Dave Mast, chief financial officer of Providence Everett Medical Center in Washington, will replace Mitch Thomas as chief financial officer of the San Fernando Valley service area for Providence Health and Services which includes Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank and Providence Holy Cross Medical Center. The change will take effect July 2. Thomas left the position May 18 after accepting a position as senior vice president of finance and CFO of Presbyterian Intercommunity Health Care in Whittier. He was Providence’s CFO for 13 years. Mast is rejoining Providence St. Joseph after a four-year departure, in which he left his job as director of finance of Providence St. Joseph hospital to work as CFO of the Everett hospital. Providence Health and Services, which operates in five states, runs both the Burbank and Everett medical centers. “It’s a slight move up in position,” Mast said. “I’m looking forward to coming back home.” In his new position, Mast said he will be concentrating on adding more hospital beds at Holy Cross. An expansion is pending approval. “Holy Cross has been operating at capacity since before I left,” he said. In addition, Mast said he will be focusing on developing the Disney Cancer Center at St. Joseph, which is still being built. The comprehensive center will offer a variety of services that will keep patients from having to drive to multiple offices during treatment. Mast said he will also focus on getting additional funding to expand services at the local hospitals through philanthropy, tax-exempt bonds, cash and grants. Thomas, who has known Mast since they worked together at Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center from 1992-1994, said one of his colleague’s biggest challenges will be dealing with ongoing collective bargaining negotiations at St. Joseph with the nursing and service and technical employees. Thomas, who will continue to reside in Burbank, will be finishing out his term as the president of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce until his term ends in December. He chose to work at the Whittier hospital, he said, because “the organization made me a very attractive offer all the way around.” As a CFO of a free-standing hospital, Thomas said he will have more control over operations. Providence, he said, operates in a more centralized fashion than it used to, with decision making occurring more on the regional and system-wide level. “The facility CFOs have a lot less latitude than they used to,” he said. “At this stage in my career, I wanted to have the full scope of responsibilities that a corporate CFO would have.” In his new position, he said, “I have full corporate CFO responsibilities, including direct access to bond ratings agencies, functions I didn’t have when I was in Burbank.” Marci Wormser AGRICULTURE David DeLorenzo, has been named president and CEO of Dole Food Co. DeLorenzo currently serves on Dole’s board of directors and chairs the audit committee. He has also previously held executive positions with the company. BANKING J. Bilal Abdullah was named vice president and district manager for Wells Fargo’s North Valley Community Bank region. Abdullah will oversee more than 200 team members at 11 Wells branches in the San Fernando Valley. He joined Wells in 1994 and most recently provided sales support and strategic consulting for the bank’s credit card, debit card and global remittance products. Western Commercial Bank has appointed Christy A. Cortes vice president of marketing. Cortes was most recently vice president, regional manager of US Bank’s commercial real estate department for the California market. She has been in the banking industry for 22 years. CHAMBERS Greg Lippe was named as a 2007 Small Business Advocate of the Year by the California Chamber of Commerce. Lippe is managing partner with Lippe, Hellie, Hoffer & Allison, in Woodland Hills. EDUCATION Arlinda Eaton has been appointed to the state’s Committee on Accreditation that is responsible for the initial and continuing accreditation of educator preparation programs. Eaton is associate dean of the Michael D. Eisner College of Education at California State University, Northridge. Vance T. Peterson was selected as the new vice president for university advancement at California State University, Northridge. Peterson will oversee the university’s “Imagine the Arts” fundraising campaign to support the upcoming construction of a new regional performing arts center on campus. He will also serve as president of the university’s foundation. Peterson is currently vice president for advancement at the Culinary Institute of America. David R. Misch has been appointed to the board of trustees of Woodbury University. Misch is chairman and CEO of Mellon 1st Business Bank where he oversees the delivery of specialized relationship banking services to small- to mid-sized businesses in Southern California. ENTERTAINMENT Brick Rucker has been named as art director with AvatarLabs, a motion graphics and online design studio. In that position, Rucker oversees art direction and design for Internet movie marketing campaigns. Prior to joining AvatarLabs, Rucker was Lead Creative with Shine LA. GOVERNMENT Tim Stehr has been appointed as the new chief of the Burbank Police Department. He will assume the position following the retirement of current Chief Thomas Hoefel who retires Aug. 1. Stehr joined the Burbank force in 1979 and has served as an officer, detective, sergeant, lieutenant, captain and deputy chief. Danny Roberts has been appointed to the board of directors for the California Association of Local Economic Development. Roberts is the assistant executive director of the Community Redevelopment Agency for the City of Palmdale. HEALTH CARE Dr. Lawrence Stock, an emergency department physician at Antelope Valley Hospital, was recently named Volunteer Clinical Faculty Teacher of the Year by Harbor UCLA Medical Center. Harbor UCLA Medical Center is a teaching hospital for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The award was given based on results of surveys of emergency medical residents who are in training at Harbor UCLA. Among the categories that were evaluated were knowledge of emergency medicine, clinical skills, teaching ability, enthusiasm, friendliness and interest in patient care Stock is an associate clinical professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. LAW John R. Yates has joined Greenberg & Bass LLP as a senior associate. His practice entails intellectual property, internet, information security and general business law. He was previously a partner with Berman, Mausner & Resser and of counsel to Beltran & Medina. MANUFACTURING Steven Borick has been named as Chairman of the Board of Superior Industries International, Inc. He currently serves as president and CEO of the aluminum wheel manufacturer. Louis Borick has been named to the new position of founding chairman, where he will serve as senior advisor to the board. Sheldon Ausman has been elected to the new position of lead director of the Superior board. NON PROFIT Ken Scherer, CEO of the Motion Picture & Television Fund Foundation in Woodland Hills, has been named to the national board of directors of Rebuilding Together, a volunteer organization preserving and revitalizing homes and communities. Michael Weinper was recognized by Hillel 818 as a distinguished alumnus from Los Angeles Valley College. Weinper is the president and CEO of PTPN, the country’s largest network of independent rehabilitation therapists. NUTRACEUTICALS Chris Kurjanowicz has been named as vice president of marketing with Natrol, Inc. In that position she will be responsible for overseeing all of the company’s brands and their associated marketing programs. Most recently, Kurjanowicz was a partner at OneAccord, a sales and marketing consulting firm. REAL ESTATE AMCAL Multi-Housing, Inc. added three new members to its construction team. Colleen Edwards will serve as an estimator, working with the construction team to determine preliminary and final budgets. As construction manager, Tom Blankenship is responsible for the management and tracking of construction jobs from conception to completion in central California. Cheryl Heilman has been named as assistant construction manager. In that role, Heilman works with Blankenship to determine efficiency and cost-effectiveness of all construction means and methods. Gil Azcarate has joined Intero Real Estate Services as a managing partner. In that role, Azcarate will oversee day-to-day operations, consult on strategy and help manage Intero’s team of agents. Prior to joining Intero, Azcarate operated his own real estate office. RESTAURANTS uWink has promoted John Kaufman to the position of chief restaurant and development officer. The restaurant company has also appointed John Blake director of restaurant operations. Kaufman will oversee all restaurant development. Blake, who reports to Kaufman, will oversee restaurant operations including franchisee training. SALES Airprotek International, Inc. added two sales representatives to develop retail and consumer direct sales in Mexico. Miguel Angel Gonzalez will be responsible for sales in Jalisco, Nayarit and parts of Sinaloa. Ramiro Chavez will be responsible for sales in Sinaloa and Chihuahua. Rob Black, owner of Extreme Associates, has taken on the additional role as head of domestic sales. Evelyn Santos has been named as executive assistant to Black. SPORTS Chris Heasley has been named director of golf at the North Hollywood Fitting & Performance Center for custom golf equipment maker KZG. In the role, Heasley will manage and market the custom fitting program at the center. Prior to joining KZG, Heasley was a golf instructor at resorts in California and New Jersey. STAFFING Richard Jennings has been appointed as CEO for Mediscan Staffing Services. He previously served as an administrator with CFHS Holdings, Inc. Mediscan provides staffing in the areas of radiology, nursing, respiratory care and rehab. TECHOLOGY Stu Fisher has been named as senior director of business development and sales at JMR Electronics, Inc., a supplier of storage and server platforms. In that position Fisher will promote new technologies and drive worldwide sales for all JMR products and services. Before joining JMR, Fisher served as senior director of business development and strategic accounts for Wasabi Systems. Steve Pitts has been named as vice president, services at MESoft, Inc., a workflow software developer based in Burbank. In that position, Pitts will be responsible for service offerings, deployments and support at the enterprise, studio and production company level. Pitts previously served as vice president, studio and feature production information technology at 20th Century Fox. [W/PIC in archives] Raffy Lorentzian has been named as chief financial officer and senior vice president with National Technical Systems, Inc., a Calabasas-based provider of test and engineering services. He joined the company in 1997 and prior to the promotion was vice president and chief accounting officer. [W/PIC in archives] Cathryn Gawne has joined the board of directors of Enable IPS Corp., a Valencia-based developer of power devices. Gawne is an attorney with the Silicon Valley Law Group and also serves as corporate counsel for Enable IPS. Wataire International, Inc. based in Woodland Hills has made two appointments to its advisory board. James Marsden has been named as chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board. Marsden is a professor at Kansas State University. Joining him is Brian Baker, co-founder and president of International Mascot Corp., a producer of character costumes. Ronald Moeller has been named as vice president of manufacturing for QPC Lasers, Inc. In that position, Moeller will drive expansion for the company’s new generation of laser products. Prior to joining QPC, Moeller was vice president of operations and manufacturing at Kotura, Inc.