Compiled by Christina Hur
ARCHITECTURE
Hussam Salama joined MCG Architecture in Irvine as project designer. Prior to joining the firm, Salama taught at the University of Modern Sciences and Arts in Egypt, where he also worked as an architect for the Degla Firm for Construction and Engineering.
ARTS
Diane Turner joined Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana as director of marketing and public relations. Turner previously was a marketing consultant. Her clients included the city of Huntington Beach, Walt Disney Co. and the Disneyland Resort, Saddleback College and NBC Channel 4.
AUTOMOTIVE
Irvine-based Autobytel Inc., an auto online marketer, named Mark Canon to the newly created position of chief product officer. The company also added Arthur Brodeur as vice president of business intelligence and corporate performance management. Both previously worked for AOL Search. Brodeur was vice president of business intelligence, and Canon was vice president of product strategy and development. Canon also is the founder of Switchboard.com, a search and directory site.
BANKING
Costa Mesa-based Pacific Premier Bancorp Inc. and its Pacific Premier Bank subsidiary named director Michael McKennon as chairman of the bank’s audit committee. Kenneth Boudreau, another director, was named a member of the audit committee. McKennon is a founding partner of the accounting firm of McKennon, Wilson & Morgan LLP in Irvine. Boudreau is president and chief executive of MC Gill Corp. in El Monte.
EDUCATION
Orange County High School of the Arts in Santa Ana named Ria Marie Carlson as a member of the school’s foundation board. Carlson is corporate vice president of strategy and communications at Santa Ana-based In-gram Micro Inc.
Tustin Public Schools Foundation elected Ernesto Arredondo Jr., Tom Emick and Joan McBride to its board. Arredondo is a financial manager and vice president of Citibank in Tustin. Emick is an agent with Allstate Insurance. McBride is president and chief executive of Greatrake, McBride and Associates Inc., a consulting firm to nonprofits.
FINANCE
B. Riley & Co. named Wes Cummins to the newly created position of director of capital markets at its Newport Beach office. Cummins joined B. Riley in 2002. He previously was director of research and was ranked No. 1 in the 2004 Forbes.com/StarMine-North American Analyst Survey in the Best Stock Picker category for the communications equipment sector.
HEALTHCARE
The Anaheim Memorial Foundation, the fund-raising arm of nonprofit community hospital Anaheim Memorial Medical Center, elected the following to its board: Dawna Mason, Michael Rich and David Schaper. Mason is the director of finance at the Disneyland Resort. Rich is general manager of Shelly BMW in Buena Park. Schaper is chief executive and senior financial adviser with Benchmark Wealth Management in Orange.
Dr. Shelly Gunn was named medical director of CombiMatrix Molecular Diagnostics, the biotechnology unit of Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp.
MEDIA
The following were named to the OC Post, the Orange County Register’s new daily newspaper: N. Christian Anderson III as editor in chief; Debbie Holzkamp as publisher; and Andrew Horan as managing editor. Anderson is chief executive and publisher of the Register and serves as senior vice president of Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc., parent of the Post and Register. Holzkamp serves as senior vice president of sales and marketing at Santa Ana-based Freedom Orange County Information, a Freedom unit that publishes the Register and Post. Horan previously worked at the Register for 15 years.
REAL ESTATE
Johnson Capital Express, a commercial lending unit of Johnson Capital in Newport Beach, named Kenneth Gaitan as executive vice president. Gaitan most recently was a senior vice president with Johnson Capital.
Meer Capital Partners, a developer based in Newport Beach, added Bradford Leach as director of acquisitions. Leach previously was a commercial real estate broker for Trammell Crow Co., where he oversaw the leasing and marketing of property in downtown Los Angeles.
TECHNOLOGY
SyncVoice Communications Inc., a Costa Mesa-based company that sells software to manage telecommunications networks at businesses, added Mike Ortega as senior vice president of sales, Kaveh Mahjoob as vice president of engineering and Carolyn Lewis as director of product management. Ortega previously was corporate vice president of worldwide sales for InterNAP Network Services. Mahjoob was president at B.I. Resources, a business intelligence consulting company he founded. Carolyn Lewis was manager of software development at Cisco Systems Inc.
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