NEWSMAKERS Health Focus Attracts Endowment CFO Michael Januzik has spent most of his professional life as a corporate financial specialist with telecommunications and technology companies in the Bay Area, including more than a decade with SBC Communications Inc., the parent company of Pacific Bell. But Januzik, 47, jumped at the chance at an opportunity presented itself with the Woodland Hills-based California Endowment, a $3.4 billion philanthropy created in 1996 to expand access to health care for underserved communities. “My career has always been at for profit companies and the mantra there is always to maximize shareholder value, but the mission here is to maximize the endowment in order to improve health care in California,” said Januzik, who moved to the Conejo Valley from Illinois as a teenager and graduated from Agoura High School. His appointment as chief financial officer of the endowment was announced June 29. Januzik will earn $225,000 annually at the endowment, where he will lead the organization’s investment, financial, and grants administration staff of about 30. “The hope is we will get some good traction in Los Angeles with children’s’ health issues and services, and we can lever that into other communities across the state,” Januzik said. He comes to the non-profit from Tatum Partners, LLP, a professional CFO services firm based in Los Angeles. Along with working at SBC for 12 years, Januzik also worked as vice president at QuantiLogic Asset Management Company Inc., in San Francisco, where he managed investment portfolios totaling $1.6 billion. He earned his BA in Economics from the University of California Los Angeles and his MBA from the University of Southern California. Januzik lives in Camarillo with his wife Renee and their two children, ages 12 and 9. Brad Smith Biotechnology Joshua Ofman was promoted to the newly created position of vice president, reimbursement and payment policy at Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc. Ofman, who joined Amgen in 2003, was senior director of U.S. Medical Affairs and headed up Amgen’s U.S. Health Economics and Outcomes Research Group. In the new position, Ofman will oversee Amgen’s reimbursement and payment strategy to give patients and government better access to Amgen’s products. Education Wilma Worden was named the new director of the Los Angeles Regional Small Business Development Center Lead Center at Cal State Northridge. Worden was formerly president and CEO of Community Career Development, Inc., a non-profit involved in workforce development activities. She also served as vice president of the Valley Economic Development Center for six years. In her new position, Worden will oversee the Lead Center’s operations as well as its four sub-centers and their satellites. In addition, she will manage relationships between the U.S. Small Business Administration and small business service activities in the area. Entertainment NBC Universal, a subsidiary of General Electric, has named new vice presidents at two different San Fernando Valley locations. Marcia Haynes, a General Electric employee since 1979, has been named executive vice president of sourcing for NBC Universal in Universal City. Thomas G. Smith, a veteran of two decades with GE, has been named vice president of West Coast Real Estate and Space Planning for NBC Universal in Burbank. Warner Bros., part of Time Warner, has named a new vice president for the Telepictures Productions department in Burbank. David Benevente, who has worked at Telepictures since 1996, will run the Finance and Administration side of the department. Human Resources Shawn Mohr has been appointed to the newly created position of chief sales officer and president of its medical, financial and allied division for On Assignment Inc. Media Brad Smith, a veteran newspaper editor and reporter, has joined the staff of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal as a reporter. A native Angeleno, Smith has worked for general interest and specialty newspapers in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Ventura counties and in Sacramento, most recently the Ventura County Star as a reporter and editor. He lives in Granada Hills. Real Estate Bob Weiss has been appointed vice president for Sperry Van Ness in Woodland Hills. Weiss, a 24-year real estate veteran, was most recently with Valley Industrial Properties. Jessica Ramirez was promoted to controller of NewMark Merrill Companies, a Woodland Hills-based operator of retail shopping centers. She was previously the senior property accountant at the company.