NEWSMAKERS: People in the News

Accounting & Consulting

Mike Machado has been named managing partner at Hutchinson and Bloodgood LLP, a certified public accountant and consulting firm in Glendale. He has been a partner with the firm since 1988.

Architecture

HKS, an architectural, planning and interiors firm in Los Angeles, has appointed Jan Karl director of business development. She will be responsible for leading the business development and marketing efforts for the West Coast.

Christopher Mitchell, who has headed Studios Architecture’s Los Angeles office since 1999, has been named associate principal. Mitchell joined the firm in 1996.

Banking & Finance

Richard S. Cupp is the new chairman and chief executive of Southern Pacific Bank in Torrance, the principal subsidiary of Imperial Credit Industries Inc. in Torrance. Cupp was most recently president and chief executive of First Bank of Beverly Hills.

Comerica Entertainment Group, an entertainment finance company in Beverly Hills, has a new vice president for business affairs. Marco Masoni was named to the post, where he will handle operational and legal matters for the firm, including negotiation and management of film financing agreements in addition to supporting business development activities and serving as a liaison to international affiliates. Masoni was previously at the law firm of Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells. Also holding a new post at Comerica is Suraj Gohill, who has been named vice president responsible for sourcing new film project loans and corporate entertainment deals as well as management for existing syndicated transactions and film project loans. Prior to joining Comerica, Gohill worked at Natexis Banques as assistant vice president in its entertainment group.

Entertainment

Patrick Dollard has joined Catch 23 Entertainment in Los Angeles as executive vice president. He will oversee the filmmaker and literary side of Catch 23’s management division. Collard, formerly of Propaganda Management, will be joined at the firm by David Flynn and Keith Redmon, both of whom were members of his Propaganda literary management team.

Two new hires at MGM Pictures in Santa Monica: Elizabeth Cantillon is as senior vice president of production and Eric Paquette as vice president of production. They will be responsible for finding and developing properties for feature film consideration and overseeing all facets of production from acquisition through release. Most recently, Cantillon produced “The Banger Sisters,” a Fox Searchlight production. Paquette joins MGM from Phoenix Pictures.

In changes at MGM Distribution Co., Jamie Geller Hawtof has been appointed senior vice president, publicity. She will be leading the company’s theatrical publicity efforts. The company has also consolidated its audio-visual and print advertising teams under Seth Gaven, who has been promoted to executive vice president, creative advertising. Danny Rosett has been made executive vice president, marketing and distribution. He will be responsible for overseeing MGM’s international theatrical distribution operations in addition to maintaining responsibility for administration of the company’s domestic marketing and distribution operations as well as all deal making and business operations for United Artists.

Chon Noriega has been appointed to the board of Independent Television Service, a funder of independent production in public television. Noriega is a professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

Dennis Wald is the new vice president, affiliate marketing, for the Game Show Network in Culver City. Wald, who joined the Game Show Network in 1996 as director of affiliate sales, is now responsible for developing, managing and implementing the network’s affiliate marketing and local ad sales plans and partnerships with cable and satellite distributors.

The Screen Actors Guild has made two new appointments: Sallie Weaver as deputy national executive director for contracts and Mark R. Steinberg as general counsel and deputy national director for policy and planning. Weaver will be responsible for direction of the negotiation, administration and enforcement of SAG’s collective bargaining agreements, including the basic and television agreements and the commercials and industrial agreements. She previously served as deputy national executive director for policy, planning and external affairs for SAG. Steinberg will have responsibility for all legal, communications and governmental affairs of the guild, in addition to overseeing the development of policy options for the national board and for creation of the Guild’s strategic plan. He previously held several posts in the state department during the Clinton Administration.

Government

The new president of the Los Angeles Police Foundation is Karen O. Wagener. Wagener served for nearly six years as the first executive director of the volunteer bureau of the City of Los Angeles, office of the mayor.

Health Care

Jeanne Flores has been named senior vice president of human resources and organization development at Cedars-Sinai. Flores was most recently vice president of human resources and strategic planning at City of Hope in Duarte.

SCAN, a Long Beach-based health plan that provides personal care and health services to older adults, has a new chief financial officer. Charles J. Olson will lead SCAN’s financial activities, overseeing budgeting, planning, analysis, reporting and performance monitoring in addition to supervising the activities of the facilities department. Olson had been a management consultant working on financial reengineering and evaluation projects, most recently a two-year assignment with Fluor Corp.

Hospitality

Roger Gamboa and Benjamin Paula have been appointed to head all food operations for the 436-room Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City. Gamboa is serving as executive chef, Paul as executive sous chef. Gamboa is responsible for all menu and food preparations, as well as overseeing the management and development of the culinary staff. He has previously worked at the Quail Lodge Resort & Golf Club and the Hotel Nikko Beverly Hills. Most recently, Paula was the banquet chef for the St. Regis Los Angeles in Century City.

Law

The newest partner in the Los Angeles office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley, McCloy LLP is Thomas R. Kreller. He is a member of the firm’s financial restructuring group and specializes in bankruptcy and corporate reorganization, representing debtors, investors, purchasers, lenders, equity holders and formal and informal committees in bankruptcy cases, loan restructurings and workouts.

Media

Kevin Coupe has joined the Lempert Report, a food trends publication in Santa Monica, as editor. Coupe previously served as an executive staff member for IdeaBeat.com, an online community for retailers and manufacturers that provided retail analysis and opinion.

Thomas Moyes is the new chief financial officer and senior vice president of administration for the networks division of Liberty Livewire Corp., a subsidiary of Liberty Media Group. He will oversee accounting and finance for the networks division, including planning, reporting, analysis and capital spending. Moyes previously served as chief financial officer of Veon, a provider of a video broadband programming and interactive services platform.

Professional Services

Robert H. McNabb has been named president of Americas and Asia/Pacific at Futurestep, the online recruitment arm for middle management at Korn/Ferry International, a recruitment firm in Los Angeles. He will be responsible for accelerating the firm’s cross-selling partnership. McNabb was previously president and chief executive of Corestaff Staffing.