AUTOMOTIVE Skip Kinford has been appointed president of 5Square.com, a Westlake Village-based firm providing software for the automotive industry. In his role, Kinford sets company strategy, manages day-to-day operations, and leads all sales, service, product, marketing and financial activities. Kinford was previously senior vice president of sales and marketing at On-Line Administrators. [W/PIC] BANKING George Sarkis has been appointed district manager for the Conejo Valley region at Wells Fargo. Sarkis will oversee 157 team members at eight Wells branches including the newly opened Simi Valley Town Center banking store. Wells Fargo has also named Damien Haitsuka vice president and district manager for its Glendale/Burbank region. Haitsuka will oversee 185 team members and nine banks with deposits totaling $1 billion. Haitsuka, who has been with Wells since 1996, most recently managed the sales development program. BROADCASTING Kurt Rambis has joined AM570 KLAC for its Tuesday morning sports talk segment and Lakers Zone, the Lakers pre-game show. Rambis played for the Lakers for 14 seasons during which the team won four world championships. Sean Kelly has been named vice president, western advertising sales for Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel. In the role, Kelly will be responsible for facilitating sales presentations and negotiating contracts with advertising agencies based in the region’s 15-state territory. Kelly most recently served as senior account executive at Discovery Communications, Inc. [W/PIC] CIVIC Rick Kunz plans to step down as planning commissioner for Simi Valley. Mayor Paul Miller nominated Simi Valley resident and local business owner Keith Mashburn to fill the position, pending approval from City Council. ENTERTAINMENT Justin Richardson has been named as the head of European sales and marketing for Twistbox Entertainment, a Sherman Oaks-producer and publisher of mobile content. Richardson formerly worked as European mobile executive for Warner Bros. Entertainment. He will work in the company’s London office. Also joining Twistbox is Henrik Salzman as manager of North European sales. He previously served as an account manager for GM Entertainments. Salzman will work from the company’s Stockholm office. GAMING Michael L. Knapp has joined YouBet.com as director of new product integration. In the position, Knapp takes charge of operational planning to introduce and coordinate YouBet’s game product offerings on platforms serving customers in the U.S. and overseas. Knapp previously served as general manager of Surfside Race Place at Del Mar Fairgrounds. HEALTH CARE Rochelle Bache of Encino has been appointed to the Committee on Dental Auxiliaries for the Board of Dental Examiners by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. She is currently a management services officer for UCLA and worked as a dental assistant for the Warner Center Dental Practice. Mark El-Tawil has been named chief senior products officer for Woodland Hills managed healthcare provider Health Net. He currently heads the company’s health plan operations in Arizona. LANDSCAPING Butch Everett has been promoted to vice president of tree care sales and operations at Stay Green, Inc., a Valencia-based landscape service provider. Everett joined Stay Green in 2002 and most recently was the company’s tree care sales and supervisor. LAW David Leon has joined Alpert & Barr in Encino as principal. Leon, formerly with Sternberg & Leon in Westlake Village, has over 25 years of litigation and transaction experience with an emphasis on corporate and real estate matters. PHOTO MANUFACTURING Michael Lockard has been promoted to chief operating officer at Microfabrica, Inc. In the role, Lockard oversees process research and development and manufacturing operations. Richard Chen has been promoted to vice president, product development. Chen directs all product definition, design and characterization. Craig Hiner has been hired to lead the company’s technical team in charge of EFAB process technology. Microfabrica is a Van Nuys-based manufacturer of microdevices and microsystems. NOT FOR PROFIT Christopher McKenzie, Mason Rashtian, and Deveena Chandra were welcomed as new members of the All Valley LeTip Business Network, a professional business leads exchange. McKenzie is with Bay Alarm Systems; Rashtian is a personal injury attorney; and Chandra is an internet marketer with Sabro Solutions. Becki Walker has been named as the new executive director of the Ventura County Small Business Development Center. In the position, Walker will be responsible for overseeing operations of the center serving Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Most recently, Walker served as the interim director for the Silicon Valley SBDC, and previously coordinated training and outreach at Sierra College SBDC and managed the counseling and training services for the program in the Westside of Los Angeles. Circe Cox has been named as manager of the Valley Initiative for Business Expansion Program of the San Fernando Valley Financial Development Corp., a subsidiary of the Valley Economic Development Corp. She previously served as coordinator for the VEDC’s Plaza del Valle project. Audrey Madrigal has been appointed as manager of the VEDC’s Panorama City Business Assistance Program. She previously served as coordinator of VEDC’s Downtown Historic L.A. Retail project. PRINTING American Reprographics Co., a Glendale-based provider of reproduction services, has appointed Jonathan Mather CFO. Mather replaces Mark Legg, who is retiring. He was formerly with NETGEAR as CFO and earlier worked at Applause Inc. American Reprographics also said that its president and COO, K. “Suri” Suriyakumar, will become CEO of the company in February, 2008 when its current CEO, S. “Mohan” Chandramohan, retires. Chandramohan, the company founder, has headed the company since 1988. REAL ESTATE Move Inc. has named Eric Thorkilsen president of its Move-related services division. Thorkilsen will be responsible for all non-real estate content and advertising, including the retail advertising group, Moving.com, Welcome Wagon and Home Plans. Thorkilsen was most recently founder and managing partner at Lifestyle Media Partners. Prior to that, he was with Scripps Networks. Earlier in his career, he was with Time Warner and held positions including publisher of Martha Stewart Living magazine and president of Martha Stewart Living television. June Schroeder has joined Troop Real Estate Inc. as a broker in Simi Valley. She was previously with Century 21 LaCarre, also in Simi. TECHNOLOGY Richard “Pete” Robbins and Joel Grasmeyer have joined the board of directors of DigiContractor, Inc., a Tarzana software development company for the construction industry. Robbins is owner of NextPoint Websm a web hosting company and NextPoint Technologies, a computer consulting firm. Grasmeyer is founder and president of PropertyTracker.com, a web-based software program for real estate investors. George Adamson has been appointed as vice president of product development for Zinc Matrix Power, a Camarillo-based developer of new, rechargeable battery technology. In his new position, Adamson will help the company commercialize its silver-zinc rechargeable battery technology. Adamson was most recently with Virtic, LLC, a contract engineering and scientific consulting firm. [W/PIC] Michael Jordan has been named as vice president of ESP Computer Services, a subscription fulfillment company for print and online publishers. Jordan had been director of operations at the North Hollywood company. Prior to joining ESP, Jordan was director of circulation for the Los Angeles Business Journal and San Fernando Valley Business Journal. Emeka Chukwu has joined Semtech Corp. as a vice president and chief financial officer. Chukwu had previously served as vice president, finance for Intersil, Inc., a manufacturer of analog semiconductors. Semtech is a Camarillo-based supplier or analog and mixed-signal semiconductors.