ADVERTISING
Michael Yusi joined Brighton Advertising in Orange as director of new media. Dana Rogers joined the agency as the new associate media director. Rogers will be responsible for issuing all insertion orders and monitoring the print placements.
ARCHITECTURE
Taylor & Associates Architects promoted Bill O’Rourke to the position of associate. O’Rourke joined the company in 1995 and has worked previously on projects with Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian and Kaiser Permanente.
Duncan Todd joined Irvine’s Lee & Sakahara Architects in a dual role as director of business development and project manager. Todd has 14 years of professional experience in design and construction. Brian Parker also joins the firm as project captain.
BANKING
Thomas Giddings and Gary Van Arnam were promoted to senior vice presidents of U.S. Trust Co. Giddings, formerly a senior business development officer, joined U.S. Trust in 1993. Van Arnam, formerly a senior trust officer, is responsible for managing personal trust and estate relationships throughout Orange County.
Linda Saunders has been named vice president and national director of The First American Corp. in Santa Ana. Saunders joined the company in 1980 serving as the Dallas national accounts coordinator and later as the Texas national accounts manager. The company also appointed Craig DeRoy to the board of directors of its subsidiary, First American Title Insurance Co. DeRoy established a relationship with First American in 1992 when he began consulting on regulatory issues.
The First American Corp. also hired James Prendergast as special underwriting counsel of the UCC Insurance Division. Before joining First American, Prendergast spent four years as a commerce and finance attorney at the law firm of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP. Frank J. Curry was appointed senior vice president of the Los Angeles escrow division of First American Title Insurance. Curry has more than 15 years of experience in the mortgage lending industry, most recently as executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Long Beach Financial Corp., which he helped take public in 1997.
Pacific Summit hired Chris Rusch as head of strategic planning and advisory services.
Derrith Chan joined U.S. Trust as vice president and senior trust officer of the Costa Mesa company. Chan will manager personal trust and estate relationships.
PriVest Bank in Costa Mesa appointed Elysian Sicat-Soufi as assistant vice president and private banking service manager. Sicat-Soufi was formerly a personal bank service officer at Wells Fargo.
John Gordon joined e-Comm National Bank in Irvine as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Prior to accepting his new position, Gordon was as chief financial officer at Eldorado Bancshares in Laguna Hills. Steven Hollstein was named executive vice president and chief officer of the bank at e-Comm National Bank. Hollstein was an executive vice president and chief credit officer at Marine National Bank in Irvine.
BIOMEDICAL
Corinne Lyle was named vice president and chief financial officer of Tularik Inc. of Irvine and was elected by Edwards Lifesciences Corp. shareholders to a three-year term on the board of directors. Before joining Tularik in 1998, Lyle was executive director of the health care group at Warburg Dillon Read LLC investment bankers in San Francisco, and senior vice president of investment banking for the health care group of PaineWebber Inc.
CONSTRUCTION
R.D. Olson in Irvine hired John Parker as project manager. Parker will be responsible for cost control, negotiating with subcontractors, supervising job sites and working as liaison between clients and the construction company.
McCarthy of Newport Beach promoted Sarah Creighton to project manager. Creighton’s responsibilities include overseeing a portion of the monumental Hollywood & Highland Entertainment Retail Complex project.
Karrie Kozar was named marketing manager for Pepper Construction in Irvine. Her responsibilities include business development and public relations.
Beazer Homes named Carlos Garcia as development manager. Garcia will be responsible for all off-site development activities. Before joining Beazer, Garcia worked for The Ryland Group and Kaufman & Broad.
Swinerton Builders named Darren Scott as the preconstruction operations manager and promoted Gary Levinski to director of business development for the Orange County division. Scott previously worked with various contractors and developers and has experience with movie studios, hotels, office buildings and other developments. Levinski has been with Swinerton since 1994 and has served as project manager on many of the company’s notable projects.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Vendor Management Services Inc. appointed Neil Ackley as chief financial officer. Ackley will join Vendor Management Services while continuing to serve as controller and chief financial officer of First American Lenders Advantage. Patrick Weaver was hired as vice president of product management. The company also hired Molly Holden as vice president of project management. Holden will be responsible for the project management team.
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