*

NEWSMAKERS:


Architecture

Morris Architects in Los Angeles hired Catherine Araga and Daniel Ortega to the health-care studio design team. Araga and Ortega were previously in health-care design at Doelling Brennan Peschl Inc. in Santa Monica.

Epstein-ISI, a Chicago-based international architecture and design company, hired Mark E. Bryant as senior vice president in Los Angeles. Bryant was previously director of design for Interior Space International in Los Angeles. Interior Space hired Sarah Devine as director of project management. Devine was previously a senior associate project manager at HOK.

Van Tilburg Banvard & Soderbergh in Santa Monica hired Jorge Sciupac as executive vice president of operations. Sciupac was previously vice president and director of the Los Angeles office of Arquitectonica.

Banking & Finance


City National Bank hired James E. Haney Jr. as senior vice president and manager of Los Angeles metro region commercial and private banking. Haney was previously directing commercial banking activities in Los Angeles at Citibank.

Imperial Capital LLC in Los Angeles hired Paul Aronzon as executive vice president in charge of the firm’s restructuring advisory group. Aronzon comes from the Los Angeles-based law firm Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy.

Wells Fargo in Los Angeles promoted Chris Rommel to regional sales director of the private client services group in Los Angeles. Rommel was previously regional president for Wells Fargo’s South Coast community bank.

Consulting


Psomas, a consulting engineering firm in West Los Angeles, promoted Sean Vargas to principal. Vargas was previously project manager.

Entertainment


Imagica Corp., a post-production company and supplier of digital imaging products, hired Richard Antley as vice president. Antley was previously product manager, digital imaging systems at ARRI in Burbank.

Talentworks LA, a talent agency in Burbank, promoted August Kammer to agent. Kammer was previously an associate to Talentworks LA agent Patty Woo.

Fox Cable Networks in Los Angeles promoted Beverly Reyes to director, sales operations; and Jody Vogelaar to director, affiliate marketing. Both are in the corporate affiliate sales and marketing department. Reyes and Vogelaar were previously managers.

Univision Communications Inc., a Los Angeles-based Spanish language media company, promoted Gary Stone to president of Univision Radio. Stone was previously senior vice president and will retain his position as chief operating officer.

Government


Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Francesco Columbu to the board of Chiropractic Examiners. Columbu is the owner of Personalized Chiropractic Care. Schwarzenegger also appointed Tia Fisher to a judgeship in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Fisher was previously a commissioner in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Health Care


Grant Life Sciences Inc., a Los Angeles-based developer of products to improve efficiency in detecting and diagnosing cervical cancer, hired Indira R. Pottathil as director of international marketing. Pottathil was previously vice president of research & development at La Jolla-based AccuDx Corp.

HealthNet of California, a subsidiary of HealthNet Inc. in Woodland Hills, re-hired Diana Gibson Pace as regional vice president of large group and national account sales. Pace was previously vice president of national account sales at CIGNA HealthCare.

Herbalife Ltd., a supplements company, promoted Paul Noack to executive vice president and chief strategic officer. Noack was previously senior vice president, corporate planning and strategy.

Hospitality


Hilton Hotels Corp. in Beverly Hills hired J. David Greydanus as senior vice president brand management for The Waldorf-Astoria Collection. Greydanus was previously senior vice president brand management for Embassy Suites Hotels.

Insurance


Marsh Inc., a risk and insurance services firm, appointed Scott Allan to lead its national real estate practice. Allan is currently a senior vice president in the Los Angeles office.

Employers Direct Insurance Co. hired Mark Webb as vice president/governmental relations. Webb was previously assistant general counsel and director of state affairs for the western United States at American International Group.

Law


Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP in Los Angeles hired Ken Krug as a lawyer in its real estate department. Krug was previously a lawyer at Proskauer Rose LLP.

Baker Keener & Nahra in Los Angeles promoted Angela S. Haskins to partner. Haskins was previously an associate.

Rutter Hobbs & Davidoff Inc. in Los Angeles promoted Andrew M. Apfelberg to partner and named him chairman of the firm’s marketing committee. Apfelberg was previously an associate.

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in Los Angeles promoted Jennifer L. Brockett and Rochelle L. Wilcox to partner. Brockett and Wilcox were previously associates.

Manufacturing


Iris International Inc., a manufacturer of urinalysis systems headquartered in Chatsworth, appointed Yvonne Briggs to the newly created position of vice president of business development. Briggs was previously vice president of investment banking at Oppenheimer & Co.

FutureLogic Inc., a Glendale-based manufacturer of thermal ticket printers for cashless gaming, appointed Eric Meyerhofer to the position of president. Meyerhofer was previously the company’s vice president of product development.

Marketing


Vendare Media, a provider of performance-based media and marketing solutions in El-Segundo, hired Linda Fayne Levinson as the company’s chief executive. Most recently, Levinson was a partner at Los Angeles-based venture capital firm, GRP Partners.

Non-Profit


The Center for the Partially Sighted, a Los Angeles agency that offers vision rehabilitation, named Sidney Machtinger as chairman. Machtinger is of counsel at Los Angeles-based Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman Machtinger & Kinsella LLP.

The City of Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission elected Loren Gonzalez Kosmont president of the Commission. Kosmont is owner and principal at Pinnacle Strategies Inc. in Los Angeles.

The Verdugo Hills Hospital Foundation in Glendale elected Richard Harris as chairman. Harris is president and chief executive of Caltech Employees Federal Credit Union.

Real Estate


Griffin Capital in Manhattan Beach hired Marnie L. Larsen as associate, asset manager. Larsen was previously senior property manager at Transwestern Commercial Services in Atlanta.

The Macerich Co. in Santa Monica hired Melanie Balfour Heywood as senior vice president, development. Balfour Heywood was previously director, entertainment and retail group, at Gensler Architecture, Planning & Design Worldwide in Santa Monica.

Alder Realty Investments Inc., a Los Angeles-based boutique investment firm, hired John A Murray as director of acquisitions. Murray was previously senior vice president of investments for the western United States at PM Realty in Phoenix.

Services


Korn/Ferry International in Los Angeles, an executive search, outsourced recruiting and leadership development company, hired Ronald Bottano as a senior client partner in its leadership development solutions business at its Los Angeles office. Bottano was previously a principal in the performance measurement and rewards practice at Mercer Human Resources Consulting.

Technology


TelePacific Communications promoted Jim Buntz to director of major accounts. Buntz was previously director of sales operations and senior manager of agent channel operations.

Occidental Petroleum Corp., a Los Angeles company specializing in oil and natural gas exploration and production, promoted James M. Lienert to executive vice president, finance and planning. Lienert was previously president of Occidental Chemical Corp.

Northrop Grumman Corp. in Los Angeles promoted Harry Miles to ship systems sector vice president of enterprise process development and quality. Miles was previously leader of Six Sigma, a quality and process improvement program across the company’s space technology sector.

*

KUDOS:


The Oncology Nursing Society awarded Rose Virani the ONS excellence in supportive care award for her dedication to supportive care and the ONS Mary Nowotny excellence in cancer nursing education award, for her work in palliative care education.

The Hispanic Americans for Fairness in Media gave the Avance award for professionalism, integrity and longevity to Val Zavala, vice president of news and public affairs at KCET in Los Angeles and Tony Valdez, a reporter at KTTV in Los Angeles. The organization also gave the Trailblazer award to Jay Rodriguez, a former vice president at NBC in Los Angeles. Rodriguez was honored for breaking ground for Latinos to come into the media workforce.

Vijay K. Dhir, dean of the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his work on boiling heat transfer and nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics and safety.

Law Technology News gave the “Most Innovative Use of Technology During a Trial” award to Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro LLP in Los Angeles. The honor was granted in recognition of its work in using electronic discovery tools to uncover pieces of evidence buried in millions of pages of electronic documents in the case of Medtronic Sofamor Danek Inc. v. Michelson.

Time Warner L.A.’s S’Cool TV Local Video on Demand, a free, local VOD channel featuring programming produced by high school and middle school students, is a finalist in the 2006 Beacon Awards Competition for its excellence in public affairs throughout the cable industry.

Vin Scully, announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was named top radio play-by-play announcer for 2005 and Bob Miller won the same honor for television play-by-play broadcasts of Los Angeles Kings Hockey. The awards were given by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters.