VALLEY NEWSMAKERS

Associations The Valley Industry & Commerce Association (VICA) hired former City Council and Congressional staffer Maya Zutler to fill its open legislative affairs manager position. In her new role, Zutler will support the organization’s advocacy efforts, assist with legislative issues and staff policy committees. She joins the association after serving three years as field deputy and assistant planning deputy to former L.A. City Councilmember Jack Weiss. In her previous position, she provided constituent services, worked on land use and planning issues and testified before various boards, commissions and community groups. Zutler also spent more than four years as a field representative for U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, assigned to the Los Angeles County territory. Chambers Conejo Business Partners (CBP), one of the Thousand Oaks-Westlake Village Chamber of Commerce business referral groups, elected financial advisor Larry Schechter to head the group as president. Schechter, a seasoned financial professional, offers a wide range of investment strategies that focus on building and protecting wealth for his clients. His approach also includes estate planning, life and long term care insurance, succession planning, and charitable giving. CBP was formed in August of 2007 and is looking to expand its membership under Schechter’s leadership. Among the positions the group seeks to fill are individuals involved in law, banking, healthcare, hair styling, architecture, real estate, accounting, dentistry, fitness training, floral arranging, general contracting, geriatric care, janitorial service, landscaping, massage therapy, plumbing, therapy, and travel. Engineering Hunsaker & Associates-LA (H&A-LA), a Valencia-based civil engineering firm, announced that Jeannine Giem and Jason Fukumitsu obtained Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED-AP) accreditations. LEED-AP credentials indicate professional excellence and practical understanding of the LEED rating systems. The rating system encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria. In addition to becoming LEED accredited, Giem acquired certification by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). AICP certified planners maintain the utmost merit because they are required to meet rigorous standards, as well as maintain their planning expertise through continuing education. Environment Green Irene LLC, a national consulting firm that promotes eco-friendly homes and offices, announced that Rik Converse is its newest eco-consultant. He recently opened a green consulting practice in Simi Valley. Converse is an independent, authorized distributor of Green Irene consulting services and products, and is trained to provide eco-friendly consulting services to homeowners who want to lead healthier, safer and more sustainable lifestyles while saving money by reducing energy use. Eco-consultants perform 90-minute Green Home Makeovers by walking through the client’s home to develop a set of customized recommendations. Major topics covered in the Green Home Makeover include: energy conservation, water conservation, water purity, indoor air quality, toxic-free living, energy efficient lighting, recycling, waste reduction, and safety and emergency preparedness. Golf Calabasas-based ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance, a division of ValleyCrest Landscape Companies, announced the appointment of Bruce Williams as director of business development, West. He will be responsible for creating new business opportunities in the western United States for the company. Williams, a Certified Golf Course Superintendent since 1985, received a certificate in Turfgrass Management from Michigan State University as well as a bachelor’s degree in English and Speech from Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio. He has been an instructor of Horticulture and Turfgrass Management at College of Lake County (Illinois), PGA of America, as well as the GCSAA Seminar Program. Prior to joining ValleyCrest, Williams was director of golf courses and grounds at Los Angeles Country Club. He has held key positions with trade organizations including the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, Chicagoland Association of Golf Course Superintendents, Midwest Association of Golf Course Superintendents, California Golf Course Superintendents Association, and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Southern California. He was also an Honorary Director of PGA of America and a Green Section Committee member of the United States Golf Association. Williams is currently a director of the California Alliance for Golf. Insurance USI Insurance Services, a Goldman Sachs Capital Partner, announced that Robert Mahl joined the company as vice president of property and casualty insurance and apparel practice leader in Southern California. He is responsible for delivering insurance solutions to middle market companies with an emphasis on apparel manufacturers and real estate portfolios. Mahl has developed exclusive niche programs for the apparel industry and property holdings that focus on workers compensation, ocean cargo (stock throughput) and property, employment practice liability, executive risk and intellectual property protection. Before joining USI, he worked for another national insurance broker, Marsh, as senior client advisor in Southern California serving Fortune 1000 companies. And he began his insurance career with Kemper as a business development manager and underwriter servicing the brokerage community and covering the Western United States. Mahl is a very active participant in the non-profit and charitable community in Los Angeles and sits on three different boards of directors including The City of Hope. Media Crown Media Holdings, Inc., owner and operator of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel, named television communications veteran Mark J. Kern to the position of senior vice president, Communications & Media Relations. Most recently Kern provided strategic media and public relations, corporate communications and publicity services as an independent communications consultant. His clients included cable/satellite television networks Ovation TV and ReelzChannel; Sparkler Entertainment Ventures; Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video Digital Media and Broadway Video Entertainment; The Hatchery LLC; and Burke, Rix, Hines & Associates. Prior to that, he served as founding senior vice president, Communications & Publicity, for Hallmark Channel; and vice president, Corporate Public Relations, for FOX Broadcasting Company. His additional experience includes management roles at NBC in Burbank and local broadcast television stations in Cleveland and Cincinnati. A native of Akron, Ohio, Kern is a graduate of Kent State University’s School of Journalism. Municipalities Keith Sterling joined the City of Burbank as public information officer. With 15 years of combined experience in broadcasting and public relations, he will be responsible for directing all internal/external communications for the city. Sterling was director of communications for a city in Oklahoma, public information officer for Scottsdale School District in metropolitan Phoenix, and director of public relations for an advertising/public relations firm in Arizona. Before transitioning into public relations, he worked as a television news anchor/reporter at several network affiliates across the country. Over the coming months, he will be working closely with the council and staff to prepare a strategic communications plan to better enhance Burbank’s marketing efforts. Sterling has been honored by the Public Relations Society of America, Oklahoma Municipal League and Arizona School Public Relations Association for his work in branding and media relations. Non-profit The Alzheimer´s Association California Southland Chapter has appointed Bettina Kurowski, Ph.D. as president and chief executive officer. She will oversee all operations, programs and development activities of the Alzheimer’s Association in Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Previously, Kurowski owned a health care consulting practice that specialized in business development, marketing, and disease management for biotech-pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers and insurers. Earlier in her career, she was known as a leader in disease management, having created the first specialty HMO to specialize in cancer treatment. She began her work in health care by running two hospitals and a graduate program in health administration. Since 2008, Kurowski has served as volunteer general campaign chair for the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles (JFC), where she was responsible for leading all fund-raising efforts. Under her leadership, the JFC raised more than $50 million in 2008 and is on target to do the same in 2009, exceeding its fund-raising goals by $500,000. Real Estate CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. announced that Michael J. Lafitte has been appointed president of the company’s Americas business. Prior, he was president of the Institutional & Global Corporate Services (Outsourcing) line of business. In his new role, he succeeds Calvin W. Frese, Jr., who became the company’s Global Chief Operating Officer earlier this year. As president, Americas, Lafitte will direct all of the company’s business lines and shared services functions in the United States, Canada and Latin America. The Americas is the company’s largest business segment with 2008 revenue of more than $3.2 billion. He joined CB Richard Ellis in December 2006 with the acquisition of Trammell Crow Company. As president of the Institutional & Global Corporate Services business, he helped grow the business line into a $1.7 billion annual business, which comprised more than 40 percent of the company’s global revenue for the first six months of 2009. Lafitte began his real estate career in 1984 as a leasing agent at Lincoln Property Company and over the past 25 years has held leadership and production roles at Bear Stearns Real Estate Group and PREMISYS (a former affiliate of Prudential Life Insurance Company) prior to joining Trammell Crow Company in 1997. CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. announced that William Concannon has been appointed president, Global Corporate Services (GCS). He is charged with continuing growth of this business, which has underpinned the company’s revenue diversification strategy. He succeeds Mike Lafitte, who has been named president, Americas. Concannon is a longtime senior leader of the company’s GCS Group, most recently serving as vice chairman. GCS provides integrated real estate outsourcing solutions on a contractual basis to multinational corporations, the healthcare industry, and the public sector worldwide. He has led the group’s strategic services and consulting practice and overseen all business development efforts, playing a leading role in the expansion of its global client base. Concannon will be responsible for the group’s overall operations globally, which encompasses delivery of all services to CBRE’s GCS client base, including facilities management, transaction management, project management and strategic services and consulting. He joined CBRE in December 2006 with the acquisition of Trammell Crow Company (TCC). In 1991, he launched TCC’s Corporate Services business, and built it over more than a decade into an industry leader in providing real estate outsourcing services to corporate, healthcare and public-sector clients. Concannon began his career at TCC in 1986, and served on the firm’s board of directors for 15 years prior to its acquisition by CBRE. The board of directors of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services named Roderick “Rick” Raymundo to the position of vice president investments. The achievement of vice president investment status is one of the highest levels of recognition the firm awards its sales agents. It represents excellence in client relationships, investment real estate expertise and sales volume. Raymundo began his career with Marcus & Millichap in 2002, specializing in the sale of multi-family properties in the San Fernando Valley. Sales Cydcor, a provider of outsourced face-to-face sales teams, named Randy Alleyne vice president of Retail. In this newly created position, Alleyne will drive Cydcor’s growth plans to support existing and new client retail needs. His role is to strengthen Cydcor’s revenue generation through best practices, collaborative team environments and strategic brand building campaigns. Prior to joining Cydcor, Alleyne served as vice president of Sales and Operations at Banfield Pet Hospitals. There, he was responsible for achieving sales targets by managing sales performance and profit margin. Functioning as a key member of the senior leadership coalition, he developed and implemented targeted marketing plans and strategic operation initiatives including recruiting, retaining and developing talent, operational efficiency and improved productivity. Alleyne was president of U.S. Sales and Operations for start-up brand iFLOOR STORES, regional vice president of Northeast Sales and Operations for Circuit City, and Mid-Atlantic regional manager for Walmart. He is also an Honorable Veteran of the US Army. Technology BlackLine Systems named long-time advisor, Greg Pond, as executive vice president. In his new position, Pond will add strength to the management team as the company continues to grow domestically and expand to new international markets with its flagship account reconciliation and financial close software suite. He comes to BlackLine with nearly 40 years of operational and management experience in the software and financial services industries.