PEOPLE
Compiled by Samantha Lee
APPAREL
Huntington Beach apparel company TYR Sport Inc. has hired Donna Tschantz as director of marketing. Tschantz previously served as marketing manager for Speedo-Authentic Fitness and will be responsible for TYR’s catalog production, Web supervision and creation of sales materials.
CONSTRUCTION
Orange County residents James Woodside and Charles Roy have been named vice presidents and members of Whittier-based Oltmans Construction Co. Woodside joined Oltmans in 1988 and is a 22-year construction industry veteran. Roy is a third-generation member of the Roy family to become an Oltmans executive, and has been with the company since 1984.
HEALTHCARE
Joseph Papa has been appointed chief operating officer of Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., Corona. Papa was previously president and chief operating officer for DuPont Pharmaceuticals and has held positions at Pharmacia and Searle Pharmaceuticals. As COO, Papa will be responsible for the commercial operations side of Watson’s business, including marketing, sales operations and distribution, and manufacturing.
INSURANCE
First American Corp., Santa Ana, has named Christopher J. Montalbano and Dena M. Cruz as regional counsel for First American’s UCC insurance division. Montalbano will support the division’s marketing effort in New England, Virginia, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. Cruz will be based in San Francisco and will be responsible for business development and underwriting for the Northwest region.
Newport Beach’s Pacific Life recently announced four promotions. Thomas M. Ronce, an Irvine resident, has been promoted to vice president, tax counsel. Ronce will be responsible for overseeing the legal aspects of tax strategy and tax positioning for operations and acquisitions. Marc E. Duquette was named assistant vice president, national sales director in the life insurance division, and will manage and direct the division’s wholesaling staff. Desmond G. Marsh was appointed assistant vice president, technology in the annuities division. Marsh joined Pacific Life in 1994 as a systems consultant and has 12 years of system development and programming experience. Joseph D. Strenk will assume a new role as field vice president, national accounts, in the anuities division. Strenk will be responsible for developing new business relationships and negotiating selling agreements with major financial institutions.
LAW
California Chief Justice Ronald M. George has appointed the Superior Court of Orange County’s Presiding Judge Frederick P. Horn as chair of the Trial Court Presiding Judges Advisory Committee. Judge Horn, an advisory member of the Judicial Council, was elected presiding judge of the Orange County Superior Court in June and will assume a two-year term beginning in January.
Preston Gates & Ellis LLP, Irvine, recently added four employees to its staff. Karen Goodin, partner, practices general corporate, corporate finance and securities law with an emphasis on representing public companies. Elaine Levin, partner, represents both public and private medical device, biotechnology, life sciences and healthcare products companies and businesses that develop software and information technology for the healthcare industry. Jim Shnell, partner, pracitices corporate law focusing on mergers and acquisitions of companies and businesses for clients in technology-oriented industries. Additionally, corporate attorney Bart Greenberg joined the firm as partner. Greenberg practices general corporate law with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions and debt and equity financing.
MARKETING
Pamela Huitt has been appointed account ex-ecutive at L & A; Marketing and Advertising, Inc., Newport Beach. Huitt previously worked at Real Estate Temps where she served as director of business development and training.
REAL ESTATE
Stacy Branchaud has been promoted to director of human resources at Granite Homes, Irvine. Branchaud will manage all aspects of employment, compensation, benefits, labor relations and recruitment administration.
Burham Real Estate Services has named Denny Osborne of Osborne Properties to its asset services group. Osborne will be partnering with Burnham in asset management and brokerage activities in Los Angeles and Orange County. In addition, Robert Munson has been promoted to vice president/asset services for Los Angeles and Orange County. Munson will work closely with Osborne and has been affiliated with the company for two years.
RESTAURANTS
El Pollo Loco, Irvine, has hired Peter Salomon as controller. Salomon will oversee all accounting functions and lead the development and implementation of new financial systems. Previously he was employed by Prandium, Inc., as senior vice president and controller overseeing all transaction processing for restaurants including Chi-Chi’s, Hamburger Hamlet and Koo Koo Roo.
TECHNOLOGY
Optical Laser, Huntington Beach, a distributor serving resellers and integrators has named Arsenio Batoy president. Batoy will be responsible for establishing and directing business activity to support strategic and organizational goals. Founder Michael Raab has assumed the role of chairman and chief executive, providing strategic guidance. In addition, Karl Tao has been appointed chief financial officer. Tao heads up finance, accounting and operational activities and has been with the company since 1996.
