First American Trust Executive Kimberly Bernatz To Chair Philharmonic Society Of Orange County

TUSTIN, Calif. - Aug. 4, 2016 - PRLog -- Kimberly Dwan Bernatz, Senior Vice President and Director of Wealth Advisory Services at First American Trust, has been elected the new chairman of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County's board of directors.

The announcement was made today at the board's annual meeting, which took place at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach, Calif.

Noel D. Hamilton, Immediate Past Chairman, and Stephen Amendt,Secretary/Treasurer, were also elected to their respected posts for the Society's 2016-2017 season, and community leaders John Flemming, Dr. Hung Fan and Marlene Nielsen also were named to the board.

Bernatz is a longtime Philharmonic Society supporter and has served multiple terms on the Philharmonic Society's board. She also serves as Chairman of Hoag Hospital Foundation's Planned Giving Advisory Committee, is past Chairman of the Board of Pacific Chorale, and has served on the board for University of California Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business Center for Investment and Wealth Management. She is a member of the Orange Coast Estate Planning Council and an advisory council member for the Assistance League of Newport Mesa. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Southern California and is a Certified Financial Planner™ and Accredited Estate Planner®.

Flemming is President of Carpenter & Company, a private equity and consulting firm in Irvine, and joins the Philharmonic Society's board for his first term. Since 1991, he has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Carpenter & Company and a Managing Member of the General Partner of the Carpenter Funds. He has been associated with Carpenter & Company for more than 20 years, and today oversees all activities of the firm. From 2009 to 2014, he served as a director of Manhattan Bancorp and its bank subsidiary, Bank of Manhattan. Flemming is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and holds General Securities Principal and Representative licenses.

ABOUT THE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY OF ORANGE COUNTY
Founded in 1954, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County is Orange County's oldest and most recognized music organization, presenting the world's most acclaimed symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, performing organizations and artists. A catalyst for cultural and educational development throughout its region, the Philharmonic Society is a key resident company in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

For more than 60 years, the Society has presented artists who set the standards for artistic achievement: Sir Georg Solti, Itzhak Perlman, Jacqueline du Pré, Daniel Barenboim, Lorin Maazel and Cecilia Bartoli, to name just a few. In addition, many of the world's greatest orchestras have performed in Orange County by invitation of the Philharmonic Society. The Society celebrated the diversity of our cultural landscape with Eclectic Orange Festival presentations from 1999-2004. Eclectic Orange events championed contemporary composers through commissions and sponsorship of regional and world premieres. Among the living composers presented were Tan Dun, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, John Adams, Edgar Meyer, Burhan Öçal and Mikel Rouse. Past presentations include the West Coast premiere of Steve Reich's "The Cave," the Southern California premiere of Terry Riley's "Sun Rings," the United States exclusive engagement of Théâtre Zingaro, the West Coast premiere of "Orion" by Philip Glass, the West Coast premiere of Steve Reich's "WTC 9/11", and the 2011 exclusive West Coast recital appearance of opera superstar Renée Fleming.