NEWSMAKERS Valley BusCountrywide Creates Ethnic Marketing Position Countrywide Financial Corp. has appointed Rodolfo Saenz to the newly created position of executive vice president of business development for emerging markets. In his role, Saenz will be responsible for overseeing and coordinating the company’s ethnic marketing efforts. “The emerging markets are a top priority for the entire company,” said Saenz. “It’s a recognition that a big portion (of our business) is coming from this market.” As of June 2003, ethnic markets accounted for about 24 percent of Countrywide’s revenues companywide. “My expectation is that for next year, it’s going to be close to 30 percent,” Saenz added. “So this market is definitely growing faster than other markets, but mainly because of first-time buyers.” In recent years, the number of home loan refinancings has skyrocketed thanks to record low interest rates. But earlier this year mortgage rates began to creep steadily upward, a trend likely to continue, and the refinancing market is expected to decline considerably as a result. In contrast, mortgages written to first-time home buyers represent a steadily increasing source of new mortgage loans. Countrywide began to focus on minority borrowers in the Hispanic, African-American and Asian communities in the early 1990s, and the markets currently account for about $200 billion in mortgage financing. The company has set a goal of $600 billion in mortgage financing to ethnic borrowers by the end of the decade. Saenz joined Countrywide from Charles Schwab & Co. where he most recently served as senior vice president of retail client services. He also held positions as senior vice president of strategic planning and information, vice president of affluent marketing and vice president of emerging markets at Schwab. Shelly Garcia Biotech Agoura Hills-based NeoStem has named Larry A. May its chief financial officer. A 20-year biotech industry veteran, May had previously served as CFO at Saronyx and held several posts during a 15-year stay at Amgen which ended in 1998. Boards Aylwin Lewis, president and chief multibranding officer of Yum! Brands Inc. has been elected to the Walt Disney Co.’s board of directors. He will assume the post in January. Yum operates Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains of restaurants. Entertainment Jordan Levin, WB Network entertainment president, has been elected president of the Hollywood Radio & Television Society. Levin succeeds Kevin Reilly, FX Network entertainment president. Levin will serve a one-year term. Universal Pictures has promoted Anthony Zummo to senior vice president legal affairs. Zummo joined the studio in 1988 and served as vice president of legal affairs since March 1998. His responsibilities include the day-to-day operation of the studio’s legal department in relation to development and production of theatrical motion pictures. Universal also promoted Amy Thomases to vice president of East Coast publicity. She joined the company in 1993 as an assistant publicist and went on to work on a number of films, including “Bruce Almighty” and “A Beautiful Mind.” Viviana Pendrill has been named vice president, targeted marketing for Warner Bros. Pictures. She will research and develop motion picture marketing strategies for the Hispanic, urban, teen and other markets. Real Estate Lee & Associates North, Sherman Oaks, has made two appointments. Maribeth Mann was named market research director and Marilyn Keown was named market research analyst. Mann previously held positions with CB Richard Ellis and Costar group. Keown was formerly with Charles Dunn Co. Laura Lee Anthony was named general manager at Troop Real Estate Inc. Anthony was previously branch manager for the company’s Westlake/Calabasas office. Earlier she was vice president and director of operations for Prudential California Realty. Restaurants Glendale-based restaurant chain, IHOP Corp. has named Patrick Piccinino to the newly-created post of vice president, information technology. He comes to the firm from Intel Corp. where he served as director, information technology and chief information officer for Intel’s Platform Networking Group. Technology Capstone Microturbine Corp. has named Mike Redmond senior vice president of engineering and operations. He had previously worked at Boeing. The company also named John Fink to senior vice president of sales and marketing, and Sharon Faltemier to vice president of human resources. Fink had been with Daimler-Benz, AEG Westinghouse and others. Faltemier had previously served with Northrop-Grumman.