VALLEY INSIDER

Executives who save their company money usually don’t get credit – or win a promotion – but Kirk Petty did at Capstone Turbine Corp. He became the new senior vice president of operations by supervising a “significantly accelerated process” to cut $3 million in annual material costs, according to the Van Nuys manufacturer. … Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has appointed Anthony Consiglio as market executive for the Valley Coast region, overseeing seven offices in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Montecito, Ventura/Oxnard, Westlake Village, Encino and Woodland Hills. Consiglio will supervise nearly 120 financial advisors. Merrill Lynch is a division of Bank of America. … Atara Biotherapeutics Inc. has hired Kristin Yarema as chief commercial officer. She previously worked as a vice president at Amgen Inc. in Thousand Oaks. Atara is a T-cell company headquartered in South San Francisco but has operations in Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village – with Amgen one of its founding investors. … Mission Valley Bancorp announced unaudited net income for 2019 of $3.6 million ($1.12 a share), a record for the Sun Valley bank. “We remain focused on building Mission Valley Bank into a premier business bank,” Chief Executive Tamara Gurney said in a statement. “The bank is well-positioned going into 2020.” … Answer Financial, the Encino-based division of Allstate Corp. that uses technology to sell auto and home insurance, has partnered with CoverWallet for Agents, a platform focused on helping insurance vendors quote and service small business customers. The deal is designed to expand Answer’s access to small commercial clients. “With CoverWallet for Agents, we can provide smarter and broad-ranging options for business owners to compare, buy and save on small business insurance while also continuing to offer them great auto and home insurance,” Jeff Sadler, vice president of Insurance Product Management at Answer, said in a statement. Valley Insider is compiled by Editor Joel Russell. Send submissions to [email protected].