NEWSMAKERS
Consultant to Helm Pharmaceutical Firm
Rik Deitsch is turning poisons into cures.
Deitsch, a trained chemist and venom expert, has been appointed president and chief executive of Nutra Pharma Corp., a Beverly Hills pharmaceutical concern fashioning drugs out of Cobra venom.
“Bio-prospecting venomous animals is a very hot topic right now,” said Deitsch, who is based in Beverly Hills but spends a quarter of his time at the company’s research facility in Sunrise, Fla.
Nutra Pharma is seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture for two of its drugs, dubbed “Immunokines.”
One of the drugs aims to help with treatment of canine melanoma the other will be a therapeutic for people suffering from multiple sclerosis.
“We feel warm and fuzzy that these products work but we need sanctioned trials to actually market them,” Deitsch said. “Our primary focus for the next 18 to 24 months is to streamline the two drugs and to create a revenue stream.”
Nutra Pharma, which has about 15 employees, operates on venture capital funds and is in the process of raising $6 million in a private placement.
Besides getting FDA approval for the firm’s drugs, Deitsch is using the company’s technology for developing more drugs by altering the chemical structure of the cobra venom to explore other possibilities.
“You got to keep the pipeline full,” he said.
Instead of going straight to college after high school, Deitsch, 38, took a job as an intern in former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley’s office and eventually was hired as a full-time staff member. The Philadelphia native moved to Florida in 1989 to attend Florida Atlantic University, graduating with a degree in chemistry in 1994 and his master’s degree the next year. He then went to work for NDA Consulting, a six-person biotech consulting firm in Boca Raton, Fla., most recently as a senior consultant.
Deitsch is married with two children and a new baby on the way. He is currently in search of a home in the Los Angeles area.
Conor Dougherty
Aerospace
Aerospace Corp. has announced the promotions of David J. Gorney and Harlan F. Bittner. Gorney will be general manager of the navigation division, where he will be part of the company’s global positioning system work. Bittner is corporate chief architect/engineer. He succeeds Gorney in that position and had been principal director of the El Segundo-based consulting firm’s systems acquisition support.
Biotech
Peter Turner has been named president of Glendale-based ZLB Bioplasma, replacing founder Pete De Hart. ZLB also promoted Martin Rosendale to senior vice president of sales and marketing and named Christopher T. Kondo head of marketing.
Pete DeHart has been named senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Alpha Therapeutic Corp. DeHart returns to Alpha, where he had been senior vice president of sales and marketing, after serving as president of ZLB Bioplasma Inc.
Communications
NetworkOmni has named Stephen Woodworth president. Woodworth previously served as the president of Channel Islands Equities, a private investment banking firm in Oxnard.
Construction
The Los Angeles/Ventura County division of Western Pacific Housing, a homebuilding organization, announced the creation of a new position to manage multifamily housing in the area. Edwin Sundareson was appointed vice president of multifamily development and will be responsible for the division’s multifamily communities in Torrance and Playa Vista. Jim Blake was named director of the design studio, responsible for design consulting, customer service resolution, vendor negotiations and marketing.
Education
California State University Channel Islands has appointed Mario J. de los Cobos as its director of community relations. De los Cobos previously served as vice president of public affairs and development for the Ventura County Community Foundation.
Economic Development
Robert Holguin is the new director of the North Los Angeles Small Business Development Center for the Valley Economic Development Center. Holguin previously served as chief operating officer of Comp Wave Inc. and as director of operations for Hispanic Business Magazine.
Entertainment
Dana Soza has joined Extraordinary Events, a Sherman Oaks event management firm, as account executive. She will be involved for organizing events for the corporate market. Soza previously was a destination management consultant with Whirl-A-Round in Costa Mesa.
Ken Nakada has been promoted to director of visual effects for RIOT, a visual effects company based in Santa Monica. Nakada will oversee the production of visual effects for feature films, television, commercials and music videos.
Page Feldman has been named director of development for Avenue Pictures, where she will be involved in all aspects of its development of feature films as well as cable and television movies. Prior to joining Avenue Pictures, Feldman produced series for Fox Television and MTV.
Finance
Saybrook Capital has named Cary Stanford as managing director. Also joining the Santa Monica investment bank is Todd Rosen as associate and Brandon Gregorio as senior financial analyst. Stanford was managing director at Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin. Rosen and Gregorio will work in Saybrook’s restructuring advisory practice. Rosen was an associate in the corporate securities group at Irell & Manella law firm. Gregorio was formerly with Wedbush Morgan Securities.
Health Care
Adolfo Chanez is the new chief financial officer at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach. He most recently was vice president of finance in corporate business services for Memorial Health Services, where he managed business operations at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.
Michael C. Dugan has been named vice president and co-laboratory director at Specialty Laboratories, which provides testing for hospitals and physicians. Before joining the Santa Monica company, Dugan was chief of pathology and medical director of clinical laboratories at Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center.
Jo Ann Mack has been named vice president of operations for VITAS Healthcare Corp., where she will oversee clinical care, referrals, administration and human resources. Mack previously was the Southern California director for Interim Healthcare.
Law
Greenberg Glusker, a business and entertainment law firm in Los Angeles, announced the addition of five attorneys. Benita Das joined the intellectual property and technology department. Hajir Ardebili, Steven Montgomery, Robert Natter and Jason Ziegler have joined the litigation department.
Richard Giller has been promoted to Of Counsel and heads the newly formed insurance practice group at Weston, Benshoof, Rochefort, Rubalcava & MacCuish LLP in Los Angeles. Giller will focus on insurance litigation and counseling for clients in energy, construction, aerospace, technology and manufacturing.
Media
Spanish-language media companies Univision Communications Inc. and Grupo Televisa S.A. have appointed Mark Feldman chief executive and president of the companies’ joint venture to operate and distribute five new cable networks in the U.S. market. The Spanish-language channels will be delivered via digital cable and satellite beginning this quarter. Feldman, who will be based in Los Angeles, previously was chief operating officer of TVN Entertainment.
Larry Perret has been hired as a senior consultant to media research and consulting firm Frank N. Magid Associates in its Los Angeles office. He will be doing strategic planning for television stations across the country. Perret previously worked for Fox Television Stations, where he was news director for KCOP-TV (Channel 13).
Real Estate
Craig Meyer and Steve Solomon have been hired as senior managing directors at Insignia/ESG, where they will be in charge of expanding the commercial real estate service firm’s business in the Westside and South Bay. Both were brokers at Colliers-Seeley in Los Angeles.
Steve Olsen has been named to head the Global Net Lease Partners program at CB Richard Ellis Investors LLC. Global Net was created to take advantage of sale-leaseback investment opportunities in the U.S. and Europe. Olsen is a former partner with Galway Financial Group of Greenwich, Conn.
Restaurants
Sizzler USA has hired Susan Henderson-Hernandez as senior vice president of marketing. Before joining the Sherman Oaks steakhouse chain, she was vice president of marketing for International House of Pancakes.
Technology
Rod Ballard has been appointed channel development director at Canoga Perkins, a Chatsworth supplier of fiber optic extension equipment. He will direct the company’s expansion into the video marketplace. Ballard was formerly with Motorola.
Rex Cook has been named executive creative director of AvatarLabs, a motion graphics and editorial design studio based in Encino. He was formerly creative director with Colony Design in Hollywood.
Canoga Park-based E Team, which provides software to agencies and corporations for emergency response management, building security and disaster preparedness, has named Dr. Ivan C.A. Walks senior medical advisor. Walks previously served as health officer for the District of Columbia.
Affinity Corp., a provider of software to the mortgage industry, has named Ben Graboske as its new vice president of technology and engineering. Prior to joining Affinity, Graboske was vice president and chief information officer for Homestore.com.
