Executives Take Swann Dive for Gubernatorial Bid

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NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann, who is running for governor of Pennsylvania, didn’t take long to tap his ties to the University of Southern California.


So far, Swann has raised $1.6 million for his gubernatorial bid, with 15 percent coming from executives in California. That’s no surprise, given that Swann was a star receiver on Trojan teams that played in two Rose Bowls and won a national championship in 1972. His parents still live here.


The donors included B. Wayne Hughes, the billionaire philanthropist who founded Public Storage Inc., who gave $30,000; Frederick “Fritz” Hitchcock, chairman and chief executive of Hitchcock Automotive Resources in City of Industry, who donated $25,000; and Elliott Broidy, chairman and chief executive of Broidy Capital Management, who contributed $7,500.




USC’s Marshall School of Business ran a semantical reverse of its own last week. After sending out a press release announcing that Thomas Gilligan had been appointed dean of the business school, it rescinded its own announcement hours later.


Apparently Provost C.L. Max Nikias wanted to make it clear that Gilligan is now dean of the Marshall School on an interim basis, which the original release neglected to mention. After the Business Journal posted the story on its Web site, a school publicity official called and said that Gilligan was indeed named dean, but “for the interim period.”


After Yash Gupta resigned abruptly last month, Gilligan immediately picked up all his appointments, speeches, trips and duties and will be making decisions about the direction of the business school just as if he were dean. For the interim.




Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, part owner of the Staples Center, home of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings, plans to retire from several corporate boards so that he can concentrate on a couple of projects.


The first is his handful of Major League Soccer franchises. His Anschutz Entertainment Group owns five of the league’s 12 teams: the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, Chicago Fire and Washington, D.C. United.


The second is the sequel to the film “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” which he co-produced with Disney. Anschutz controls the rights to all seven of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books, which have been espoused by many Christians because of their themes of good vs. evil.


Anschutz said last week that he will not seek reelection to the boards of Quest Communications, Union Pacific Railroad and Regal Entertainment Group. He retains his stock in all three companies.



*Staff reporter Kate Berry can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 228, or

[email protected]

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