Public Relations Chief to Head Chamber : Business: Thomas Wilck wants better business climate in Orange County, including new rules on workers' compensation and air quality compliance.

Public Relations Chief to Head Chamber : Business: Thomas Wilck wants better business climate in Orange County, including new rules on workers’ compensation and air quality compliance.

By CRISTINA LEE

Nov. 17, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

ORANGE —

The board of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce has elected Thomas Wilck, president of an Irvine public relations firm, as its 1993 chairman.

Wilck, who will act as head of one of the county’s oldest and largest trade organizations, said he wants to work to improve the business climate.

“Too often, we disassociate businesses and jobs. We need to remember, and remind the public that the only place jobs come from is (through) businesses,” Wilck said Monday. “So we will do all we can to provide a supportive business environment.”

He said his priorities include working to develop a more manageable state workers’ compensation system and a “more reasonable approach” to business compliance with the region’s tough air quality regulations.

Wilck, a 59-year-old Corona del Mar resident, succeeds Frank Quevedo, manager of equal opportunity at Southern California Edison Co. and the first Latino to head the chamber.

The chamber board also elected three vice chairmen Friday: Mary-Evelyn Bryden, a Fullerton government and community relations consultant; Aaron Lovejoy, president of Ultratech Resources Inc. and president of the county’s Black Chamber of Commerce; and William Furniss, president of public television station KOCE-TV in Huntington Beach.

George Kessinger, president of Goodwill Industries of Orange County, was named treasurer of the 1,300-member group.

Wilck worked for Irvine Co. as vice president of corporate relations for 12 years before leaving in 1985 to start his public relations firm--Thomas Wilck Associates Inc.

Before joining the Irvine Co. in 1973, Wilck was a deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee, responsible for national public relations activities.

He ran his own Los Angeles public relations firm from 1961 to 1971, when President Richard Nixon appointed him assistant administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington.