Colleagues Give Corey High Marks : Appointment: New head of Orange County Philharmonic Society is called a ‘team worker’ and his fund-raising skills are praised by those who served with him in San Diego.

Most of his colleagues seem to have nothing but praise for Dean Corey, named last week to succeed Erich Vollmer as executive director of the Orange County Philharmonic Society. Currently director of development for the San Diego Symphony, Corey is to start his new job next month.

“Dean is a team worker,” said Les Smith, the San Diego Symphony’s former public relations director, who worked with Corey for three years. “He was full of clever ideas. Whenever he was given a goal, he would come up with a clever way to achieve it.”

Smith cited a recent campaign that netted “more than its $50,000 target at a time when symphony financing was turning sour.

“I (also) liked his sense of humor. He is the kind of person who brings people together. He has a folksy manner about him. He likes to tell Aggie jokes.”

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Drew Cady, the orchestra’s former operations director, agreed that “Dean is a warm, personable guy. I enjoyed working with him. I would characterize him as genuine, friendly and assertive.”

Albert Harclerode, the orchestra’s education coordinator, further noted that “with his experience as a horn player, Dean understands both the administrative and performing side of a musical organization . . .

“He was instrumental in getting a $300,000 grant from Anheuser Busch-Sea World for the symphony’s education program,” Harclerode noted. “This grant supports young people’s concerts and the annual youth concerto competition.”

One arts marketing director in San Diego, who did not want her name used, asserted that Corey is “not much on follow-through, and somewhat arrogant.”

Wesley Brustad, the San Diego Symphony’s former executive director, agreed that “there’s a little (truth to the) lack of follow-through” assertion, but added that “Dean has a wonderful personality, a good sense of humor and is really excellent with people. I think that’s his strong suit.”