Patricia Velasquez was elected president of the Orange County Fair & Exposition Center’s Board of Directors on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2003. Additionally, two new members have joined the Board. Gov. Gray Davis appointed rancher/businessman Richard J. O’Neill of Rancho Mission Viejo and Luis Pulido of Fullerton.

Velasquez, 37, an Anaheim resident, is founder and president of LUPAT Corp., a real estate/mortgage brokerage. She is a member of the Hispanic Education Endowment Fund, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Orange County, the Rancho Santiago College Bond Oversight Committee, and the Anaheim Public Utilities Board.

Pulido, 43, the newest Board member, has been president of Ace Muffler Shop in Santa Ana since 1989 and is vice president of Sol International.

The other new Board member, O’Neill, 80, is a sixth generation Californian whose family’s historic 230,000-acre Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores once extended from today’s Mission Viejo to Oceanside in San Diego County. The Marine Corps’ Camp Pendleton once was part of the ranch.

Known for his support of historical and artistic projects, O’Neill is a major contributor to the South Coast Repertory Theater building fund and to the restoration of original homes in San Juan Capistrano. He is an active supporter of hereditary disease research and is a benefactor of the athletic scholarship program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, his alma mater.

His business interests include real estate, land conservancy, horses, cattle and the historic El Adobe restaurant in San Juan Capistrano.

Both O’Neill and Pulido were appointed to four-year terms. O’Neill succeeded Randy Smith, who died earlier this year after having been a Board member for 12 years. Pulido replaces Emily Sanford, a Board member since 1994.