VALLEY NEWSMAKERS

Brian Sturges, a 12-year insurance and financial services professional, has joined HUB International Insurance Services as its new vice president working out of its Thousand Oaks office. Sturges specializes in corporate retirement solutions, helping clients achieve the best possible 401(k) plans for their employees. In lieu of new regulations that seek to protect employee pensions, Sturges is seeing an increased demand for retirement plan advisors. The move to HUB, one of the top 10 insurance brokers in the nation, is triggered by “an opportunity to better myself and better serve my business and my clients,” he said. Before joining HUB, Sturges served as vice president for USI Insurance Services. Question: What opportunities do you see in your industry? Answer: There’s more of an opportunity now to educate planned sponsors and fiduciaries of the plan about the need and importance to make sure their plan is bullet proof. The Department of Labor has hired several hundred new auditors as a result of new regulations in the Pension Protection Plan in an effort to protect employees, and they are going after anything that they see could potentially adversely impact the employees. Q: Do you see a greater need for your services today? A: Yes, my job is to analyze a plan and identify any red flags that could potentially trigger an audit. What many business owners don’t know could end up hurting them. We have the resources and the capabilities to thoroughly analyze plans to identify where they are weak, areas where costs can be reduced or eliminated, and identify compliance issues. What we’re doing is making sure the planned sponsors have the best tools available to get a best in class 401(k). —Andrea Alegria Awards Karolin Youdim, U.S. Bank vice president and branch manager in Encino, has won U.S. Bank’s Annual Pinnacle award, the company’s highest consumer banking employee achievement honors. Youdim was among a select number of top performing employees nationwide to win U.S. Bank’s award and was recently recognized at a company dinner. A graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona she has 19 years of experience in the financial industry. She volunteers in the community with Operation Hope, where she teaches money and banking at schools in low-to-moderate income areas. Banking Union Bank hired veteran banker and long-time community leader Leticia Aguilar as regional executive, overseeing Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties. In her expanded role, she will also oversee local government affairs. Aguilar will report to Executive Vice President Michael Feldman, head of California Branch Banking. She was previously market president for San Diego. Prior to joining Union Bank in 2009, Aguilar was a market president for Bank of America, and oversaw the bank’s Greater Los Angeles market. She gained nearly 16 years of retail banking management experience during her 37 years with Bank of America. Energy SouthWest Water Company elected Linda Griego as the new independent chairman of the board of directors. Griego served on the company’s board from December 2001 until May 2006, then returned in December 2006 to fill a departing Board member’s vacancy. She is president and chief executive officer of Griego Enterprises, Inc., a business management company founded in 1986. She redeveloped and renovated a historical landmark building that houses Engine Co. No 28, a prominent restaurant in downtown Los Angeles that she founded in 1988. Griego has held a number of government and public service appointments including deputy mayor of Los Angeles, president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Community Development Bank and Rebuild LA. Griego currently serves as a director of publicly-traded CBS Corporation since 2007, and AECOM Technology Corporation since 2005. Healthcare Anthem Blue Cross of California hired a former Aetna executive Pam Kehaly as its new president and general manager. Kehaly will take over the position starting on Aug. 30, taking the place of Leslie Margolin, who resigned July 20. Kehaly will be responsible for the management of all local group health insurance business in California. She will also be responsible for developing Anthem Blue Cross’ long-term strategic direction and collaborating with local and state elected officials on healthcare issues. Manufacturing IRIS International Inc., a manufacturer of automated in-vitro diagnostics systems and consumables for use in hospitals and commercial laboratories worldwide, elected David T. Della Penta to its board of directors. Della Penta has 40 years of senior executive medical products and finance experience, and is a founding partner and board member of Challenger Capital, an independent financial services institution. Della Penta served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Fisher Scientific International, Inc., a provider of products and services to the scientific research and clinical laboratory markets, which merged with Thermo Electron Corp., to become Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. Marketing Information J.D. Power and Associates has hired Frances Oda Caille as vice president of strategy and planning. Caille was formerly vice president of marketing at Mitsubishi Motors, where she spent 25 years and held numerous leadership positions in business strategy, marketing, sales, advertising and business planning roles. In her new position, she will lead J.D. Power’s strategic planning functions, including identifying and implementing new business opportunities and strategic alliances to build brand presence in the markets J.D. Power serves around the world. Real Estate The board of directors of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, the nation’s largest real estate investment services firm, has named Brandon Michaels to the position of vice president investments. The achievement of vice president investment status is one of the highest levels of recognition the firm awards its sales agents. Most recently, Michaels held the position of associate vice president investments. Michaels began his career with Marcus & Millichap in 2004, specializing in retail investment sales. In 2009, he was the No.1 multi-tenant retail agent in the firm. Services Camarillo-based SAFER Systems, a provider of chemical emergency management and hazard analysis/risk assessment solutions, hired Jenny Xu as the company’s first China-based Regional Business Manager. Xu’s extensive consulting and research background in the chemical/petrochemical and oil & gas industries will help strengthen SAFER Systems’ business success in China. Prior to joining SAFER Systems, Xu worked for CBI China’s chemical editorial department as editorial manager of Chemease, a brand of CBI that tracks the petrochemical market and has established a comprehensive market and customer database. She then worked in CBI’s Research & Consulting Department as a Senior Consultant and Business Development Manager, specializing in industry investigations/research and market analysis/forecasting. Technology Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation based in Camarillo announced that Steve M. Perna has joined the Company as vice president, Product Marketing. Perna is responsible for global execution of Vitesse’s market strategy for all product lines. In this role Perna reports to Chris Gardner, Vitesse’s chief executive officer. Perna has 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, including both blue-chip companies and start-ups. He was most recently President and CEO at Wiquest Communications, a wireless networking start-up. Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation also elected G. William LaRosa to its Board of Directors. He will serve on the Governance & Nominating and Compensation committees. LaRosa is currently the CEO of G.W. LaRosa & Associates LLC, a global technology sales and business development firm. He serves on the board of advisors for Silvatron Partners in Los Gatos, Calif. He is a past director for the advisory board for the Lubin School of Business at PACE University, and a former chairman of the board at LGI. Semiconductor manufacturer Inphi Corporation, which has operations in both Sunnyvale and Westlake Village, hired Diane Nott-Kilfoil to the position of vice president of human resources. Nott-Kilfoil was most recently VP of human resources at Los Angeles-based LRN, and also has served at J.D. Power and Associates, PDQuick, Kinko’s, and AirTouch Communications. Nott-Kilfoil will report directly to President and CEO Young Sohn. Inphi develops high speed, analog semiconductors used in the computing and communications markets. Online Sampling and panel company uSamp, headquartered in Encino, named Chuck Miller as chief research officer. Miller will continue his role as president of DMS Insights, an online tracking research firm which uSamp acquired from AOL in late June. In his new role Miller will be involved in uSamp’s production and delivery of sample, in addition to running DMS. uSamp also has appointed DMS executive Melanie Courtright as vice president, client services for uSamp. Courtright’s responsibilities include developing new relationships and ensuring the satisfaction of existing clients. Courtright worked as VP marketing for DMS and at a full-service research firm in Dallas prior to that.