Advertising & P.R.
Anna Wong has been named controller at A Band Apart Commercials. She will oversee all financial activities and operations for the parent company and its two divisions, A Band Apart .35 mm and A Band Apart Music Videos. She previously was director of operations and finance at Warner Bros.
Brett Holmes has started up Kate Backstage Group, a Los Angeles-based consultancy for communications and fund raising. Holmes was formerly Gov. Pete Wilson’s staff assistant and deputy director of advance.
Brian Seth Hurst has been named head of a new convergent media division of Culver City-based Pittard Sullivan. Hurst is the founder of Los Angeles-based Tandem Intermedia, which has been acquired by Pittard Sullivan.
Stan Steinreich has been named senior vice president and director of the Los Angeles office of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide. Before joining Edelman, Steinreich was a senior vice president and group director for Fleishman-Hillard International Communications in New York.
Entertainment
David Bernath has been promoted to director of program planning at Los Angeles-based E! Entertainment Television. He will be responsible for helping supervise all aspects of program scheduling operations. He previously held several positions within the program planning department.
Emme Kozloff has joined Los Angeles-based Saban Entertainment’s licensing & merchandising division as vice president of retail development. She will be responsible for building and managing all relationships with retailers, and developing retail promotions for Saban’s licensed properties. Kozloff previously was senior manager of new business development at The Disney Store Inc.
Financial Services
Carl Davis has joined the Torrance branch of Prudential Securities as vice president and branch manager. He joined Prudential in 1993 as branch manager for the firm’s Long Beach office. Previously, he was branch manager of Dean Witter’s Torrance office.
Jerry G. Maize has been promoted to senior vice president of investments at Salomon Smith Barney in Long Beach. He has been in the financial services industry since 1981 and served as first vice president of investments as well as vice president at both Prudential Securities and Merrill Lynch.
Health Care
Stephen Synott has been appointed to vice president of finance for Blue Cross of California’s individual, small group, and senior services division. Blue Cross of California is a subsidiary of Woodland Hills-based WellPoint Health Networks Inc. Synott will be responsible for directing the accounting, analysis, controls and support functions for the division. Prior to joining Blue Cross, he held senior management positions at Aramark Services.
High Tech
Kanwal Rekhi has been appointed chief executive of Santa Monica headquartered CyberMedia Inc. Rekhi has been serving as acting president since March 12. He previously served as president and chief executive of Excelan, a computer networking company he founded. In addition, James R. Tolonen has been appointed president and chief operating officer. He was formerly the senior vice president and chief financial officer at Novell. Also, Bob Davis will head up the enterprise products group as vice president and general manager. He formerly was vice president of marketing. Srikanth Chari will replace Davis as vice president of marketing. Ken Kucera has joined the company as vice president of worldwide sales. He previously served as president of First Byte, a subsidiary of CUC (now Cendant). Jane E. Wike has been promoted from controller to vice president of finance. John Teddy has been promoted from director of engineering to vice president of engineering.
Kevin Wall has been appointed vice chairman of Atlanta-based iXL Holdings, an Internet solutions company. He will be based in the Los Angeles office and will be responsible for creating a brand identity, overseeing acquisition plans, and sharing management responsibility. Before coming to iXL, Wall founded BoxTop, which was acquired by iXL in 1997.
Insurance
Mari M. Musilli has been named general manager of Pasadena-based Golden Pacific Insurance Services. She will be responsible for running all operations of the office. Musilli comes to Golden Pacific with over 30 years of brokerage and management experience.
Law
Howard J. Kern is one of seven lateral attorneys who have joined Los Angeles-based Troop, Meisinger, Steuber & Pasich LLP. Kern will be handling corporate securities and private financing. Deborah Sparkman Fox will counsel clients on venture capital and mergers and acquisitions. Stanley M. Yukevich will be involved with corporate and securities matters as well. Jeffrey W. Dulberg joins the business department to handle bankruptcy and insolvency matters and litigation. Martha C. Bringas will augment the firm’s real estate department in leasing and purchasing and sales agreements. Karen L. S. Stanitz and Lisa N. Bauer have also joined the firm’s litigation department.
Harold M. Williams has joined New York-based Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP as Of Counsel in its Los Angeles office. A former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Williams is president emeritus of the J. Paul Getty Trust.
Manufacturing
Philip M. Neal has been elected president and chief executive by the board of Pasadena-based Avery Dennison Corp. Neal was formerly president and chief operating officer.
Media
Rose Einstein has been promoted to publisher of Video Business, a publication of the Variety Group. She will oversee all publishing aspects of Video Business and will be responsible for expanding the business. Einstein has been with the Variety group for 16 years. Most recently, she served as managing director of sales for Variety and Daily Variety.
David Myers has been promoted to vice president of events at The Petersen Cos. Inc. Myers previously was director of Petersen events. Also, Jeffrey Burch has been promoted to vice president and publisher of the Petersen magazine network. He previously was publisher of the Petersen magazine network.
Real Estate
Richard Schammel has been named to the newly created position of vice president and director of client accounting for Grubb & Ellis Management Services Inc. He will be responsible for directing client accounting activities on a national basis. Previously, Schammel worked at CB Commercial Real Estate Group where he served as first vice president and controller. He has more than 20 years experience in the real estate industry.
Transportation
Julian Burke has been appointed to serve as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s permanent chief executive for the next two years. Burke had been interim CEO since August 1997.
Ava Thomas has been named Los Angeles district manager for Air France. She will be responsible for sales in Southern California, Arizona, Las Vegas and Hawaii. Thomas joined Air France from Cathay Pacific, where she was most recently passenger sales manager, Southwest USA. She has been in travel sales since 1978.
Utilities
Jon Freedman has been appointed director of business development of the Western Region at New Jersey-based United Water Services’ new West Coast office in Los Angeles. Freedman will be responsible for identifying potential partnering projects throughout the West Coast. He previously was vice president & general counsel of the real estate group.
