VALLEY NEWSMAKERS

FEATURED NEWSMAKER A first for Providence Tarzana Medical Center, veteran nursing administrator Phyllis Bushart will be taking on the dual role of chief operating officer and chief nursing officer. Traditionally, the chief nursing officer has overseen all the nurses in the nursing department. The chief operating officer has overseen all non-nursing departments and all non-finance departments, including the facilities, dietary, and radiology departments, among others. “When you put the two roles together what you have is all those departments that are responsible for delivering quality patient care under one person,” said Bushart, a Thousand Oaks resident who grew up in Panorama City. This dual role works well to open the lines of communication between departments and ensure everyone is working together towards the same goal of providing the best quality care for the patient, she said. Bushart, a registered nurse for more than 30 years, has extensive administrative experience in hospital operations. She has worked both as COO and CEO at medical organizations throughout her career. Her experience includes eight years with Tarzana Medical Center’s former owner, Tenet Healthcare System. Most recently, she held administrative positions at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys and at the not-for-profit COPE Health Solutions in Los Angeles where she served as executive vice president for Health Workforce Transformation. A graduate of the Los Angeles Valley College associate arts nursing program, Bushart earned her bachelor’s degree in Health Care Management at the University of La Verne and her master’s of business administration at the University of Redlands. “My priorities are to ensure that the patients receive the highest quality care with the best customer satisfaction,” she said. “Tarzana already has many very good structures in place, so my job is to take those existing processes and structures and fine tune them, and continue to manage the hospital, which already is an extremely high quality institution.” Advertising and Marketing Inter/Media Interactive, headquartered in Encino, has named John Cody as affiliate manager. He will be responsible for increasing the online presence of Inter/Media Interactive and Inter/Media Advertising clients, focusing on lead generation and customer acquisition. Inter/Media Interactive is one of the 10 units that comprise the $450-million Inter/Media Group of Companies, and is a full-service online agency. Previously, Cody was senior online media buyer for Bidz.com. He helped generate more than a 150 percent increase in recurring monthly revenue for Fling.com, the second largest dating site on the web. Encino-based marketing agency AvatarLabs has named Millie Vitello as quality assurance manager. Before joining AvatarLabs Vitello was the interactive quality assurance manager with marketing agency Crew Creative where she made sure all online banner campaigns were to client specifications, and that all components of the ads worked properly. Prior to that role, Vitello was interactive project manager/traffic manager, at Crew Creative. Architecture James Heimler, Architect, Inc. added three new senior draftpersons. Eric Altizer joins the firm with 20 years of experience working on a wide variety of projects, including: custom homes, multi-family residential, commercial/retail buildings, educational facilities, and religious institutions. Altizer has worked as a project manager, project engineer, and AutoCAD draftsman. Aron Lopez joins the firm with 8 years of experience in CAD drafting. Aron has worked on commercial projects, single-family residences, institutional facilities, and hospitality facilities. Rafael Cerritos has 11 years of experience and has worked extensively on residential design projects and has experience in structural engineering. He has worked as a project director, residential designer, head designer, and CAD technician. Banking and Finance Woodland Hills-based WCB Holdings Inc., announced it plans to hire Joseph W. Kiley III as president and chief executive officer. The company retained Kiley III as a consultant, pending the processing and approval of an application with various regulatory agencies required for him to assume the role of president and CEO of WCB Holdings, Inc. and Western Commercial Bank. Kiley is an experienced banker with more than 30 years of experience as president and chief executive officer of several Southern California banks. WCB Holdings also retained Ray Vadalma as a consultant, pending the processing and approval of an application with various regulatory agencies to name him executive vice president and chief credit officer of Western Commercial Bank. Vadalma has more than 35 years of lending experience. Great American Group Inc. with offices in Woodland Hills, announced that Harvey M. Yellen, vice chairman and president, will also assume the responsibilities of chief operating officer for the company. Yellen will take operational leadership of the company to accelerate the execution of the company’s strategic growth plan. Yellen will also play a critical role in the implementation of a plan to streamline operations and reduce operating expenses. Great American Group, Inc. provides asset disposition solutions and valuation and appraisal services to retail, wholesale and industrial clients, as well as lenders, capital providers, private equity investors and professional service firms. Education Cal State Northridge officials elected Barbara Levy to the university’s Foundation Board of Directors. Levy is a former staff accountant at Arthur Young & Co. and a resident of Connecticut. She began her three-year term on July 1. She has been actively involved with the university since 2007. After graduating from California State University, Northridge, Levy went on to earn her MBA from New York University and became a CPA in the state of New York. She also worked as an accountant in special projects for Penn Central Corp. Entertainment Zula, a kids entertainment and education company in Burbank, has appointed Martha Van Gelder as its president. Van Gelder has more than 25 years of progressive profit and loss responsibility with media and consumer brands. She has served in high profile leadership roles at publicly and privately held companies and has been responsible for expanding and leveraging content partnerships across diverse channels and revenue models including joint ventures, subsidiary, distributor and licensee management networks. Before joining Zula, Van Gelder was vice president, managing director, international at Gaiam, a global lifestyle media production company. Government Longtime city employee Greg Herrmann has been named Burbank’s new community development director. He was appointed interim director in 2009 after the retirement of Sue Georgino. Herrmann has worked for the City of Burbank since 1989 in various positions within the Community Development Department. He started as assistant planner, then associate, was later promoted to principal planner for Advance Planning and Transportation, then to assistant community development director for transportation. Most recently, as chief assistant community development director/city planner, his duties included overseeing the Planning and Transportation Division. Health Care Southern California Orthopedic Institute has added joint replacement specialist Dr. Jaime Hernandez to its team of experts. Hernandez specializes in the hip, knee and shoulder, and his expertise will extend the practice’s treatment options to include total hip replacements for patients. Hernandez will operate out of the Institute’s Van Nuys office. A graduate of Cornell University, Hernandez acquired his doctor of medicine degree from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Caldera Medical, Inc. based in Agoura Hills, appointed Joseph P. Kelly as Vice President of Sales. In this role, Kelly will report to Bryon L. Merade, chief executive officer and chairman of the board, and will be responsible for driving the company’s accelerated expansion of its sales force. Kelly joins after 12 years at Diagnostic Products Corporation (DPC) where he built a sales force from 25 to over 200 representatives and grew DPC’s domestic sales revenues from $20 million to $160 million. Valley Community Clinic added two new members to their Board of Governors: Joe Ravens, vice president and commercial district manager for Wells Fargo, and Liz Milan, a realtor with Prudential CA Realty for almost 10 years. Ravens received his BA from California State University Northridge before starting his career at Wells Fargo. He returned to the San Fernando Valley after a sojourn as district manager for Wells Fargo in the Conejo Valley. Milan has been a long-time supporter of Valley Community Clinic. Real Estate Illi Commercial Real Estate has added marketing and leasing expert Sevada Hemelians to its team. Hemelians has an active real estate practice of nearly 10 years. His experience spans various positions with private real estate firms, as well as practical experience with local and regional government agencies. He has worked with a variety of private and public sector clients, including Stevenson Real Estate Services, Re/Max of California, Bank of America, and Countrywide. Prior to starting his own consulting practice, Hemelians was director of marketing and research services of the Charles Dunn Company.