Banking Brian Shapiro has been appointed chairman of the board of directors for First Private Bank & Trust. Three new board members have also been elected, including William Shea, Thomas Evans and Doug Stewart. Shapiro has been a member of the First Private board of directors since April 2008. He is a CPA with over 30 years of experience, and is the managing partner of The Shapiro Group, a firm whose practice specializes in strategic planning for taxes, investments and business decisions of individuals, pass-thru entities and corporations. Prior to forming The Shapiro Group he served as tax manager for Arthur Young & Company, where he was designated a national firm specialist for securities transactions and investment planning. Shea is executive chairman of Lucid, Inc. a manufacturer of non-invasive skin biopsy equipment. He was a managing partner of DLB Capital, LLC, a start-up private equity company located in Wilton, Connecticut until December 2007. He served as executive chairman of Royal & Sun Alliance USA, Inc. from 2005 to 2006. Shea served as president and chief executive officer of Conseco, Inc. from 2001 to 2004, where he successfully managed the firm? restructuring process. Prior to joining Conseco, he served as chairman of the board for Centennial Technologies, a public manufacturing company. Evans is the retired president and CEO of Pacific Coast Bankers Bank and has more than 25 years of financial services experience. He has held a number of senior level positions with management expertise in sales, marketing and credit administration for some of the nation? largest regional and national banks. Evans also served in the U.S. armed forces for 32 years reaching the rank of Colonel. He was recalled to active duty during operation ?esert Storm?in 1990 and led a team that assisted with the mobilization of Army Reserve units throughout California, Arizona, and Nevada. Stewart is the retired chief administrative officer and board member of Colorgraphics, Inc., one of the largest commercial printing companies on the West Coast of the United States before its acquisition by Cenveo Corporation in 2007. He has more than 30 years of financial services experience with some of California? largest banks including significant executive level expertise in retail and commercial banking, marketing, and risk management. He specializes in business unit turn-arounds, start-ups, and mergers and acquisitions. Education The Board of Regents of California Lutheran University approved several promotions in rank and tenure for faculty. The promotions will take effect Sept. 1. Dru Pagliassotti (Communication) of Camarillo advanced to the rank of full professor. She received her bachelor? from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her master? and doctorate from University of Southern California. Halyna Kornuta, a Simi Valley resident who serves as the director of Educational Effectiveness and teaches in the School of Education, and Hala King (Mathematics) of Thousand Oaks advanced to the rank of associate professor. Kornuta received her bachelor? and master? degree from the University of Saskatchewan and her doctorate from the University of San Diego. King received her bachelor? and master? from the American University of Beirut and her doctorate from Stanford University. Julia Fogg (Religion) of Chatsworth, Haco Hoang (Political Science) of Topanga and Cecilia Travick-Jackson (Education) of Camarillo were granted tenure and advanced to the rank of associate professor. Fogg received her bachelor? from Colgate University, her master? degrees from Yale Divinity School and Candler School of Theology at Emory University, and her doctorate from Emory University. Travick-Jackson received her bachelor? from Hampton University, her master? from University of Hartford and her doctorate from University of New Mexico. Christina Soderlund (Mathematics) of Thousand Oaks was granted tenure. She received her bachelor? degree from the University of California, Davis, and her master? and doctorate from University of California, Los Angeles. Glendale Community College President/Supt., Audre Levy, has accepted the position of president of Lone Star College-CyFair in Cypress, Texas, according to the Glendale News-Press. She will step down from her current post at Glendale Community College at the end of June. She visited three campuses in the Lone Star system last month, and was a finalist for the presidencies at all three sites. The system has five campuses. Cypress is a town of 46,025 people located about 30 miles northwest of Houston. Entertainment Dan Sasaki, who left Panavision in 2007, has returned as an optical engineer. Sasaki brings 21 years of optical knowledge and experience back to Panavision. Past successes include: flare lenses used by Janusz Kaminski, ASC on ?aving Private Ryan? various anamorphic lenses; primes and zooms; and a wide variety of specialty lenses. In 2005, Sasaki created the prototype Anamorphic Wide-angle Zoom (AWZ). Now, production AWZ lenses based on his design have become a desired part of Panavision? anamorphic lens inventory. Sasaki? new role in Research and Development will give him the opportunity to pursue his passion for developing new lens designs. David Kenin, Executive Vice President, Programming of Crown Media Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWN), owner and operator of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel is leaving his position. The departure is effective May 31st. Barbara Fisher, Senior Vice President, Original Programming, and Michelle Vicary, Senior Vice President, Acquisitions and Scheduling, will share Kenin? responsibilities until a replacement is named. Since joining Crown Media in 2002, Kenin greatly increased the network? original and acquired programming, a strategic move that generated continuous ratings growth. In addition, he was the creative driving force behind the development and launch of Hallmark Movie Channel, which is now broadcast in both standard and high definition. Healthcare U.S. HealthWorks has hired Patricia Burgess as vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary. She will oversee the legal department, quality assurance and risk management and corporate compliance. Burgess has more than 30 years of corporate law experience in both New York and California, and has worked in such firms as Foundation Health Corporation, Kaiser Permanente, FPA Medical Management (a physician practice management company), CalPERS and a highly successful international investment firm. She is versed in health care, finance, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate law. Valley Presbyterian Hospital appointed Gregory L. Kay, M.D. as interim Chief Executive Officer until the board of directors selects a permanent successor to Albert L. Greene, who passed away on April 16, 2009. Kay has been a member of the Valley Presbyterian Hospital board of directors since 2006. He also serves on the senior management team for Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc., a company providing high quality pet foods throughout the United States, Canada, the Pacific Rim and Europe. As a physician, Kay was regarded as one of the premier heart surgeons in Los Angeles. Before he stopped practicing cardiac surgery in 2004, he and his father, Jerome H. Kay, M.D., pioneered techniques for repairing rather than replacing heart valves. Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Health Foundation has added two new members to its board of directors: David Henry, MD and Sue Nevius. As director of emergency services at Henry Mayo, Dr. Henry is looking forward to the hospital? upcoming opening of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, as well as plans for a new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and expanded Intensive Care Unit at the hospital. He is a New York native who has lived in Castaic for the last seven years. Sue Nevius, general manager at the La Quinta Inn and Suites in Valencia, brings a great depth of business knowledge to the board. Her goals for serving on the board include helping identify growth opportunities, and getting a helicopter pad at Henry Mayo. She moved to Valencia three years ago from Orange County with her husband, Scott. Media Liz Gaier has been named interim publisher of The Daily News in Woodland Hills. She will remain MediaNews Group’s senior vice president of business development while serving as interim publisher. She previously served as publisher of the South Bay Daily Breeze. Simultaneously, newspaper executive Fred H. Hamilton has been promoted to president of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group and will oversee the Los Angeles Daily News and eight other papers in Southern California. Both moves follow the resignation of Edward R. Moss, president and CEO of LANG and publisher of the Daily News. He resigned to become publisher of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Malena Cruz has been promoted to senior vice president and chief financial officer at the Inter/Media Group of Companies. She is currently responsible for the management of the financial and accounting functions and for instituting payment schedules to clients and credit negotiations with the networks. Cruz previously served as senior VP/ Controller and has been with the company since 1994. Prior to joining Inter/Media, she served as Controller for a mid-sized direct response company in West Los Angeles. In addition, she spent seven years as a senior CPA in the public accounting sector with a well-established firm, Garrison and Associates, independent auditors for national and foreign auto manufacturers. Technology Joe Dickman was promoted to senior vice president in charge of all OEM sales for Aura Systems, Inc. He has more than 15 years of experience dealing with the trucking industry on all levels. Recent accomplishments at Aura include the development of working relationships with Isuzu, UD (Nissan), Hino (Toyota), Freightliner and Mitsubishi trucks. He also developed the concept and implementation of the ?asis?all-electric transport refrigeration solution, using the AuraGen mobile power solution. In addition to the truck OEMs, Dickman is responsible for Aura? activities with large industrial companies such as Smith Electrical Vehicles, Eaton Corporation and others. He is also responsible for Aura? initial introductions to Penske and Ryder leasing companies. Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLP), a provider of simulation and modeling software to the pharmaceutical industry, appointed Michael Pelekis, Ph.D., M.B.A., to the position of Director, Business Development. He comes to the company with 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and environmental toxicology industries. Most recently Pelekis held the position of Principal Scientist with a top five pharmaceutical company. He holds both a Ph.D. in Pharmacokinetics and Toxicology as well as an MBA and his experience includes a broad spectrum of pharmaceutical and environmental research and development as well as business planning and strategy implementation, including serving as a research pharmacokineticist/toxicologist in the Toxicology Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Pelekis is an experienced user of Simulations Plus?state-of-the-art GastroPlus?and ADMET Predictor?software programs, and has hands-on knowledge of other key pharmaceutic
