Laer Pearce has been a public relations professional since 1976. He is a past president of the Orange County chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and the 1989 recipient of its Distinguished Service Award for “Outstanding contributions to the public relations profession and the community.” He has received more than 50 awards for his public relations projects and campaigns.

Laer is active in client service and account management, serving as team leader and providing strategic counsel on several of the agency’s accounts. He has run campaigns that have defined much of the land development industry’s regulatory environment in Southern California, including the defeat of the state listing of the California gnatcatcher, the redirection of the federal gnatcatcher listing from “endangered” to “threatened,” the rewriting of the nationwide wetlands permit, and the creation of the NCCP program. He helped successfully rally statewide opposition to efforts by the Coastal Commission to extend its authority inland, and helped create the California Natural Resources Group, which has successfully challenged decisions regarding critical habitat for endangered species. He has supported land developers and homebuilders in many entitlement efforts. He is currently working on Newhall Land & Farming’s Newhall Ranch project, Aera’s Puente Hills project, Tejon Ranch’s Tejon Mountain Village project, Chevron’s West Coyote Hills project and Shea Homes’ Parkside Estates project. Previously, Laer successfully supported Aera/Toll Brothers’ Vista Del Verde project, Unocal’s East Coyote Hills, Imperial and Birch Hills projects, The Irvine Company’s Turtle Ridge and Santiago Hills projects, and many others. His long experience with community and media relations has led to his development of a proprietary curriculum for media training, development and use of key messages, and preparing for interviews and potentially hostile hearings. He has used these materials to provide training to the Orange County Board of Supervisors, the heads of numerous County of Orange departments and their public information officers, and to numerous private-sector executives. After graduating from Indiana University with an honors degree in journalism, he worked as a reporter for several years before joining an affiliate of Hill and Knowlton, then the world’s largest PR agency. He formed his own agency in 1982.

He is accredited by the Public Relations Society of America, and has taught preparatory classes for PRSA’s demanding eight-hour accreditation examination. He has served on the public relations curriculum advisory committees of U.C. Irvine Extension and California State University, Long Beach. He is a past president of the Orange County Forum, one of California’s premier public issues forums. He serves on the an Executive Board of the Building Industry Association of Orange County, is Vice President/Public Affairs of the Building Industry Association of Southern California, is a member of the Water Advisory Committee of Orange County and serves on the public affairs committee of the California Building Industry Association. He is a member of the Counselors Academy, an international association of public relations agency owners and executives, the Orange County Business Council, the Orange County Public Affairs Association and the Association of California Water Agencies. Laer’s incredible wife is the agency’s Chief Financial Officer and they have three incredible daughters.

As Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Laer Pearce & Associates, Beth has been actively involved in the administrative, human resources and financial functions of the agency since its inception in 1982, when she co-founded the highly successful agency along with her husband, Laer.

In addition to her responsibilities as CFO, Beth has taken an active role in guiding the direction of the agency's communications strategies for clients. She is also the Executive Producer of a series of videos detailing the dangers of the drug culture.

Scott’s focused communications programs help Laer Pearce & Associates’ clients achieve their most important goals and have been recognized with industry awards in the areas of community relations, news placements and materials production - including brochures, newsletters and PowerPoint presentations.

Scott has had the privilege to speak to students about public affairs and media relations at Chapman University, California State University at Long Beach and California State University at Fullerton. He currently serves on the Orange County Building Industry Association’s Board of Directors and is a past director of the Public Relations Society of America, Orange County chapter. He is also a member of the Association of California Water Agencies and the Orange County Public Affairs Association.

Prior to LP&A, Scott worked for a world-wide public relations agency where he serviced accounts for the California Department of Transportation and Toyota Motor Company. Scott also pursued a baseball career where the Seattle Mariners selected him in the 1996 and 1997 professional baseball drafts as a left-handed pitcher.

Scott resides in the City of Mission Viejo with his wife Jennifer and their three daughters – Jessica, Grace and Anna.

Ben Boyce provides public relations consultation to many of Laer Pearce & Associates’ land development, builder-services and water industry clients, including SunCal Companies, GMU Geotechnical and the Cucamonga Valley Water District.

Ben has led several successful land development entitlement campaigns in both Northern and Southern California, and recently managed campaigns for the largest proposed community in California’s history (SunCal’s Waterman Junction in Barstow) and one of the largest in the nation (SunCal’s Atrisco property in Albuquerque). He has also helped lead rebranding and outreach efforts for several prominent water districts and companies serving the building industry.

Ben has received numerous awards for his creative and strategic public relations projects, campaigns and collateral materials. He has also successfully managed crisis communications for several public-agency and private-sector clients, and has advocated on behalf of his clients in a number of daily newspapers and trade publications, including a cover article in California Builder magazine on the complex world of California’s state bond measures.

Ben is active in the Orange County chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, serving as a director and chair of its mentor program. In this capacity, he helps foster the professional development of hundreds of local PR professionals and college seniors through a dynamic program aimed at fostering future leadership within the industry.

Ben is a member of Orange County Building Industry Association, the Orange County Public Affairs Association and the Association of California Water Agencies.

As a contestant on The Price is Right, Ben was awarded a new coffee maker and a year’s supply of Mylanta for incorrectly estimating the cost of a brass bookcase.

Steve Greyshock provides strategic leadership for many of Laer Pearce & Associates’ clients, including DMB Associates, Santa Margarita Water District, SunCal Companies and the Tejon Ranch Company.

Steve became a seasoned public affairs practitioner while serving on several national and state political campaigns during the 2004 election cycle. This experience led him to LP&A where he now specializes in land-use and environmental public affairs as well as strategic media relations.

He has a knack for developing successful communications strategies and placing high-profile media stories in prestigious publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, BusinessWeek, the Associated Press as well as dozens of local and trade publications like The Orange County Register, San Francisco Chronicle, Builder Magazine and Institutional Investor.

Steve serves on the Board of Directors for the Orange County Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, and is the inaugural chair of its Advocacy Committee. He is also a member of the Association of California Water Agencies, the Orange County Public Affairs Association and the Orange County chapter of the California Building Industry Association.

He is a graduate of West Virginia University, where he obtained a degree in public relations.

Steve lives in Ladera Ranch with his wife Jennifer, who also serves the building industry at Standard Pacific Homes. The two often travel back to their “second home state” of West Virginia to take in WVU football games and search for their dream ranch somewhere on top of a mountain.

As a Junior Associate, Lauren Pearce provides support to a number of Laer Pearce & Associates accounts. She has helped influence public opinion for land developers and water districts by drafting letters to concerned community members, researching and pitching local media, and managing the firm’s extensive database systems. Lauren also spoke before the California Coastal Commission on behalf of a client during a hearing on a controversial development proposal. She is a former presidential scholar and lives for the next chance to track her BMW roadster.