Fountain Valley-based automaker Hyundai Motor America Inc. promoted Bob Pradzinski to vice president of national sales. The position was previously held by Dave Zuchowski, who was named Hyundai president and chief executive late last year after John Krafcik parted ways with the automaker.
The process of choosing a successor to University of California Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake will likely take six to nine months. Drake was named the next president of Ohio State University last week and will leave UCI at the end of June. University of California President Janet Napolitano will appoint an advisory committee to help in the national search and meanwhile chose UCI Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Howard Gillman to serve as interim chancellor. Drake, 63, became UC Irvine’s fifth chancellor in 2005.
The Financial Times ranked UCI’s Paul Merage School of Business 48th in the world among business schools, a six-spot improvement from last year. The British daily newspaper surveyed about 10,900 alumni from 153 business schools to complete the 2014 rankings. The results were based on factors such as reported alumni incomes three years after graduation and career progress. The UCI business school ranked No. 1 in the world for employing the highest percentage of female faculty—47%.
Pacific Investment Management Co. named four new deputy chief investment officers in its latest round of appointments following the recent announcement that Chief Executive and Co-Chief Investment Officer Mohamed El-Erian plans to step down in March. It already had named Douglas Hodge its new chief executive in mid-January and promoted managing directors Dan Ivascyn and Andrew Balls to deputy chief investment officers. Three of the four managing directors promoted last week are based in Pimco’s Newport Beach headquarters: Mark Kiesel, global head of corporate bond portfolio management group; Scott Mather, head of global portfolio management; and Mihir Worah, head of the real return portfolio management team. The fourth, Virginie Maisonneuve, is a managing director in Pimco’s London office and serves as global head of equities. Pimco also hired Sudi Mariappa as a managing director and generalist portfolio manager in OC. It also announced departures: Equities portfolio manager Charles Lahr and portfolio manager Marc Seidner.
Irvine-based California Republic Bancorp hired financial services veteran Mark Olson as its new chief financial officer. He succeeds Andy Reid, who’ll remain the bank’s chief accountant. Olson joined California Republic from Paso Robles-based Heritage Oaks Bank where he spent about a year as its financial chief.
Online lender CashCall Inc. in Anaheim settled with the New York state attorney general in a lawsuit that accused the company of illegally saddling borrowers with interest rates into the triple digits. CashCall, Western Sky Financial LLC and WS Funding LLC and the companies’ owners must pay $1.5 million in penalties and modify outstanding loans in New York, among other conditions.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency removed a big chunk of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Irvine from its list of the country’s most hazardous spots. The agency took more than 1,900 of the 2,500 acres there off its Superfund list. The move indicates that the U.S. Navy and local water agencies have cleared the land of contaminants, helping clear the way for development of homes near the partially developed Orange County Great Park.
The Irvine City Council voted to allow subpoenas of people involved with Great Park as part of an investigation of the park’s finances. An audit found excessive contractor change orders, among other concerns.
Tustin-based ProFun Management Group Inc. partnered with a New Delhi financial services firm interested in theme parks or other entertainment projects in India. ProFun offers planning and management services to developers of theme parks and other attractions. It shares offices and executives with consultant Management Resources. ProFun and Morris St. Advisors in New Delhi hope to capitalize on India’s growing base of households with increasing disposable income.
Costa Mesa-based home goods retailer Anna’s Linens promoted President Scott Gladstone to chief executive. Gladstone succeeds his father, Alan Gladstone, who founded the company in 1987. The elder Gladstone will stay on with the company as board chairman. Anna’s Linens has more than 300 stores in 19 states.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: The picture on bankruptcy filings in Orange County in 2013, when they dropped 29% to 10,775 personal and business filings. It was the lowest total since 2008, according to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Central District of California.
UP: High-end sales in OC last year, when they jumped 52% over 2012. More than 5,500 homes priced at $1 million and higher sold here, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
