1978
Robert Wynn
1979
T. Duncan Stewart
1980
Robert Shelton
1981
William P. Ficker | Bill Banning
1982
Harry Babbitt
1983
J. Peter Barrett
1984
William D. Lusk
1985
Charley Hester
1986
Jackie Heather
1987
Bob McCurdy
1988
Hans Prager
1989
Bill Hamilton
1990
Paul Salata
1991/92
Jim Dale
1992/93
Art Gronsky
1993/94
Bob Robins
1994/95
Michael Stephens
1995/96
Lucille Kuehn
1997
Rush N. Hill, II
1998
Marian Bergeson
1999
Clarence “Bus” Turner
2000
Thomas C. Edwards
2001
Dayna Pettit
2002 Bill Grundy
2003
Scott Paulsen
2004
William Ring
2005
Seymour Beek
2006
Dennis O’Neil
2007
Evelyn Hart
2008
Lula Halfacre
2009
Norm Loats, E.d.D
2010
Ralph Rodheim
2011/12
Tom Johnson
2013
Jean Watt
2014
Jack and Nancy Skinner
2015
Paul Watkins
2016
John and Elizabeth Stahr
2017
Homer Bludau
2018
Debbie Snavely
2019
Nancy Gardner
2020
Joe Stapleton
2021
Walt Howald
2022
David Beek
2023
Laird Hayes