Jack O'Neill a Commonwealth Club Distinguished Citizen

The Commonwealth Club of California will honor Jack O'Neill, founder and chairman of the board of O’Neill Wetsuits in April, for revolutionizing California’s iconic surfing industry with his invention of the wetsuit in the 1950s.

He will receive The Commonwealth Club's Distinguished Citizen Award at the Club’s 22nd Annual Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner, which will take place April 29, 2010, at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

In pursuit of a way to lengthen surfing sessions, O’Neill began experimenting with flexible plastic foam in the 1950s, an endeavor that ultimately led to the innovative idea of fashioning surfing vests from neoprene foam. O’Neill sold his first crude vests and balsa wood surfboards out of San Francisco’s original Surf Shop until relocating his operations in 1959 to Santa Cruz. In the 1960s, O’Neill began coating neoprene with an elastic, nylon fabric, a procedure that would increase wetsuit durability and comfort. In the wake of this breakthrough, O’Neill Wetsuits would expand greatly, emerging in the 1980s as an international presence.

Today O’Neill spends much of his time on philanthropic projects that seek to foster educational achievement and environmental stewardship in California’s schoolchildren. In 1996, O’Neill founded the O’Neill Sea Odyssey, a unique educational program for 4th-6th graders that, utilizing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary as a classroom, instills in young minds urgent lessons about our endangered oceans. In 2005, the program received the California Governor’s Award in Economic and Environmental Leadership, as well as U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer’s Conservation Champion award. O’Neill himself has received numerous accolades from the surfing industry that he helped to establish, including having been named “Waterman of the Year” in 2000 by the Surfing Industry Manufacturers Association.

Also being honored at the annual celebration are the Honorable George P. Shultz, former U.S. secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan, and his wife, California and San Francisco Chief of Protocol Charlotte Mailliard Shultz; Pixar Animation Studios' writer and director Brad Bird; and Dr. Bill Rutter, chairman and CEO of Synergenics. As leaders and innovators, these distinguished citizens embody “The Spirit of California” in creative, technological, civic, entrepreneurial, environmental, and, increasingly, global contexts.

Visit our web site for more information on The Commonwealth Club's 107th Anniversary and 22nd Annual Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner.

Pixar's Brad Bird to Receive Distinguished Citizen Award at Commonwealth Club Gala

The Commonwealth Club of California will present its prestigious 2010 Distinguished Citizen Award to Oscar-winning director and writer Brad Bird of Emeryville-based Pixar Animation Studios.

The award will be given to Bird for his invaluable contributions to California at the Club’s 22nd Annual Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner, which will take place April 29, 2010, at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

Bird is perhaps best known for his work as director of the animated films Ratatouille and The Incredibles, for which he also holds the sole writing credit. His films have consistently utilized the most cutting-edge animation technologies. They have additionally benefited from Bird’s proven ability to foster creativity among his production team by tapping into the potential of what he calls the studio’s “black sheep” animators.

Even before joining Pixar, Bird’s work in movies and television had garnered attention for its stunning originality and its emphasis on technological innovation. Bird also holds directorial and writing credits for the 1999 animated feature, The Iron Giant, which won the International Animated Film Society’s Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Feature. Along with Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood, Bird once directed an episode of Steven Spielberg’s 1980’s television show Amazing Stories. Bird’s contribution, however, was unique in featuring the first digitally recorded soundtrack on network television. Bird completed his first animated short at the age of 14. This feat would help him land a job at Walt Disney Studios in Southern California, where he would receive mentoring from famed animators Milt Kahl and Eric Larson.

Also being honored at the annual celebration are Jack O'Neill, founder and chairman of the board of O’Neill Wetsuits; the Honorable George P. Shultz, former U.S. Secretary of State, and his wife, California and San Francisco Chief of Protocol Charlotte Mailliard Shultz; and Dr. Bill Rutter, chairman and CEO of Synergenics. As leaders and innovators, these distinguished citizens embody “The Spirit of California” in creative, technological, civic, entrepreneurial, environmental, and, increasingly, global contexts.

Visit our web site for more information on The Commonwealth Club's 107th Anniversary and 22nd Annual Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner.