VALLEY NEWSMAKERS

FEATURED NEWSMAKER When Caroline Weilert joined ValleyCrest five years ago as director of marketing, she took on the challenge of helping grow the landscaping company’s presence nationally. Now that the firm has expanded internationally, with offices in China and Abu Dhabi opened earlier this year, her job has become increasingly complex. Weilert, who was recently promoted to vice president of marketing, is now making sure that the firm’s marketing strategy and execution resonate not only within specific regions of the United States, but also abroad. “You can’t put trees that grow in Colorado in a brochure that goes to Florida,” she said. “We have to adapt a wide range of marketing materials to fit the cultural nuances of each market. For example, a simple translation into Chinese or Arabic is not enough; you have to look at everything from the messaging within our materials to make them relevant, to the photography selection which is a huge part of our marketing.” From the company’s headquarters in Calabasas, Weilert and her team of six internal marketing specialists are responsible for setting marketing strategy and supervising all aspects of public relations, advertising, e-mail marketing, trade shows, and employee newsletters, as well as oversight of three external agencies, and developing the company’s interactive and social media program. “Everything we do has to be so regionalized,” said Weilert. For this reason her department came up with a computer application to better support the company’s sales force. They named it ADministrator, and the program allows the sales force to build ads using templates and artwork that has been preapproved by the marketing department for each particular region. Prior to joining ValleyCrest, Weilert, who was raised in Calabasas, was Vice President at Weber Shandwick Worldwide in Los Angeles, where she led the San Francisco consumer marketing department for the global, full-service public relations and marketing communications agency. During her eight years at the firm, she served as a senior-level strategist for a myriad of clients in the food and beverage, travel and tourism, packaged and luxury goods, and retail sectors. –Andrea Alegria Associations The California Shopping Cart Retrieval Corporation Board of Directors named Dave Reid as President and Chief Executive Officer. Reid had been acting interim President and CEO of the Burbank-based association, created in response to the need for large grocery store chains to gain control over their shopping cart retrieval, since December 2009. He had also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since 2001. Prior to joining CSCRC Reid was a Vice President of Facilities and Construction for Grubb and Ellis Company and La Cagnina and Associates. He also was President/CEO of Seacoast Financial, Inc., a real estate finance company. The CSCRC Board of Directors also named Kathleen Smith as vice chair of the Board of Directors. Smith is Vice President of Loss Prevention for Safeway Inc., and is responsible for security and loss prevention for more than 1,700 stores in the United States and Canada, 31 manufacturing facilities, 20 warehouse facilities and buying offices worldwide. Valley Industry & Commerce Association (VICA) president Stuart Waldman was one of four community leaders tapped to serve on the Ratepayer Advocate Advisory Group. The panel will help define the role and responsibilities for a proposed ratepayer advocate position, which hopes to provide neutral expert analysis and advice regarding water or power rate actions proposed by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP.) The group held its first meeting on August 12. Banking Wells Fargo has named Evelin Martinez Community Bank district manager for its West Valley Hills market. A 12-year veteran of the financial services industry, Martinez will oversee 10 Wells Fargo banking stores in the communities of Canoga Park, Northridge, Reseda and Woodland Hills. Martinez previously served as district manager for the North Hills market in the Inland Empire. Martinez joined Wells Fargo in 1992 as a teller in San Francisco. Since then, she has held numerous retail banking positions, including personal banker, assistant manager, store manager, sales development consultant and district manager for the West Los Angeles/Marina market. Education CSU Channel Islands in Camarillo announced that Deborah Gravelle, Director of Leadership, Career & Health, and Alan Pasternak, Coordinator of Personal Counseling Services, have become certified as Alcohol Prevention Professionals after attending a national Professional Development Institute at Georgetown University. The Professional Development Institute is a leadership development program offering the first-of-its-kind Certificate in Alcohol Prevention Leadership for higher education administrators working to reduce the risks associated with alcohol and other drugs. Government The city of Glendale appointed Yasmin Beers to the position of Assistant City Manager. Beers, 39, will be replacing Bob McFall who recently retired after serving 33 years with the City. Beers has served 10 years as Deputy City Manager. She has been with the City for over 22 years and previously served as a Senior Administrative Analyst for the Glendale Public Library. Prior to serving as a Senior Administrative Analyst, Beers was a Senior Customer Service Representative for the Library Division. Marketing and Advertising Advanstar Communications, Inc. in Woodland Hills, has appointed Steve Sturm to fill its newly created Chief Marketing Officer position. Sturm’s principal focus as CMO will be to identify new opportunities to expand the brand presence of the media company, which provides marketing solutions for the fashion, life sciences and powersports industries, as well as to improve value for its customers. Sturm previously served as group vice president of Americas Strategic Research and Planning and Corporate Communications for Toyota Motor North America, Inc. United Online has promoted Jeremy E. Helfand to the newly-created position of president, United Online Media Group. In his new position, Helfand is responsible for all domestic advertising sales under the United Online umbrella of companies including FTD, Classmates, MyPoints, NetZero, Juno, and MySite. Helfand joined United Online in July 2006 as its executive vice president and chief sales officer with responsibility for the United Online Media Group. Helfand recently conceptualized and implemented the launch of Adcurate, United Online’s verified audience advertising platform. Prior to joining United Online, Helfand was senior vice president and general manager of Advertising.com. Non-Profit Organizations A Community of Friends, which works to end homelessness by providing quality, permanent supportive housing for people with mental illness, has elected Sean Leonard as vice chair. Leonard is president and founder of S.L. Leonard & Associates, a real estate development and project management firm based in Camarillo. He has served on the board of A Community of Friends since 2001. He was also named to the executive board of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme after serving on the board of directors since 2009. Real Estate Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, promoted Alan N. Pontius to national director of commercial leased investment properties. In his new position, Pontius will oversee all commercial leased investment property divisions for the firm, including the National Retail Group (NRG). He will retain his position as national director of the National Office and Industrial Properties Group (NOIPG), which he held for the past nine years. The NOIPG is one of Marcus & Millichap’s fastest-growing specialty groups. Pontius began his career with Marcus & Millichap in 1985 as a sales associate. He replaces long-time partner Bernard J. Haddigan, a former senior vice president and managing director, who retired from the firm. Glendale-based Old Republic Title Company, Inc. has hired Adam Cleary as Vice President, National Commercial Services, and Jeff Dasse as Vice President, Southern California Major Accounts Division. Cleary was previously with Stewart Title Company and has more than seven years of experience in the title industry, focusing on commercial real estate with a specialty in alternative energy. Dasse joins from Fidelity National Title Company. He has ten years of title experience, and concentrates in all aspects of commercial real estate. He will serve the Southern California market. Colliers International has promoted Kevin Fenenbock to senior vice president in the commercial real estate firm’s Encino office. Fenenbock specializes in commercial office leasing and sales in both the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita Valley markets. With more than 17 years of commercial real estate experience, he has represented more than 6.5 million square feet of office properties in Los Angeles and completed more than 750 office leasing transactions on behalf of landlords and tenants throughout his career.