CA GAMMA BUILDING ASSOCIATION

My father was an SAE at Cal Berkeley and I pledged CA Gamma in the fall of ’75. Following my senior year I moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where I lived and managed our family owned wholesale waterworks branch for six years. I met my wife of 39 years, and counting, while stationed in Hawaii. Moving back to California in ’86, where we grew our family and our family business. My siblings and I bought the business in ’91 and operated that business until we were acquired in 2003. I served on the sales management transition team until ’07.

Retirement apparently isn’t in the cards! Went back and finished school in ’08. Helped another Brother start a retail sporting goods business and went back to the Waterworks distribution until 2017. Currently, I’m assisting my family in the managing and operating of various held-in-portfolio properties. My wife Gayle and I have two wonderful adult children and have resided in Temecula, California, since 1987.

SAE has been prominent in my life and my relationships, and I’m happy to give some time back by serving on the CAGA Building Association. PA and Mahalo!

John is a Southern California native who attended the University of Southern California and earned an undergraduate degree in Public Administration. He pledged Sigma Alpha Epsilon in the Fall of 1991 in what has been commonly referred to as “possibly the best pledge class Cal Gamma has ever initiated”. After graduating in 1994, John went on to become a fireman for the Orange City Fire Dept. where he has promoted through the ranks to his current position of Captain. John has been married to his beautiful wife Tracy for the past 21 years and has two wonderful sons, Tyler and Colby. John’s personal interests include snow skiing, motorcycle riding, SCUBA diving, and whatever sports his two son’s are playing. Phi Alpha!

Scott Tolstad, a native Southern Californian, has over thirty years of business and legal experience. Scott graduated from the University of Southern California, summa cum laude, and he obtained his law degree from Boston University. He became a Member of the California Bar Association in 1982, and has worked in the San Diego County area for the past twenty years.

Scott worked as a general legal counsel for two San Diego companies for eighteen years. Prior to that, he owned and managed a retail business for ten years.

Mr. Tolstad had worked for the Escondido Police Dept for 20 years retiring in 2021 as a Financial Crimes Investigator. During this time, he was assigned to the Detective Bureau Financial Crimes Unit, where he investigated monetary crimes, many of which involve criminal breaches of fiduciary duty. Financial crimes include embezzlement, identity theft, credit card fraud, and various confidence schemes. Scott has been certified by the California Financial Crimes Investigators Association as a Fraud Investigator.

Tom Thomas was a co-founder and managing partner of the firm of David & Thomas LLP, a trial law firm which specialized in representing plaintiffs in catastrophic personal injury cases. David & Thomas LLP maintained offices in Los Angeles, Honolulu and Hagatna, Guam. The firm focused on representing victims of the terminal asbestos disease mesothelioma. Tom was also the & CEO of Bravo Aviation Inc., a helicopter company that provided flightseeing tours, corporate charters and helicopter camera ships for movie and music video productions. Tom was also the founder & CEO of L LGT Aviation Inc., a company that provided corporate jet charter services and restored and operated World War II aircraft. Tom received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and his law degree from Cornell University. Tom is married with two daughters. His personal interests include flying helicopters, riding motorcycles, investing and having fun.

Stan graduated from the University of Southern California in 1976 with a degree in Business Administration.

He ie the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ibar Special Needs Trust Advisors located in San Marino California. Stan was one of the three co-founders in 1984 along with his father Robert Schultz, USC class of 1948 and his uncle Raymond Schultz, USC class of 1955.

During Stan’s four years at U.S.C. he joined the Cal Gamma Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon in 1974.

Though Stan’s time with the Cal Gamma Chapter took place in his last two years at USC, the experiences and friendships he enjoyed and made during that period proved to be the most enjoyable and extraordinary time of his life. Stan has remained close to many of his Pledge Brothers to this day. Recently, they celebrated the 50-year reunion of their SAE initiation. Together they have shared the good times and the difficult times that have taken place since they graduated. During his own recent diagnosis of cancer Stan’s SAE Brothers reached out and supported him. As testament to that bond, the photo below was taken at the March 2023 Founder’s Day Luncheon following his sixth and final chemotherapy session.

Stan has been enriched by his SAE experience which is why he has agreed to serve on the Cal Gamma Building Corporation Board during this period of re-establishing the chapter. Stan has been deeply impressed by the fine quality of the newest initiates that he has had the pleasure to meet. “They will make wonderful members of our fine chapter and will continue to strengthen and enhance our Brotherhood and continue our spirit of Phi Alpha”.

Brent Barlow

Brent Barlow is a driven and dynamic leader with an extensive entrepreneurial background spanning over 25 years. A graduate of the University of Southern California, Mr. Barlow has grown several startup ventures with zero revenue into multi-million dollar companies including a number catering to the legal community and the entertainment industry. A seasoned trial lawyer whose practice included trying many hard fought, high-profile cases through trial, he focuses his efforts today on identifying and capitalizing on opportunity by leveraging his background, experience, and business acumen.

John N. Flynn

John pledged California Theta in Fall 1975 and affiliated with California Gamma in Fall 1977. Under the guidance of Lindley Bothwell, he was selected as a Yell Leader in 1978. John served in other campus positions including USC Tour Guide while earning a BA in Broadcasting from the USC Annenberg School of Communication and an MFA from the Peter Stark Producing Program, USC School of Cinematic Arts.

He worked for his Alma Mater in fundraising and admissions, promoting USC throughout the country. John began his entertainment career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, marketing films to international film distributors, including the James Bond films, Academy Award winners and others. After several years with the studio, he co-founded Hollywood Classics, a multi-million-dollar film licensing company that handled the largest combined film library in the world. The company focused a portion of its work on the restoration and preservation of film libraries helping to make possible theatrical reissues of classic films.

After transitioning to Hollywood Classics USA, he has focused his efforts on producing film projects. A current feature film project in pre-production is PLAYING FOR TIME (a.k.a. DEATH ROW ALL STARS) with fellow USC SCA alum Howard Kazanjian. John is a long-time voting member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Jeffrey Tolstad MD, MMM aka “Toad”

Joined CA Gamma Fall 1972

Graduated USC with BA Psychology Spring 1976

Graduated George Washington U School of Medicine with MD Spring 1981

Graduated USC with MMM (Master’s in Medical Management from the Marshall School) Spring 2018

At USC, Jeff joined CA Gamma as a Freshman. During his 4 years, he held the positions of Social Chairman and Eminent Archon. He was also active in university events, being a Yell Leader, Squires President, Blue Key President, Troy Camp Counselor. He was tapped for Skull and Dagger Society in 1976 and was one of 5 graduating men to receive the Order of the Palm.

Jeff is a legacy CA Gamma, as his father Robert Tolstad joined the House in Fall 1945 after WW2, held the position of EDA and graduated Spring 1946. Jeff’s brother Scott was also a CA Gamma, joined the House in Fall 1975, held the position of Kitchen Manager and graduated Spring 1979.

Jeff specialized in Pediatric Anesthesiology during his medical career. He was Director of Pediatric Anesthesia at the UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, CA. After a number of years he was recruited to New Hampshire to accept a position in a private practice group.

Jeff also was an entrepreneur when he and a friend created the first online edible nuts business in 1994 called “Inter-nut”, which had customers in many foreign countries as well as the USA. After the sale of that company in 1997, Jeff became Chairman of the Dept of Anesthesia at the Elliot Hospital in Manchester, NH. After 25 years in practice, a severe injury to his dominant hand forced Jeff to retire from his career in medicine.

He became a minority owner and VP Marketing for a chain of sub sandwich restaurants called “Dave’s Cosmic Subs” based out of Cleveland. He helped the company quadruple its number of shops over the next 10 years. Further, Jeff was also a minority owner for 12 years of the Hotel Kenney in Ontario Province, Canada, helping to restore this UNESCO World Heritage Site first built in 1887.

Lewis C. Horne is President for Advisory Services for CBRE’s Greater Los Angeles, Orange County and Inland Empire region.

In this role, Mr. Horne leads the strategic direction and performance of the firm’s Advisory Services business, which includes Advisory & Transaction Services, Asset Services, Capital Markets, Local Project Management and Valuations.

Mr. Horne is passionate about collaboration and actively promotes the integration of multiple disciplines to ensure well-conceived, strategic solutions for complex client assignments. This passion led him to becoming an early adopter and champion for workplace transformation, including Workplace Strategy, Experience Consulting, Change Management and Occupancy Management.

Mr. Horne is an active and well-respected leader in the Greater Los Angeles community, regularly lending his voice, experience, and time to help create meaningful solutions for a wide variety of business and social issues, including the complex challenges regarding the homelessness crisis.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Horne held a variety of leadership positions at the company after his start as an industrial brokerage professional in 1984 and successfully growing his career at CBRE for more than 30 years.

Dave Girling became an SAE at USC in the Fall 1978 Class and SAE has developed into one of the most important aspects of his life:

“My best friends, my best man in my wedding, my accountant, my investment advisor and those whom I trust the most are all SAE’s. This is an amazing testament to the importance of the fraternity in my life”.

Dave brings over 40 years of financial services industry knowledge and experience to his current role as a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Realty and his team serves Newport Beach and the Desert Communities (La Quinta, Indian Wells, Palm Desert). He formed Girling Real Estate Investment Group (Girling REIG) in 2008 with his father Bing who is now retired

In addition to his real estate investment experience, Dave has held a variety of senior executive positions in a wide array of disciplines in investment banking, mortgage origination, mortgage technology and real estate finance.

Dave was a Commissioner for the Newport Beach Harbor Commission (2012-2019), serving twice as its Chairman.

Dave was President of the Newport Beach Association of Realtors (“NBAOR”) in 2015, following in his father’s footsteps who was President of the Association in 2001. He also served as a Director on the NBAOR Board for 4 years until December of 2016. Dave was named NBAOR Realtor of the Year in 2010 and he completed three terms as Chairman of the Government and Political Affairs (GPA) Committee, serving from 2010 through 2012.

Dave graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) with an undergraduate degree in Business Administration in 1981, and holds an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

Dave has been rowing on indoor rowers for over 20 years, and was an Indoor Rowing Instructor for Equinox Sports Club in Irvine. Dave currently resides in La Quinta with his wife Lisa, enjoying the desert and playing tennis which has become his new passion.

Phi Alpha

John Lindsey, Founder at Lindsey & Lindsey Wealth Management, is a successful and experienced financial professional that achieved top producer status early in his career by helping clients arrive at their financial goals with appropriate legacy planning. His fundamental investment philosophies are consistent with conservative long range goals, helping clients attain wealth accumulation through sound diversification strategies. John founded Lindsey & Lindsey Wealth Management in 2012 to be able to better serve his client base with an expanded universe of investment offerings.

Recently retired from daily participation at the firm, John is married to his wife Karen of 44 years and they have three lovely daughters; Christina, Alissa, and Jenna. Two of his daughters, Christina and Alissa are partners in the firm. Christina is now CEO, Majority Partner and Alissa is Senior Vice President. Shannon Beahan is COO. He and his family attend Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Newbury Park. John serves on four non-profit boards. Two that have a national reach and two others that serve the surrounding community in Ventura County.

Learn more about John at theboldadvisor.com and about Lindsey and Lindsey advisory company at lindseyandlindsey.com

John C. Lindsey
jclindsey@aol.com

“Don’t tell me about your dreams of a castle; show me the stones you laid today.’

‘Remember this: the choices you make in life, make you.’’
– John Wooden

CA Gamma Building Association

BOARD MEMBERS

Dave Girling

Michael Lee Toerge

Kurt Groeniger

John Lindsey

Stan Schultz

John Wiegand

Tom Thomas

Lew Horne

Scott Tolstad

Members