Michael Beck

A sense of renewed energy permeated the annual Chamber of Commerce Board Installation and Spirit of Laguna Awards dinner Jan. 29. Hotelier and restaurateur Chris Keller was installed as the new president, injecting his own brand of entrepreneurial enthusiasm into the proceedings, echoed by new and returning board members. “We are going to reinvent ourselves this year,” Keller said at the chamber’s Leadership Luncheon on Jan. 14. “I am looking forward to working with the city and the Visitors Bureau this year.

Waste Management's Michelle Clark may not be ready to quit her daytime job for a gig as a stand-up comic, but she sure knows how to get laughs. Clark served as mistress of ceremonies at the Chamber of Commerce Spirit Awards and 96th annual board installation, held Jan. 25 at Tivoli Too, and she had the audience in snickers, if not stitches. Ganahl Lumber Sales Manager Jerry Perez played straight man for Clark's off-the-cuff commentary about the nominees and anyone else who came into the line of sight.

Mission Hospital officials presented a strategic plan this week they said will meet state requirements for seismic standards up to 2030 and include services tailored to the needs of the community. The plan includes retrofitting, the introduction of new and improved services, cosmetic and efficiency renovations within a sustainable budget and without a reduction in the bed count, officials said. It is related to and dependent on revisions to the Mission Viejo strategy, begun before the Laguna Beach campus was acquired about 18 months ago, which changed the game plan.

Laguna Beach began 2011 by digging itself out of the mud. Homes, art studios, businesses, the Laguna Beach Animal Shelter and the Anneliese School suffered damage and destruction in the December 2010 rainstorms. Recovery was on everyone's mind. Outgoing Mayor Toni Iseman joked as her term ended that John Pietig had been city manager of Laguna Beach about 12 minutes when the deluge hit. But he responded as if he prepared all of his life for the job. Hands-on didn't begin to describe it. Downtown was cleaned up in a matter of days.

Michael Beck, 50, is vice president of operations at Mission Hospital Laguna Beach. He has been with St. Joseph Health System for 17 years. He previously served as vice president of quality and systems at the Mission Viejo campus, one of St. Joseph’s 14 hospitals. During his tenure in Mission Viejo, he oversaw development and implementation of hospital policies and procedures based on health-care regulations. A graduate of Abilene Christian University in Texas, Beck holds a master’s degree in speech pathology from the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center.