Most Influential 2018: Nicole and Michael Suydam are a power couple who help the powerless

The moniker “Orange County power couple” is typically reserved for pairs with a role in politics or big business, with a recognizable family name or billion-dollar fortune.

But Michael and Nicole Suydam have earned that title by working behind the scenes to help make life better for the area’s least powerful residents.

“It feels strange, really,” Nicole said, her eyes dropping to the concrete floor of the 11-acre warehouse she oversees as CEO of the county’s largest charity, Goodwill of Orange County. “At the same time, if it gets more people interested in helping someone get a job or get a home, then I feel good about that.”

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Their focus is less on being influential and more on being impactful, Michael likes to say.

“We want to make a difference,” he said, “for our kids and for the community.”

The couple met at Antonello Ristorante in 1999, during an after-party for the central committee meeting of the Republican Party of Orange County.

Michael asked for Nicole’s business card. She was working for Second Harvest Food Bank at the time. Michael was on staff for a California Assembly member. He waited the requisite 72 hours, then called to ask for a tour of the food bank followed by a chat at happy hour.

Nicole handled the tour like a pro, but remembers thinking, “Oh, no, I think he thinks this is a date.”

“I definitely had my eyes on it as a date,” Michael said, nodding with a grin.

Two years later, the couple got married. They now live in Aliso Viejo with their 13-year-old daughter, Lauren, and 10-year-old daughter, Hannah.

While they’ve officially left politics behind, they say their time in that arena gave them connections and experience that’s proved helpful in getting support for their respective causes.

“We know how to navigate the system,” Michael said.

Looking at the current state of the political arena, he grimaces: “Let’s just say it’s a great time to not be in partisan politics.”

But happily, they said, the main challenges they focus on today cut across party lines.

When he’s not running his own public relations firm, Michael donates time to the United to End Homelessness campaign.

Orange County United Way, where Michael once worked, launched the effort early this year. The goal is to educate the public and find solutions to house the chronically homeless.

“Orange County has a crisis,” Michael said. “And unless something is done with a long-term focus, we’re just going to keep going around and around on this.”

The group launched a pilot program this year aimed at getting more apartment owners and landlords to offer housing to people who have been living on the streets.

Michael “has dedicated countless hours to help bring shape to this new and important effort for our community,” according to Carla Jasa, chief operating officer for Orange County United Way. She said he’s been particularly instrumental in heading up public awareness efforts to “change hearts and minds” about who is experiencing homelessness in Orange County.

Ads for the campaign are scattered around the county. The Suydams’ oldest daughter recently spotted one at a bus stop near Disneyland, then started asking questions – which, Michael said, is precisely the point.

Nicole has worked with organizations focused on helping the poor and disenfranchised for more than 20 years.

She was Goodwill’s vice president of development for nearly a decade before moving to Second Harvest Food Bank in 2012, where she helped the organization serve a record number of meals and earn the highest marks from Charity Navigator.

On Oct. 15, she returned to Goodwill of Orange County, this time in the charity’s top post.

Nicole said she’s still taking stock of where the organization stands and developing a new data-driven strategy to expand those efforts. But she knows they aim to upgrade existing stores, so they can get clothing to more people in need and use that revenue to help veterans and people with disabilities get training and jobs.

“That’s the reason why we do all of this,” she said, gesturing to rows of cardboard boxes in the Goodwill warehouse, packed with pounds of clothing waiting for new owners.

The energy she brings to the job is contagious, according to Eric Smissen, spokesman for Goodwill of Orange County.

“It’s fun to see the passion she has for the organization you’ve put your heart into,” he said. “I’m very excited about the future.”

The Suydams’ careers mean constantly tight schedules. Nicole jokes that they send each other Outlook calendar invites to book time together.

But they both said they enjoy the juggling act, always making time to help their daughters with homework or catch a college football game.

“This recognition only fuels our desire to do even more,” Michael said.