NEWSMAKERS Entertainment Calabasas-based THQ Inc. has named Peter Dille senior vice president of worldwide marketing, North America sales, and Tiffany Ternan, senior vice president, North American sales and distribution. Dille has worked at THQ since 1999. Ternan joined the company in 1992. Paul Hausback has been named vice president business operations for Walt Disney Internet Group’s technology services. Hausback will oversee the division’s administrative, operational and planning departments. He previously served as vice president of operations for Disney Interactive. Graham Hopper has been named vice president and general manager for Burbank-based Buena Vista Games, Inc., a subsidiary of Disney Consumer Products (DCP). Hopper previously served as DCP’s senior vice president, global business development. David McLees has been promoted to senior vice president of artists and repertoire for Warner Music Group’s Warner Strategic Marketing division, based in Burbank. McLees previously served as vice president of artists and repertoire at WSM’s Rino Entertainment. Woodland Hills-based Applause Inc. has made several changes to its executive team. Gina Beebe will now serve as an adviser, spearheading the company’s plans for a product re-launch. Roxi Elfering, has been promoted to vice president, national accounts. Jill Jones will serve as the new chief creative officer, overseeing design and brand development. Becky Powell has been promoted to vice president, business and product development, based in Chicago. Lynn Tomimoto has joined the company as vice president of marketing. Tomimoto previously served as vice president of marketing at Teleflora. Finance Dierdre Sherrills has been promoted to senior vice president of marketing and corporate training for Woodland Hills-based WMC Mortgage Corp. Sherrills, who has been with the company since 1999 as head of sales coordination and internal sales support, will now oversee promotions, advertising and trade shows, as well as the company’s corporate training division. Government Anh Truong, an associate at Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan LLP, has been appointed to the Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission by Mayor James Hahn. Truong, who specializes in complex litigation, previously served as a consultant to the Los Angeles Charter Reform commission and the Pasadena Charter Reform Task Force. Health Care Annette “Chi” Hughes has been hired to work with community-based organizations for the Woodland Hills-based California Endowment, a private health foundation. Hughes previously worked as a reporter for U.S. News and World Report and as deputy director of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center. Dennis Benton, formerly the chief financial officer for SDI Future Health, Inc., has been named business strategy and finance leader for Kaiser Permanente’s Valley service area. Manufacturing Chatsworth-based Capstone Turbine Corp. has named Richard Donnelly to its board of directors. Donnelly is the automotive industrial partner at New York-based Ripplewood Holdings LLC and previously served as an executive for General Motors Corp. David Laufer has joined Chatsworth-based Natrol Inc. as vice president and general counsel. Laufer was previously a partner with Riordan & McKinzie, Kindel & Anderson and Arter and Hadden. He is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and the National Institute for Advanced Trial Advocacy. Marketing Cory Weiss has joined the Woodland Hills office of Charles Dunn Co. as a marketing executive. Weiss previously service as a sales associate for Colliers Seeley’s LNR Warner Center leasing division. Media John Hoeft has been named vice president of Interactive Media for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group (LANG), which owns the Daily News of Los Angeles, as well as seven other daily newspapers across the Southern California region. LANG is owned by Denver-based MediaNews Group.
