Dr. Wallace Walrod
Founder and Managing Partner, TCCG
Dr. Wallace Walrod is Chief Economic Advisor for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), the nation’s largest Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and the Draper Hero Institute (San Mateo). He is also a strategic research advisor to OCTANe, OCBC, and Visionary Venture Fund, an Executive Consultant with Esri, a Strategic Advisor to EdTech Capital (Texas), and an Expert in Residence at UC Irvine’s Institute for Applied Innovation. Dr. Walrod is also the Founding President of the Center for a New California, which plays a key role in shaping the state’s economic future by focusing on emerging economic trends such Future of Work, which studies the impacts of automation, robotics, AI, and other advanced technologies on the California economy
He has led strategic projects with world-class organizations including JP Morgan Chase, Allergan, the Draper Hero Institute, Toshiba America Information Systems, Hitachi Chemical, Merrill Lynch, Balanced Business Advisors (New York, NY) the Irvine Company, First American Corp, Citizens Business Bank, Bank of America, Esri, Wexford Capital, Pacific Life Foundation, and the James Irvine Foundation, among others. His work also includes designing innovative program, strategy, and policy solutions for private industry, government, and private foundations, including developing several regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS) that have been approved by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) and working with CDFI’s, Community Banks, and community organizations such as Opportunity Fund and community foundations.
Dr. Walrod graduated with a PhD in Regional Economics from UC Irvine, devoting his dissertation to successful strategic management practices in high-tech firms, including advanced electronics and biotechnology. He has published three papers co-authored with Luis Suarez-Villa in Disasters, Journal of International Biotechnology, and Urban Studies (Donald Robertson Memorial Prize winner). He is quoted frequently in the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Entrepreneur, and other publications on economic and business matters.
Benjamin Palmer
Research Associate and Consultant
The founder and CEO of his own research and consulting firm, Worcester, Massachusetts-based SEED Consulting, Benjamin Palmer has a wealth of experience in economics research and analysis. As a Research Analyst at the Irvine Company he served as a key member of a cross-divisional research department that provides demographic, economic and financial research analyses. As an Orange County Business Council Research Associate he contributed to a number of different reports, including multiple version of the Orange County Community Indicators and Workforce Indicators, and Orange County Housing Scorecard. In addition, he analyzed the economic impacts of a variety of sectors as well as major employers such as Allergan.
His work with TCCG includes including a study on emerging and existing industry clusters in Mendocino County and the broader 4-county region; key contributions to the 2019-2023 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy; and contributions to recent research on the long-term impacts of remote work.
Palmer holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Regional Development from the University of Arizona and an MBA from the University of California, Irvine.
Robert Walrod
Research Associate
Robert Walrod has worked in the research departments of both TCCG and the Orange County Business Council (OCBC) for years, contributing to OCBC’s annual reports such as the Community Indicators as well as associated press releases and presentations. He has taken the lead on writing and researching several reports including The Dimensions of Defensibility: Human-Centered Design in an Automated Workplace and Inside Orange County’s Retail E-Volution: How E-Commerce is Transforming the Future of Orange County’s Retail Sector, Land Use, Workforce and Tax Base. He holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Art History of the University of California, Irvine as well as a Master’s in Film from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom.
Dr. C.J. Bishop
Consultant
Dr. C.J. Bishop has over twenty years of experience serving in public and private four-year and two-year colleges and universities in the capacity of research and assessment, student engagement, and admission. His professional research experience includes trends in labor market data, geospatial and GIS technology, higher education outcomes, program reviews and grant based projects within Adult Education, Noncredit, and Career and Technical Education. C.J. holds a BS in Business Administration, MBA and PhD in Education from Chapman University. C.J. is currently a Senior Research Analyst at Coast Community College District in Costa Mesa, CA.
Robert Kleinhenz
Consultant
Robert Kleinhenz, Ph.D. is Principal Economist and Founder of the firm Kleinhenz Economics. A leading voice on the economy, Dr. Kleinhenz has over 30 years of experience in urban and regional economics, with expertise in transportation and land use analysis. He has worked with numerous clients in the private sector, the public sector, and academia, and has produced a variety of economic forecasts, economic impact studies, industry studies, housing analyses, and public policy analyses. A frequent contributor to the media, he has been interviewed by NPR, other national and local radio and television stations, the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Daily News and its sister organizations, the San Francisco Chronicle, and numerous other news outlets.
In addition to his duties with Kleinhenz Economics, Robert is on the faculty at Cal State Long Beach and is the Associate Director of the University’s Office of Economic Research. He is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Inland Empire Economic Partnership and an Executive-in-Residence at Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Business Administration. He has also held academic positions at USC, UC Riverside, and Cal State Fullerton. In the private sector, he has served as Chief Economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), Deputy Chief Economist with the California Association of Realtors, and Executive Director of Research with Beacon Economics.
Kleinhenz holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and a B.A. from the University of Michigan, all in Economics.
Dr. Marlon G. Boarnet
Consultant
Marlon Boarnet is Professor in the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California and Director of the METRANS Transportation Consortium. METRANS is the center for transportation research at USC, and a partnership of the Price School of Public Policy, the Viterbi School of Engineering, and California State University – Long Beach. METRANS spans over 15 academic departments and programs at USC, with links to over a dozen universities in the U.S. and abroad.
Prior to directing METRANS, Boarnet was the founding chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Spatial Analysis at USC (2016-2022) and he served as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs in USC’s Price School from 2014 through 2015. Boarnet was chair of the Department of Planning, Policy, and Design at UC-Irvine from 2003 through 2006. Boarnet served as president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, the scholarly association of university planning departments and faculty members in the United States and Canada, from 2019-2021.
Boarnet’s research focuses on land use and transportation, links between land use and travel behavior and associated implications for public health and greenhouse gas emissions, urban growth patterns, and the economic impacts of transportation. He is a fellow of both the Weimer School of the Homer Hoyt Institute for Real Estate and the Regional Science Association International. Boarnet has advised California state agencies on greenhouse gas emission reduction in the transport sector, the World Bank on transportation access as a poverty reduction tool, and numerous other public and private entities. He has been principal investigator on over four million dollars of research supported by agencies that include the U.S. and California Departments of Transportation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Air Resources Board, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Boarnet’s academic web page is: https://priceschool.usc.edu/people/marlon-boarnet/.
Rebecca Alvarez
Consultant
Rebecca Alvarez brings over 20 years of market research and strategy experience to the TCCG LLC team. She is Co-Founder and Principal of NP Strategies, a consulting organization that provides strategy consulting to the social sector including nonprofits, foundations, educational institutions and cross-sector groups. Prior to forming NP Strategies, Rebecca was the Manager of Consulting at Bainbridge, Inc. In this capacity, she was responsible for quality control, client relationship management and sales. She led project teams of researchers and analysts for the firm's Fortune 1000 client base.
Since forming NP Strategies, Rebecca has consulted with individual organizations on a range of issues including scaling strategies, business and strategic planning, market research and organizational change. She has also facilitated cross-sector collaboratives, leadership teams, boards and other groups toward developing and executing shared visions. Rebecca is regularly engaged for her facilitation and analysis expertise, both of which come from a background and training in market research coupled with a genuine interest and love of listening to and seeking to understand people and their perspectives. Rebecca has partnered with TCCG LLC on various projects, including an analysis of the child care landscape and the economic impact of child care in Orange County.
Rebecca earned her BA degree in Spanish and International Relations from the University of Delaware and a Master's in International Management from the University of California, San Diego.
Lucy Dunn
Strategic Issues Management
As CEO Emeritus, Orange County Business Council, Lucy Dunn retired year-end 2021 after leading for 16 years a dynamic membership organization of business leaders, working with academia and government, to ensure the region’s economic prosperity and high quality of life.
Before joining OCBC, she was the first woman president of the Building Industry Association of Southern California and officer of the California Building Industry Association in its 80-year history. She served as Director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development under Governor Schwarzenegger, who also appointed her to the California Transportation Commission in 2008. Governor Jerry Brown reappointed her two more terms.
Failing so far at retirement, Dunn currently serves as the “Business Representative” for Southern California Association of Governments’ Regional Council, the board of the Orange Catholic Foundation, and was honored with the Bishop’s Award for Exemplary Leadership. She chairs the Orange County Housing Trust and is a board member of California Women Lead. She’s also founding member of Lennar’s Homeful Foundation, dedicated to ending homelessness, and founded the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, advocating good practices for wetlands restoration. In 2022, Lucy received the prestigious California Homebuilding Foundation’s “Hall of Fame” award for lifetime achievement in housing advocacy.
OC Register named her as one of “Orange County’s 100 Most Influential.” The Endangered Habitats League honored her for her work advancing protection of habitat and cultural resources, while providing for South Orange County mobility options. Orange County Business Journal named her one of OC’s 500 most influential.
In addition, she cantors at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Irvine, sings with Meistersingers and Meritage chamber ensembles, and is the proud mother of two sons with accomplished daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren residing in the Bay Area.
