Entertainment
Emiliano Calemzuk has been named vice president and general manager of Fox Kids Latin America. Calemzuk will be responsible for the channel’s management, as well as implement strategies designed to grow revenues. Previously, he served as director of media ventures for Fox Latin Entertainment Channels.
Bob Francis has joined the newly formed 55 Entertainment, a music company/record label headquartered in West Los Angeles. Francis is joining as vice president, general manager of the company. The company’s name is derived from the number on the football jersey of company president Willie McGinest, who also plays linebacker for the New England Patriots.
Alex Gartner has been promoted to president-production at Santa Monica-based MGM Pictures, a unit of Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Inc. He will oversee all aspects of film development and production for the label. Gartner comes to this position after serving as the senior production executive.
Alan Horn has joined the board of directors at KCET Channel 28, the West Coast flagship station for PBS. Horn will help KCET to channel the creative resources of the entertainment industry into the PBS system. He will continue to be president and chief operating officer of Warner Bros., the position he currently holds.
William Lincoln has been promoted to chief operating officer for Pearson Television North America, the first of several appointments made in an effort to strategically unify the company’s U.S. operations. Other appointments include Matt Loze and Sara Rutenberg. All three will be based in Santa Monica. Lincoln will be responsible for managing the company’s syndication barter sales division and all finance operations. Most recently, he served as Pearson’s executive vice president. Loze was promoted to president-production, drama and long form for Pearson. He will be responsible for all of the company’s drama, long form and international co-productions. Loze had been the executive vice president, Pearson Television International since 1997. Rutenberg was named president-business development and strategy. She will be responsible for generating new revenue streams for Pearson’s product acquisitions.
Dawn Roberts has been named vice president of marketing at Virgin Entertainment Group in Los Angeles. Roberts will oversee the group’s retail marketing operations in North America, which includes 20 Virgin Megastores, and will also work closely with the company’s Web site. Previously, she was the vice president of brand alliances at Web-based Digital Brandcast Corp.
Insurance
Katherine L. King has joined the Los Angeles office of Marsh Risk and Insurance Services as vice president. She will focus on client service and new business development in the greater Los Angeles area. King was most recently with broker/consultant Keenan & Associates as vice president of sales.
Law
Michael J. Meyers has joined the law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP as a counsel in the firm’s Los Angeles office. His practice focuses on energy-related transactional matters, including electrical, chemical and refinery plant construction, power plant and project development and regulatory issues, power, feedstock and supply agreements. Meyers is joining the firm after serving as division counsel for Arco Solar Industries and as manufacturing counsel for Arco Products Co. for over 20 years.
Julie E. Van Wert has joined the law firm of Troop Steuber Pasich Reddick & Tobey LLP as a lateral associate in its Insurance Coverage Group. Van Wert has litigation experience in assisting clients in the areas of Medi-Cal, SSI, Social Security Survivor Benefits, Adoption Assistance Program payments, civil rights, regional center services, immigration, guardianships, special education and adoption. Most recently, she was national adoption director for The Alliance for Children’s Rights.
New Media
Joe Bogdan has joined OnAir Streaming Networks Inc., a streaming media delivery network, as its general counsel and vice president of business affairs. Formerly, he was a partner at the L.A.-based law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, where he focused on the convergence of technology and entertainment.
Robert P. Sherry has been appointed senior vice president of sales at Business.com, a business information source on the Web. In this position, Sherry will manage the company’s sales team, develop strategies to maximize revenue growth and establish regional sales offices. He comes to this position after holding several similar positions in the online industry at companies such as NetZero and ValueClick.
Vikki Yaller has joined Cleartop, an online customer solutions firm in Santa Monica, as vice president of operations. Yaller will be managing day-to-day activities and will be in charge of company product management, customer support and the operations group. She comes to Cleartop from eHobbies, where she was vice president of customer care.
Real Estate
Jyotsna Desai has been appointed vice president, western region, strategic accounts group at propertyfirst.com, a Web-based information service for commercial real estate. She is working in Los Angeles and will focus on building long-term relationships with leading national and international commercial real estate firms, institutional investors, public and private real estate owners and other major real estate-related service providers in the Western United States.
Bert Dezzutti has been promoted to regional senior vice president for the Los Angeles region of Equity Office Properties Trust. He is now responsible for directing the leasing, management and operations activities of the company’s building portfolio in Southern California. Dezzutti joined Equity Office in 1997, and was most recently the vice president of leasing for the company’s portfolio.
Bradley J. Feld and John W. McMillan have been appointed to the national broker advisory board at Cushman & Wakefield, an international real estate services firm in Los Angeles. Together with the other members of the board, Feld and McMillan will assist the board in achieving the objectives recently defined in the firm’s strategic planning process. Feld is a senior director in brokerage services. McMillan is a director in Cushman & Wakefield’s industrial brokerage services group in downtown Los Angeles. Cushman & Wakefield also has recruited Regina L. Burke to direct its market research division for the company’s six offices in the Southern California region. Burke comes to the position from Grubb & Ellis Co., where she was research director and client services manager in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Shai N. Halbe has joined the Bentley Forbes Group LLC as vice president and general counsel in the national commercial real estate investment firm’s Century City headquarters. He is responsible for all business and legal affairs pertaining to the firm’s commercial real estate transactions. Previously, he was a senior associate in the real estate department of Los Angeles law firm Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro LLP.
Sports
Mark Liberman has been elected chairman of the board of directors of the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission. George J. Kallis and James P. Trainor also have been elected to the board. Liberman is the vice president, N.A. western region at United Airlines, Kallis is executive managing director at CB Richard Ellis, and Trainor is director, public affairs at Lincoln Mercury.
Telecommunications
Brad Mitchell has joined TelePacific Communications, a broadband telecommunications provider in Los Angeles, as senior vice president of field management. He will lead the company into developmental and launch plans for its new market deployment and provisioning strategies. Mitchell comes to the company from Sprint PCS, where he was area vice president.
