WACOC Newsletter- Winter 2023

WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL

ORANGE COUNTY ORANGE COUNTY’S PREMIER FORUM ON WORLD AFFAIRS

WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL

Contents 3 Annual Giving Campaign Results

5 7 8

In Memoriam

Recent Programs

WACOC Gala Announcement

9 Trustee 12 Website News 13 Meet Our

Spotlights

AWQ Winners!

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WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL

ORANGE COUNTY

A Message From Our President

Dear Members and friends of the World Affairs Council of Orange County,

Thanks to all of you, the last six months since I became President & CEO of the World Council have been incredibly meaningful, fulfilling—and fun! I am enormously grateful for your support in helping accomplish our shared mission to inform the community and promote dialogue on vital global issues that affect this county, our nation, and the world. As part of a dynamic, ongoing strategic planning process, the leaders and members of our Executive Board, trustees and general members have proposed ideas, and refined goals for the Council’s way ahead. These efforts have produced tangible results and diversified our programming, which now include entertaining events like our recent US vs. France wine tasting, and World Cup Watch Party—in addition to traditional programs on current international affairs.

Ensuring the Council’s financial stability has been a high priority. So, we are especially appreciative that our members and corporate sponsors truly stepped up during the Fall 2022 Annual Giving Campaign to pledge over $300,000 to the Council. Our financial sustainability will improve markedly as these contributions come in, but we depend on and welcome your donations (there is a convenient link on our website)! Our Council’s membership is growing, and we are reaching out to ethnic communities, service organizations, universities, and corporations whose members are natural constituencies for WACOC programs. Please invite your friends and neighbors to Council events, as well as companies that may be interested in sponsoring programs. The Executive Board led by Bill Edwards, as well as our staff have made significant progress this past half year. Yet there is much work ahead--and we are gearing up for some exciting initiatives—on which we welcome your personal involvement!

Thanks for your membership and all you do for the Council. Please contact me with questions & recommendations; I hope to see you soon at an upcoming WACOC event!

Many Thanks, Richard

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WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL

ORANGE COUNTY

Helen Haig Serge & Mona Tomassian Judge James Gray & Dr. Grace Walker Gray Thank You to Our Founders Club! William Edwards Harley & Kaira Rouda Fred & Firouzeh Ameri Jerry & Maralou Harrington Dr. Mark Chapin Johnson

Annual Giving Campaign: A Community United

We are profoundly grateful to everyone who made our first Annual Giving Campaign a huge success! We know you are all curious about how it turned out-- so here are the totals!

$300,464

Coporate Donations

Individual Donations

$165,500 $137,964

Thank you to everyone who made this campaign possible! We are blown away by the support we have received and look forward to providing bigger and better opportunities to our members as we continue to grow. This would not have been possible without the dedication of our members. and corporate sponsors.

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THE WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL OF ORANGE COUNTY

The thing that struck me when I first met Jerry, and it has been maintained throughout the years, is that whenever I saw him, or even thought about him, I smiled. And I still do. He always made me feel happy to know him! And the more I got to know Jerry, the more I realized that he was a person of depth, both socially and from a business standpoint. Not surprising, because Jerry rightfully exuded confidence. I, and we all, will truly miss Jerry Harrington! REMEMBERING OUR FRIENDS AND TRUSTEES JERRY HARRINGTON

- Judge James Gray (Ret.), Past Chair of WACOC

I had known Jerry Harrington for over 25 years. When Firouzeh, my wife, and I moved to Harbor Ridge in Newport Beach we had the pleasure of meeting Jerry and his wife, Maralou. We immediately became friends for the last quarter of a century. Jerry and his wife are mentioned as the world's most traveled people. Both the Harringtons have been admitted to the prestigious Traveler's Century Club, a non-profit international organization that requires its 1,400 members to have visited a minimum of 100 foreign lands. "Raised in the San Marino-Arcadia area, Jerry majored in business at UCLA, where he joined the Naval ROTC program. Upon graduation and his commissioning as a Naval Reserve ensign, he was assigned to the heavy cruiser USS Bremerton as a junior division officer. Attached to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the Bremerton made port calls at Singapore, Melbourne, Australia — where Jerry attended several events at the 1956 summer Olympic Games — the Philippines, Okinawa, Guam, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. “When I was in Taiwan, I took a photo of Chiang Kai-Shek, the country’s president and former president of mainland China, who was appearing in a parade in Taipei, the nation’s capital,” said Jerry, who was on active Navy duty for two years and cites his Pacific travels aboard the USS Bremerton as whetting his appetite for a lifetime of foreign travel and adventure. The Harringtons have traveled to all seven continents, the North and South poles “and everything in between,” said Maralou, who was raised in Pasadena and, like her husband, is a UCLA graduate. -Reader Report: "These seasoned travelers are anchored in Newport Beach" - Los Angeles Times The two wanderers agreed that much of the world was still awaiting them, but unfortunately, Jerry's life ended at the age of 90. Jerry will be missed by all who knew him. His travel stories, his pointed jokes, and his positive perspective on life will stay with all of us forever.

-Fred Ameri, Past Chair of WACOC

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THE WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL OF ORANGE COUNTY

REMEMBERING OUR FRIENDS AND TRUSTEES CLEMENT CHU “To live in hearts we leave behind, is not to die”, said Thomas Campbell. This is what I encountered entering the hall for celebration of Dr. Clement Chu’s life on Jan 29, 2023. A devoted husband, loving father, dedicated physician, a great friend and our honorable trustee. Annie, the love of his life, was sitting in the front row surrounded by their children and grandkids. It was not often that I had seen Annie alone over the years as Clement would always be by her side. His devotion as a family man and a caring person carried over to his profession and he was much liked for his calm, considerate and respectful mannerism. Dr. Chu’s interest of art, academic and youth engagement was instrumental in both Annie and Clement becoming long term supporters of the Academic World Quest Program by connecting us to academic institutions and major donors. Internship and fellowship opportunities were expanded as the Chu’s dedicated many hours of nurturing those entities and providing us interns. I can proudly say that they are better citizens of our world because of the experience and knowledge they gained during their time with World Affairs Council of Orange County. His legacy as an immigrant young man who embraced the American dream will live in the hearts of his loved ones. I was honored to share my memories of him on behalf of the Council at the memorial ceremony.

With love and respect, Nora Valenzuela Council Past Chair, AWQ Chair

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u nc i l

PR

Feb 16th

Jan 10th

Feb 24th

California vs. France Wine Tasting

Interview with Yusra Mardini, UNHCR Human Rights Ambassador

A Conversation with Amb. Colleen Bell

Mar 7th

Mar 8th

Putin’s Ukrainian Misadventure: What has Russia Lost? Featuring Dr. William E. Pomeranz, Director of the Kennan Institute

Confronting Challenges to Democracy and Security in the Americas Featuring Amb. Frank Mora

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WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL

ORANGE COUNTY

HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS? THE WACOC GALA IS RETURNING!

Save the Date December 16th, 2023

Join us on Saturday, December 16th to welcome Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster (ret.), 25th U.S. National Security Advisor 2017-2018 Gala tickets, table purchases, and sponsorship opportunities available soon.

Join the Gala Organizing Committee! Email our Programs Manager, Krista Seitz, at krista@worldaffairscouncil.org for more details. We welcome everyone's participation and help in our efforts to plan WACOC's biggest event of the year!

Sponsors include:

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THE WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL OF ORANGE COUNTY

WINTER 2023

BRETT MILLS, RYAN MILLER, RYAN QUIRK Trustee Spotlights- Welcome to Our Newest Trustees!

Brett Mills is the CEO and founder of Ronin Strategic Partnerships.

Ronin is a 21st Century Defense, Hybrid Intelligence, and Cyber Technology company that operates globally with strategic security and intelligence networks that support dynamic solutions for the most urgent and sensitive problem sets. Through Ronin’s partners and the three pillars of Ronin, Brett manages 100s of points of access to domestic and international businesses.

Brett Mills’ career spans the past 23 years with distinguished service in U.S. Army Special Operations, the Intelligence Community, and International Private Enterprise. Brett is specialized in conflict resolutions and is an expert in covert action, counterterrorism, counter-narcotics operations, and activities countering the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Well-versed in diverse stakeholder communications; briefed technical and non-technical concepts to various audiences; developed and maintained collaborative relationships with federal, state, local, and private sector partners. Brett developed extensive project and program management experience involving leading cross-functional teams, including analysts and operators, and requiring considerable legal, budgetary, and policy coordination; demonstrated sound operational judgment in planning high-risk/high-reward operational activities to meet the USG critical mission needs; communicating with stakeholders, Washington policymakers and executives on strategic and tactical intelligence operations and analysis. Brett is an advisor, trustee, member, contributing member, committee member, and mentor of; the Pacific Council on International Policy, the World Affairs Council of Orange County, Blue Lives Matter – NYC, ASIS, WADEM, OSAC, DHS - FEMA, IRI, CIPE, and various Humanitarian and Non-Government Organizations.

Ryan Miller has a solid foundation in international security operations, intelligence, and intercultural communications. Over 18 years’ experience in positions of increasing responsibility, complexity, and magnitude. He has operational experience in International Security Operations, the Intelligence Community, & Emergency Management internationally to include Northern and Western Africa, Eastern and Western Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean, and other austere theaters. A liaison for strategic and advisory partnerships to Foreign Dignitaries and Royalty, Joint Task Force

Operations, Fortune 1000/500 Executives, Local Community Leaders, Space Exploration Companies, and Financial Wealth Management Banks. He also holds a consulting advisory position on the U.S Olympic Committee since 2016 and went through the LOTAR School of Counter Terrorism under a special training

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THE WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL OF ORANGE COUNTY

WINTER 2023

BRETT MILLS, RYAN MILLER, RYAN QUIRK Trustee Spotlights- Welcome to Our Newest Trustees! program. He is currently the Chief of Staff & Co-Founder of Ronin Ventures, a 21st Century Defense, Hybrid Intelligence, and Technology company. Ryan has a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Human Resources from California State University. He is currently acquiring a Master of Science in Emergency Management at University of Southern California and inducted into USC SAS Society 53. He is slotted for the Spring 2024 semester, for his advanced Executive Doctor of Business Administration for an elite group of professionals at Pepperdine’s Graziadio business school. Ryan currently sits as a Trustee for The World Affairs Council of Orange County, member of the Pacific Council, a member and Subject Matter Expert for the U.S. Department of State’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) for International Security, Intelligence, & Threat Analysis, holds a consulting advisory position for the LA Sheriff's Department Major Crimes Intel department along with the U.S. Marshals, contributing member for Blue Lives Matter – NYC, ASIS, and DHS - FEMA, and currently being inducted as a member into Leadership Tomorrow -OC, a small group of influential decision makers comprised of local government and municipalities, law enforcement, legal, and business leaders that assess probable outcomes of proposed policy or opportunity for Orange County, California.

Ryan Quirk leverages nearly 20 years of experience in the civilian, military, and other government sectors to provide security and consulting services for a diverse client base, including US government agencies, professional athletes, royalty, celebrities, and business executives. Extensive experience operating within high- threat areas and exhibiting expertise in international protective security operations.

While serving in the U.S. Military, Ryan reached the rank of Corporal in the United States Marine Corps. Serving as a fireteam leader as a member of a Marine task force in Iraq.

As a Law Enforcement Officer, he served in many local, county, and state-level roles, including firearms and use of force instructor and tactical unit lead trainer. Mr. Quirk is a graduate of the FBI’s SWAT and Sniper schools, among others.

After his career in law enforcement, Mr. Quirk served as a security contractor in Afghanistan, supporting U.S. Department of State (DoS) operations in the region.

Mr. Quirk has also served as the Director of Operations for a publicly traded U.S. company, managing a large workforce of contractors supporting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) directives nationally.

Currently, Mr. Quirk and his partners at Ronin Ventures, provide international security and intelligence services for a variety of business sectors and organizations.

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THE WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL OF ORANGE COUNTY

WINTER 2023

TIMOR RAFIQ Trustees in the News

World Affairs Council of Orange County Member of Executive Board and the Board of Trustees, Timor S. Rafiq, Was Awarded Brazil’s The Order of Rio Branco Timor S. Rafiq, who serves on the Executive Board and the Board of Trustees of the World Affairs Council of Orange County has been awarded Brazil’s Order of Rio Branco, Commander Class. Timor lives in Orange County and has business interests in Malaysia. The award ceremony was held on 9th February 2023 at the Brazilian Ambassador’s residence in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The award was bestowed by His Excellency Ambassador Ary Norton de Murat Quintella during a private ceremony. Esteemed guests included His Royal Highness Sultan Nazrin Shah who is the Sultan of Perak and the Deputy King of Malaysia and Her Royal Highness Tuanku Zara Salim; and, the ambassadors of Argentina, Belgium, Italy, Japan, Mexico, USA, the Ambassador of the EU Delegation to Malaysia and the United Nations Resident Coordinator and other distinguished guests.

The Order of Rio Branco is an honorific order of Brazil instituted by decree 51.697 on February 5, 1963. It is named in honor of the Brazilian diplomat José Maria da Silva Paranhos Junior, Baron of Rio Branco. The President of Brazil serves as the Grand Master of the Order while the Minister of Foreign Affairs is the Order’s Chancellor. The Order of Rio Branco was instituted with the objective of distinguishing the meritorious service and civic virtues, stimulating the practice of actions and deeds worthy of honorable mention.

The Baron of Rio Branco was the longest-serving Foreign Minister of Brazil, a position he occupied from 1902 until his death in 1912. He was also a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, occupying its 34th chair from 1898. As a representative of Brazil, he managed to peacefully resolve all Brazil's border disputes with its South American neighbors and incorporate 900 thousand square kilometers (roughly 10% of Brazil's territory) through his diplomacy alone. Timor S. Rafiq is a member of the Executive Board and the Board of Trustees of the World Affairs Council of Orange County and served as the Chairman of the Council from 2010 to 2011. Timor is the founder and president of Rafiq & Associates Inc, a firm dedicated to forming global partnerships between U.S. and Malaysian entities.

The World Affairs Council of Orange County would like to congratulate Timor S. Rafiq for receiving this prestigious award. For more information, please contact Timor at rafiqtimor@msn.com.

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Recent Posts

Blog Updates World Affairs Council of Orange County now has a blog where interns provide brief updates on current international news. It can be viewed at https://worldaffairscouncil.org/blog/. If you have an internationally focused project or organization that you would like to highlight on our blog, submissions can be emailed to orangecounty@worldaffairscouncil.org

BY KANGCHEN NORBU

CIVIL

UNREST

AND

VIOLENT SUPPRESSION IN IRAN

BY CINDY TSE

CHINA'S A4 REVOLUTION

Have You Seen Our New Membership Portal?

Check it out on our website! Our new membership portal provides a variety of new services to make registering for events, making donations, and purchasing memberships easier than ever. Logging in through the portal will allow you to save information, such as payment methods and shipping addresses, to speed up check out and purchases multiple event tickets at a time. You can also view your memberships, track donations and ticket purchases, and access tax receipts! Check out the photos in the header and front page-- you may see some familiar faces! Directions for how to sign up for an account are included in our weekly emails. Contact us at orangecounty@worldaffairscouncil.org with any questions.

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MEET OUR ACADEMIC WORLD QUEST WINNERS!

Please Help Sponsor the Winning Team! We still need help to fund the winning team's attendance at the National Conference! If you are able, please donate at the link below. Any amount helps! $500- Sponsor one student's plane ticket $1,000- Sponsor one student's plane ticket and hotel costs $5,000- Sponsor the entire winning team's travel costs Team Gold from El Dorado High School This will be Team Gold's second time competing at Nationals in Washington DC. Team Gold won our local competition last year and placed 4th overall at the National competition. We all wish them even more success at this year's competition! They will be travelling to Washington DC to compete from April 27th-April 30th.

Thank you to those who have donated!

http://worldaffairscouncil.givecloud.co/give DONATE HERE:

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MEET OUR STAFF & INTERNS ers t

LINDSAY STRONG

KRISTA SEITZ

Operations Manager

Programs Manager

lindsay@worldaffairscouncil.org

krista@worldaffairscouncil.org

AASHIKA DOSHI

KIANA FLAK

ANDREW MARTIN

Special Projects Intern Saddleback Community College

Community Outreach Intern IE University

Research & Dev. Intern University of California, Irvine

CINDY CASTRO

NORBU KANGCHEN

CINDY TSE

Events Planning Intern University of California, Irvine

Fundraising and Technology Intern University of California, Irvine

Events Planning Intern University of California, Irvine

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WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL

ORANGE COUNTY

2022 - 2023 EXECUTIVE BOARD

RICK PUTNAM VICE-CHAIR

WILLIAM EDWARDS CHAIR

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS & INTERCOLLEGIATE NETWORK (YPIN) COMMITTEE

PROGRAMS COMMITTEE PROGRAMS CO-CHAIRS: DR. KYLE LONGLEY MANUEL MARQUEZ MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP CO-CHAIRS: JAYNE HERRING CHRISTOPHER LYNCH FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE FUNDRAISING CO-CHAIRS: ANITA SOKOLSKY JEFF HOBERT

YPIN CO-CHAIRS: STACEY KEELEY SAJI GUNAWARDANE

PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE

PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAIR: ROSE TSAI

OUTREACH CO-CHAIRS: JUDGE TULLY SEYMOUR (RET.) SUSAN BAAJ OUTREACH COMMITTEE AT-LARGE MEMBERS SERGE TOMASSIAN FERDINANDO GUERRA MARKETING COMMITTEE MARKETING CO-CHAIRS: RODMAN MAXSON RYAN QUIRK

SECRETARY: HELEN HAIG TREASURER: PAUL VANN

ACADEMIC WORLD QUEST COMMITTEE AWQ CHAIR: NORA VALENZUELA

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WE HOPE TO SEE YOU AT THE NEXT EVENT!

APRIL 11, 2023

THE POWERHOUSE OF EUROPE: GERMANY’S RENEWED POLITICAL AND GLOBAL ECONOMIC INFLUENCE WITH FORMER AMB. TO GERMANY AND VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE CAPITOL GROUP INC, JOHN EMERSON SPONSORED BY FIRST AMERICAN TRUST

REGISTER HERE

APRIL 12, 2023

"NEWS, PROPAGANDA, AND DIPLOMACY"- PREMIUM MEMBER EVENT WITH AMB. DAVID PEARCE

REGISTER HERE

JUNE 7, 2023 A CONVERSATION WITH ADMIRAL MICHAEL S. ROGERS, FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE NSA, COMMANDER OF US CYBER COMMAND

JULY 11, 2023

THE RISE OF THE WAGNER GROUP IN UKRAINE, AFRICA & BEYOND WITH DR. COLIN CLARKE SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW AT THE SOUFAN CENTER

COPYRIGHT WACOC 2023

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