The Crowd:

He is one of the nation’s leading innovators in the health-care information and billing business. Jeff MargolisJeff Margolis, founder, chairman and chief executive of the TriZetto Group Inc. was honored recently as the recipient of the 2009 National Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee.

Margolis, a resident of Corona del Mar, joined his wife, Debbie, and his daughters, Alexandria and Allegra, at a formal dinner presentation at the Island Hotel, Newport Beach.

More than 300 distinguished guests attended the evening co-chaired by Dr. Richard Afable, president and chief executive of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian and UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake, Edward Kennedy Jr., Dan Spirek and Jim Sullivan. Spirek and Sullivan are high-ranking executives with The TriZetto Group.

The powerful chairmanship of the party attracted significant Newport-Mesa attendance.

The American Jewish Committee was founded in 1906 with the original purpose of rallying American Jews in support of assisting Russian Jews exposed to the violent pogroms sanctioned under the rule of Czar Nicholas and the White Russian Army.

In the early part of the 20th century these humanitarians believed that working to create a world in which all people were accorded respect and dignity would eventually protect people in danger in any part of the world of any race, religion or other minority distinction.

Today, the organization is an international think tank with primary headquarters in New York and Washington D.C. and affiliates nationwide and worldwide.

Margolis founded TriZetto in 1997.

Today, the company is the leading privately held health-care information technology business involved with the payer industry.

Half of the United States population with health-care insurance finds their billing processed through TriZetto. Additionally, Margolis serves on the board of UCI’s Center for Health Care Management and Policy.

He is also a member of the board of Hoag Hospital, a member of the board of governors of Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, a guest facility member at the Harvard School of Public Health and serves as president of Temple Bat Yahm, Newport Beach.

A cocktail reception at the Island Hotel began the evening welcoming such notables as the Honorable Sheila Sonenshine, retired Orange County judge, Marshall Kaplan, representing the Merage Foundation, Martin Brower, Nira Rosten and Stephen and Miki Sholkoff, of Newport Beach representing the American Jewish Committee in Orange County.

The Honorable David Lang, American Jewish Committee chapter chairman and member of the National Board of Directors was also in attendance, along with Rabbi Marc Dworkin, executive director of the Orange County American Jewish Committee Chapter, and Cantor Jonathan Grant of Temple Bat Yahm, Newport Beach.

Following dinner service, Thomas Main, partner and United States market leader at Oliver Wyman, served as keynote speaker for the event. Margolis was presented with his honors by James McCulney, and was joined by his wife, his daughters and his parents, Don and Barbara Margolis, on this special evening.

More than $200,000 was raised to support the worldwide humanitarian projects of The American Jewish Committee.

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