PEOPLE
ADVERTISING
Colby & Partners of Santa Monica has hired Orange County resident Carmen Dorr as associate creative director on its account with Brea-based American Suzuki Motor Corp.
CHEMICALS
AMVAC Chemical Corp., a unit of Newport Beach-based agricultural products company American Vanguard Corp., has hired Ted Ramirez as director of marketing. He will be responsible for strategic market planning, product and portfolio marketing, pricing and programs and developing and implementing marketing communications.
FINANCE
Johnson Capital Group has added four people to its Irvine office. James B. Grant joined Johnson as a senior director. He will be advising in the placement of debt, bridge, mezzanine and equity and joint venture financing. Jeff Kearns rejoined Johnson as a director and will focus on multifamily deals. The company also added two new analysts, Ken Kamstra and John Gibson.
HOSPITALITY
Richard C. Ham has been named general manager of the 484-room Hilton Costa Mesa. Ham recently served as hotel manager of the Anaheim Hilton.
INSURANCE
Paul Vogelgesang has joined Santa Ana-based Yates & Associates as assistant vice president of the insurance firm’s environmental unit. Vogelgesang will perform technical reviews, claims assessments and facility audits.
Debbie Dunn, operations manager for Mills Insurance Services in Los Alamitos, has been name vice president of the company. She has been with Mills for 15 years and worked in the company’s Lake Forest and Palm Desert offices.
MEDICAL
Haydee Tillotson has been appointed to the Orange County Memorial Medical Center’s board of directors. She is co-owner of Tillotson Enterprises, a Huntington Beach commercial and residential property management and development company.
The Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center Foundation named Phil Stimson as its manager. Stimson will oversee the foundation’s strategic direction and supervise fundraising activities. The foundation was created to develop philanthropic support for various patient services.
MORTGAGE
Suzanne A. Singer has been named national sales executive at Option One Mortgage Corp. of Irvine, a subsidiary of H & R; Block Inc. She will be responsible for establishing and maintaining strategic relationships focused on fee-for-service opportunities.
NONPROFIT
The Orange County Red Cross elected its 2002-2003 board of directors and its officers. Joe McCarty, vice president and chief financial officer for Trojan Battery Co., was elected board chair. Catherine Patton, an attorney at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP was selected as legal counsel. Other board directors include Steve Ball, vice president of First American Title; Kevin Campbell, chief operating officer for Exult Inc.; Mike Carona, sheriff of Orange County; Michael Corcoran, president of Workthreat Group LLC; Jasdeep Singh Mann, manager of information systems for iBaset and Ajay Myer, manager of research for 3M Unitek. Shyla Raghav was selected youth representative to the board.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
The Rankin Group, a Tustin-based advertising and public relations agency appointed Brett Hunt account manager for the agency’s public relations division. His duties will include expanding the capabilities of the company’s Orange County office. Hunt previously was public relations manager for Ingram Micro Inc.
PUBLISHING
Ray Stafford joined The Orange County Register as executive vice president and general manager in October. Stafford had been publisher of The Monitor newspaper in McAllen, Texas, since 1994.
Ken Jones is the new vice president for human resources for Freedom Metro Information, a division of Freedom Communications Inc. of Irvine In his role, he will share and leverage resources among Met-ro’s business and Freedom’s corporate staff. His role also includes staff development, re-sources planning, rewards and recognition systems and organizing performance.
Primedia Business’ Real Estate Group appointed Neil Dant sales manager for National Real Estate Investor and Shopping Center World magazines. He will be responsible for implementing integrated sales and marketing initiatives throughout the West Coast. He will be based in Irvine.
REAL ESTATE
Lisa Pereira has been hired as manager of sales operations for Western Pacific Housing. She will be responsible for managing sales. She previously worked at Ashbrook Communities and Hearthside Homes.
John Laing Homes of Newport Beach named Joseph Richter and R. Gordon Craig as project managers for its south division. Before joining Laing, Richter was president of Hanover Development LLC. Craig was vice president of Taylor Woodrow. Both have more than 20 years experience in real estate.
RESTAURANT
Santa Ana resident James Woodfork has been named executive chef at Maggiano’s Little Italy in Costa Mesa. Woodfork will be responsible for managing food preparation staff and working with Maggiano’s team chefs and partners from around the country, overseeing food costs and inventory control.
