Entertainment Scott Ault has been appointed to the newly created position of vice president of creative development at BRC Imagination Arts in Burbank. BRC designs and produces themed entertainment attractions. Ault will oversee all creative aspects of projects and is also a member of the executive committee. Before joining BRC, Ault was a freelance producer of television commercials. Nestor Barrero has been named vice president and employment counsel for Universal Studios Inc., based in Universal City. Barrero will serve as legal advisor on employment law. He previously served as senior counsel for Union Bank of California in Los Angeles. Bob Rubin has been appointed executive vice president of Universal Family & Home Entertainment Production. He will be responsible for all business and legal affairs, physical production and acquisitions for the division, as well as business and legal affairs for Universal Studios Home Video. Rubin previously served as senior vice president of business affairs at Universal Pictures. Scott Belmont has been appointed senior vice president of business information technology at Universal Music Group. He will be responsible for all information technology activities, including application development and strategic direction. Previously, he was regional vice president at EDS. In addition, Scott Blum has been named director of strategic planning and business development at the company. Blum will lead the development of Universal’s strategic business plan, and will be involved in deal analysis and operational improvement projects. Previously, he was vice president of business and legal affairs at Motion Picture Corp. of America. Lloyd Braun has been appointed chairman of Buena Vista Television Production. Braun will oversee the development and production of the division’s network hour and half-hour series, specials, and movies-of-the-week. Braun will also be involved in Disney’s direct-to-video business and Walt Disney television animation. Braun was formerly president of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment. Matt Brown has been named head of worldwide home video at DreamWorks SKG in Universal City. Brown will oversee the video release of all live-action and animated projects. He previously was executive vice president of West-Coast Entertainment Co. John Dreyer has been promoted to senior vice president of corporate communications for Walt Disney Co. He has served as vice-president of the division since December 1992 and is Disney’s chief spokesman with responsibilities for media relations, financial communications and production of the company’s annual report and annual meeting. Before joining Disney, Dreyer served in public relations for the Delta Queen Steamboat Co. Alwyn Gosford has joined The Energy Film Library in Studio City as creative director. He will be responsible for addressing creative issues, and his plans include redesigning the way the library’s material is presented on demo reels and in print, online and CD-ROM catalogs. He will also oversee a complete re-editing of the library’s collection. Gosford previously held a similar position with Toronto-based Fabulous Footage. Dave Jonke has been promoted to director of technical operations at Renaissance Entertainment Inc. in North Hollywood. He will be responsible for the management of technical operations and systems for the shows and attractions produced by Renaissance. In addition, Jim Timon has been promoted to executive vice president and general manager. He will be responsible for client development and management, along with operations, production and creative development. Previously, he worked in entertainment production and management at Busch Entertainment and Universal Studios Hollywood. Health Care Juan Cordero has been promoted to vice president of finance for Blue Cross California, the California operating subsidiary of WellPoint Health Networks Inc. He will be responsible for analysis of financial issues related to various Blue Cross businesses and federal programs. Prior to joining Blue Cross, Cordero was manager of budgeting and analysis at Computer Sciences Corp. Susan Payne has been appointed vice president of national specialty and affiliated sales for WellPoint Health Networks Inc., based in Woodland Hills. Payne is responsible for managing the sales and promotion of specialty products. She previously was director of sales and marketing. Sonja Hagel has been appointed chief executive at North Hollywood Medical Center, replacing Dale Surowitz, who left to become CEO of Encino/Tarzana Medical Center. Hagel was previously CEO of South Bay Medical Center. Michael Linn has been promoted to president of UniMed Management Co., which is the physician practice subsidiary of Burbank-based UniHealth. Linn will oversee the operations of UniMed. He previously was chief operating officer. Vincent G. Mace has been named vice president and actuary at Woodland Hills-based Well-Point Health Networks Inc. Mace will be responsible for valuation and trend analysis for Unicare, a unit of the company. He previously was senior vice president and group actuary at Chubb Life. Woodland Hills-based Health Net has announced a number of executive promotions. Bob White has been named to the new position of chief financial officer. He was formerly an executive vice president, and will retain that title along with his new CFO title. In addition, former Chief Information Officer Mary Ann Maxwell has been promoted to senior vice president of information services. In her new position, she will direct all information systems operations for Health Net, and report to White. Mary Gilligan has been promoted to senior vice president of commercial operations, from vice president of the same division. She will be responsible for all aspects of customer service, membership accounting and claims operations for Health Net commercial products. She will also report to White. Rob Yukelson has been named vice president of public relations. He will head up the day-to-day operations of the public relations department. He previously was director of marketing and public affairs for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. High Tech John P. Singleton has accepted the position of chief financial officer of Turbodyne Technologies. He is also a director of the company and the chairman of the finance committee of the board of directors. Prior to joining Turbodyne, Singleton held the position of vice chairman and chief operating officer of Security Pacific Corp. Turbodyne specializes in the design, manufacture, and marketing of pollution-reduction products. Media David Steel has been named design director for KNBC-TV Channel 4 based in Burbank. He has responsibility for the overall on-air look of the station, including graphics, animation and sets. He will also oversee the station’s image in print advertising. Previously, Steel worked at WBBM-TV in Chicago, where he was in charge of redesigning the station’s on-air identity. Real Estate Alan Kipnis has joined the firm of Lee & Associates as a new principal. He specializes in industrial properties in the San Fernando Valley. Previously, he was first vice president at CB Commercial, where he worked for 18 years. Mark D. Rauch has joined the North Los Angeles office of Grubb & Ellis Co. as an associate vice president. His focus will be industrial properties in the western San Fernando Valley, Thousand Oaks and Ventura County. Previously, Rauch worked at Lee & Associates. Dennis Marciniak has also joined the North Los Angeles office as an associate vice president. He will focus on industrial properties in the western San Fernando Valley. He previously was an industrial properties specialist at Daum Commercial Real Estate Services. Retail Rick Follis has been promoted from executive vice president to president of A.B.E. Corp. He joined A.B.E. in 1990 and became a buyer in 1991. A.B.E. specializes in new and used office furniture, panel systems, filing and seating