Wilson Chooses ‘Rescue Artist’ to Lead Schools

Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday nominated corporate turnaround strategist Sanford C. Sigoloff of Los Angeles as interim state superintendent of schools until voters permanently fill the post next year.

In appointing the rescuer of failed businesses to administer the vast $25-billion-a-year public education system, Wilson filled the vacancy created last March when Bill Honig resigned after being convicted on felony conflict-of-interest charges.

“I’m not a professional educator and I do not have political aspirations,” said the soft-spoken Sigoloff, 63. “I do not see myself as an educational reformer, but rather as a change agent.”

Sigoloff has not been involved in school management or reform and is a virtual unknown in the state’s education community. But his business colleagues say the former nuclear chemist is a quick learner, with an uncanny ability to absorb and analyze voluminous amounts of data and zero in on problems and solutions.

At a news conference to announce his appointment, Sigoloff said, “I come here with a blank piece of paper and a willingness to learn.” He did not endorse the state’s reform efforts, but said he is committed to an “educational process that is in sync with the market and recognizes that change is both radical and accelerating and is being driven by technology.”

The nomination took the state’s education Establishment by surprise.

“We don’t have any idea what his educational background or philosophy is and that’s a big concern for us,” said Ella Miyamota, vice president of the California PTA. “There will be an election in six months, so why not let the people decide? This could be a hindrance for reform or improvement” in the short term, she said.

Wilson on Thursday characterized Sigoloff as a “rescue artist” whose skills as “the wizard of corporate turnarounds” can be applied to turning around the state’s beleaguered public schools.

“His job will be to see to it that the system works as efficiently as possible,” Wilson said. He said he hopes that improvements will occur immediately and that Sigoloff will leave a blueprint for further reform to his elected successor.

Joseph Alibrandi, the Whittaker Corp. president who headed the unsuccessful campaign for the school voucher initiative on the Nov. 2 statewide ballot, lauded the appointment as a necessary first step to make the state’s schools more accountable to parents and taxpayers.

Sigoloff serves with him on the board of UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management and teaches a class at the university in business management, Alibrandi said.

“He’s got a good appreciation for the problems in education, and he’ll be able to bring a new look to how we run the education system: How do you budget, how do you manage the funds, how do you make sure they’re adequately spent?”

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But UCLA education dean Theodore Mitchell said any changes Sigoloff makes in the state’s Education Department will have to be grounded in educational philosophy, and Sigoloff’s educational views are a question mark.

“Downsizing and streamlining is a process to get you to a goal, it’s not a goal in itself,” he said. “If there are going to be fewer resources and fewer people, you have to ask yourself: Where are we going to concentrate the resources and what are the things we’re not going to be able to do?

“And you can’t make those decisions in the absence of an educational philosophy that dictates what’s important.”

Sigoloff’s views on education will probably be the focus of confirmation hearings that will begin when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

“I think he’s a provocative choice. . . . Whether he is confirmed depends on how the legislative leadership and the members view his (educational philosophy),” said Mike Roos, the former Assembly leader who now heads a business-community coalition to reform Los Angeles schools.

Initial indications in the Capitol on Thursday were that Sigoloff, a Republican, would be confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature chiefly because he would occupy the post for only one year and not seek election to a four-year term.

Wilson’s first choice for the job, Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), was defeated in the Assembly last April in a partisan battle.

In filling the vacancy with an accomplished business executive, Wilson may have defused a potential political issue for himself as he prepares to campaign for reelection.

For months, Democrats have sniped at Wilson’s failure to fill the position at a time when the quality of education has bloomed as a major public concern. Calls for reform have gathered momentum since defeat of the Proposition 174 voucher initiative.

The governor’s office said Sigoloff opposed the voucher measure, and Sigoloff said he is a product of public schools, sent his children to public schools and says his grandchildren will do the same. But, he said, he believes Californians “have reached their frustration limit with education” and have issued “a call to examine the need for change.”

But former Supt. Honig said the education department has already been severely reduced by budget cuts, and Sigoloff’s efforts could hurt the state’s reform programs.

“If the idea is to come in with a meat ax to the department, that’s not the problem right now. The problem now is how you support the reform initiative given the thin resources. The problems we’re facing are not management issues, but issues of philosophy and how you get a complicated organization moving in a common direction to accomplish your goals.”

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Sigoloff was perhaps best known to Southern California television viewers in the 1980s as the “We got the message” man who appeared in advertisements as part the campaign to turn around the ailing Builders Emporium, a division of Wickes Cos., which Sigoloff headed. Builders recovered, but then hit rough times again. Last summer, long after Sigoloff had sold it, the company announced plans to close all its California retail outlets and lay off 3,800 workers because of the sour economy.

Sigoloff became known as a business strategist and tactician who specialized in restoring companies that failed in the 1980s as a result of leveraged buyouts and junk bond financing.

He played a key role with three major retail turnarounds, including Republic Corp., Daylin Corp. and Wickes Cos.

Business associates say Sigoloff is a tough manager who has made “terminal authority” decisions that resulted in the massive layoffs of workers in order to save a failing business. But they also rate him as highly compassionate.

He adopted the nickname “Ming the Merciless,” from a villain in Flash Gordon, his favorite comic strip as a youth. Sigoloff said he acquired the label from a sort of gallows humor that evolved from a closely knit group of people working 18-hour days under high pressure to rescue sick companies.

“You can call me Bambi and I’d be just as happy,” he told reporters.

Profile: Sanford C. Sigoloff

* Age: 63

* Residence: Brentwood.

* Education: UCLA (physics and chemistry), Pepperdine (law).

* Career highlights: Chairman & CEO of Sigoloff & Associates consulting firm of Santa Monica, specializing in rescuing troubled companies; serves on boards of several other firms; founded a bank; did work in nuclear physics.

* Interests: Travel, fitness training, tennis, photography, skiing and restoring and driving classic Porsches.

* Family: Married, with three children, four grandchildren.

* Quote: “Thank you, governor--I think.”