NEWSMAKERS
ACCOUNTING
Accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP has promoted Kelvin Keith to director, Stephen A. Lee to executive director, Alexandra Leung to partner and Ali R. Vahdat to principal in its Century City office. Previously, Keith was associate director, Lee was senior manager, Leung was senior partner and Vahdat was senior manager at the firm.
Windes & McClaughry; Accountancy Corp., a Long Beach accounting firm, has named Ed Bernabeo business development officer. Previously, Bernabeo was a business development officer at Spiegel Partners, a private equity firm.
ADVERTISING
Robert Yallen has been promoted to chief executive at the Inter/Media Group of Cos., an Encino-based advertising and media business. Previously, Yallen was president and chief operating officer at the firm.
BANKING & FINANCE
San Francisco-based First Republic Bank has named Andrew Smaltz managing director of foreign exchange at the bank’s Century City office. Previously, Smaltz was a vice president at the Royal Bank of Scotland, headquartered in Edinburgh.
Matthew Covington has joined the Santa Monica office of financial services company Kibel Green Inc. as managing director. Previously, Covington was a senior vice president at Chanin Capital Partners, a New York-based financial service firm.
Kinecta Federal Credit Union in Manhattan Beach has named Gary Harman vice president of consumer lending operations. Previously, Harman was executive vice president at HSBC Auto Finance, a San Diego-based financial firm.
EDUCATION
Caltech has named Denise Nelson Nash acting associate vice president for communications and Bob O’Rourke senior adviser to the president for external affairs. Previously, Nelson Nash was assistant vice president for campus programs and community relations and O’Rourke was vice president for communications at the university.
Albert Cahueque has been named principal at Edgewood Academy, a K-8 school in La Puente. Previously, Cahueque was principal at Ekstrand Elementary School in San Dimas.
ENGINEERING
Parsons Corp., a Pasadena-based engineering and construction firm, has named Anthony J. White business development director in the energy systems and security division. Previously, White was chief of the operations management group for the National Counterterrorism Center in Washington, D.C.
ENTERTAINMENT
Sony Pictures Entertainment has named Spencer Stephens senior vice president of technical services. Previously, Stephens was a vice president of production technology at Warner Bros.
GOVERNMENT
Lance A. Williams has been appointed to the Los Angeles County Workforce Investment Board, a panel that directs federal, state and local funding to workforce development programs. Williams is executive director of the downtown L.A. office of the U.S. Green Building Council, a green construction advocacy non-profit organization.
Roberta A. Conroy and Elizabeth L. Greenwood have joined the board of the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System, which administers the city’s pension plan. Conroy was previously senior vice president of Capital Guardian Trust Co., a division of downtown L.A.-based Capital Group Cos. Inc. Greenwood is a deputy city attorney.
Elizabeth Garrett has been named to the California Political Practices Commission, a state panel that interprets and enforces political campaign, lobbying and conflict-of-interest laws. Garrett is a professor and vice president of budget at the USC Gould School of Law.
Los Angeles World Airports, the L.A. department that oversees the city’s three airports, has named Jacqueline Yaft deputy executive director for operations and emergency management. Previously, Yaft was assistant deputy manager of aviation at Denver International Aiport.
HEALTH CARE
Dr. Robert M. Kay has been named chief of staff at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles in Los Feliz. Kay is vice chairman of the division of orthopaedic surgery at the hospital.
Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys has named Gustavo Valdespino chief executive officer. Previously, Valdespino was chief executive of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County, a social services non-profit organization based in Tustin.
HOSPITALITY
Jed Arrogante has joined ConferenceDirect, an L.A. meeting resources company specializing in site location and contract negotiation, as a global account executive. Previously, Arrogante was director of sales at the Westgate Hotel in San Diego.
LAW
Khorrami Pollard & Abir LLP, a downtown L.A. law firm, has added Deborah Khantamour and Katie McSweeney as associates. Previously, Khantamour was an associate at Maranga Morgenstern, a Woodland Hills-based law firm. McSweeney was an associate at McNulty Law Firm in West Los Angeles.
Christopher G. Foster has joined Greenberg Glusker, a Century City law firm focused on real estate and entertainment law, as of-counsel. Previously, Foster was a shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, a West L.A. law firm.
Matthew T. Bechtel has joined Laquer Urban Clifford & Hodge LLP, a transactional and litigation law firm in Pasadena, as an associate. Previously, Bechtel was an associate at Joe Young Law, a Whittier-based law firm.
Pantea Yashar has joined Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP, a Beverly Hills law firm, as a litigation associate. Previously, Yashar was a litigation associate in the downtown L.A. office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
Samuel D. Almon has joined the Brentwood office of law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP as an associate in the litigation group. Previously, Almon was an associate in the downtown L.A. office of Latham & Watkins LLP.
MANUFACTURING
Dave Gatto has joined Incase, an Irwindale maker of bags and cases, as chief executive. Previously, Gatto was vice president of outdoor brands for VF Corp., a clothing company based in Greensboro, N.C.
Panglobal Brands Inc., an apparel company based in downtown Los Angeles, has promoted Charles Lesser to chief executive. Lesser will retain his previous title of chief financial officer.
MARKETING
Berbay Corp., a marketing consulting firm in West Los Angeles, has promoted Megan Braverman to account manager and Summer Vernon to assistant account manager. Previously, Braverman was an assistant account manager and Vernon was a marketing assistant at the firm.
MEDIA
The Los Angeles Daily News, a Woodland Hills-based newspaper focused on the San Fernando Valley, has named Jack Klunder publisher. Previously, Klunder was vice president of circulation and distribution at the Los Angeles Times.
Rob Hummel has joined Post Logic Studios, a Hollywood-based postproduction services firm, as chief executive. Previously, Hummel was president of digital cinema at Dalsa Corp., an Ontario, Canada-based maker of digital imaging productions.
NON-PROFIT
The Los Angeles District Council of the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit promoting responsible land use and sustainable living, has named Alex J. Rose chairman. Rose is senior vice president of development and asset management at Continental Development Corp., a real estate development and construction firm in El Segundo.
The Surfrider Foundation, a San Clemente-based non-profit organization advocating beach and ocean preservation, has added Anthony “Tony” Radaich to its board. Radaich is executive director of CNM LLP, an independent accounting and advisory services firm in Woodland Hills.
Vista Del Mar, a Cheviot Hills non-profit mental health organization, has named
Carol Katzman chairwoman. Katzman,
who is retired, was previously a faculty member at UCLA’s Principal Leadership Institute.
Lulu Fou has joined the board of L.A. Works, a Cypress Park-based non-profit organization that conducts community service projects in Greater Los Angeles. Fou is an executive director at Accenture Ltd., a management consulting and technology services company in El Segundo.
Britt Salvesen has been named the department head and curator of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography and department head and curator of prints and drawings of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on the Miracle Mile. Previously, Salvesen was chief curator at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
TECHNOLOGY
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., a Hawthorne developer and launcher of space vehicles and rockets, has named Marv Vander Weg vice president of the evolved expendable launch vehicle office. Previously, Vander Weg was vice president of the customer program office at the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of the Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.
KUDOS
Intercoiffure Mondial, a Paris-based organization founded in 1925 to promote and reward excellence in hairdressing, will induct Deborah Carver into its Ordre de la Chevalerie for her work on behalf of Intercoiffure in North America. Carver is chief executive of Creative Age Publications Inc., a Van Nuys publisher of beauty industry trade publications.
Shev Rush, chief executive of the Shev Rush Public Relation agency in Los Feliz, has been named a Top Tech Communicator by PRSourceCode, a publication that covers the PR industry. PRSourceCode bases its annual list of 25 executives on a survey of more than 500 bloggers and journalists from IT and business publications.
