Advertising/Public Relations
BBDO West has announced three promotions in its creative services department. Dante Lombardi and Dan Burrier were both given the titles of vice president and group creative director and Chris Robb was named senior vice president and creative director.
Banking & Finance
Dennis Tedder has been promoted to vice president at Union Bank of California N.A. He is a security administration manager and is based at the bank’s Panorama City office. He was a deputy director at Bank of America prior to joining Union Bank.
GE Capital Commercial Finance Inc. has named Mark Gudis senior vice president of its merchant banking group. He will manage the merchant banking activities in Los Angeles.
Gregory Quintana has been promoted to vice president of the commercial customer services unit at Union Bank of California N.A. He is a unit manager and is based in Monterey Park.
Engineering
Parsons Corp. has appointed James E. Thrash president of Parsons Power Group Inc., one of Parsons’ global business units. He held engineering, construction, project management and business development positions at PDM Steel, FMC Corp. and Flour prior to joining Parsons.
Entertainment/Media
The Los Angeles Times has named Leah Gentry editorial director of the newspaper’s Web site, latimes.com. She will be responsible for the daily editorial content of the site. Gentry had served as managing editor at Excite Inc. prior to joining the Times.
Mitch Koch has been named senior vice president and general manager of Buena Vista Home Video North America. His responsibilities include distribution, operations, sales, marketing and finance. Prior to the promotion, Koch was senior vice president of finance for Buena Vista Home Video North America.
Kushner-Locke Co. has promoted Dana Scanlan to vice president of the company’s feature films division. She was director of development prior to her promotion.
Barbara S. Brogliatti has been named senior vice president of corporate communications for Warner Bros. Inc. She had served as senior vice president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Publicity prior to the promotion.
Blaise J. Noto has been promoted to executive vice president of worldwide publicity for the Motion Picture Group of Paramount Pictures. He will be responsible for international and domestic publicity campaigns for film releases. Before joining Paramount, Noto served as vice president of marketing for Vestron Pictures.
Health Care
Neil J. Sherman has been named chief of the medical staff at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Sherman, a pediatric surgeon, maintains a private practice in West Covina and has been an attending surgeon at CHLA for 25 years where he completed a surgical residency and oncology fellowship. He will serve a two-year term.
High Tech/Aerospace
Rich Cahalan has been promoted to chief operating officer of Trillium Digital Systems Inc. Cahalan, who had been serving as Trillium’s general counsel and chief financial officer, will be responsible for marketing and sales, quality assurance and customer support.
Thomas G. Iwanski is the new chief financial officer of NetVantage Inc.
Based in El Segundo, the company develops, manufactures and markets switching products designed to increase the information handling capacity of local area networks (LANs).
For the past three years, Iwanski was the chief financial officer and vice president of finance of Computer Marketplace Inc. in Riverside. In that position, he oversaw the planning and execution of the company’s restructuring program in addition to financial reporting, accounting and auditing.
Personnel
Settlement Planning Associates has appointed Dennis Bales vice president. He will be responsible for analyzing personal injury cases, developing negotiation strategies and structured settlement alternatives. Before joining Settlement Planning Associates, Bales was a settlement consultant for JMW Settlements Inc.
Publishing
Petersen Publishing’s Guns & Ammo magazine has named Garry James editor. He previously served in editor positions at California Real Estate, Architectural Digest and Handguns magazines.
Real Estate
David Placek has joined Psomas and Associates as a director. He will focus on infrastructure planning for new communities. Prior to joining Psomas, Placek was with Post, Buckley, Schuh and Jernigan where he managed several large projects, including the Irvine Spectrum 5 business park.
Jeff Lapin has joined the Voit Cos.’ management services division as vice president and regional manager for the Los Angeles metro region. He was with Metlife Corporate Property Management, serving as its director of Southern California operations, prior to joining Voit.
Long Beach-based Perkowitz & Ruth Architects Inc. has promoted four senior associates to principals. Gary W. Clements and Brian W. Wolfe oversee design and management; Kenneth P. Gunther oversees contract construction administration and Branko Prebanda directs contract document production.
Retail
Ralphs Grocery Co. has appointed Terrence J. Wallock senior vice president, general counsel and secretary. Wallock had served as executive vice president at Vons Cos. before joining Ralphs. He will oversee all legal matters, including handling contract and lease agreements and advising management on personnel matters.
Tourism
The Santa Monica Convention & Visitors Bureau has named Misti Kerns director of sales and marketing. She was director of catering and conference management at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel prior to joining the bureau.
Grace Duncan has been named corporate sales manager for Hotel Nikko at Beverly Hills. She will be responsible for the hotel’s financial, pharmaceutical and retail and fashion accounts. Duncan served in the national sales office of Nikko Hotels International in New York prior to relocating to Beverly Hills.
