VALLEY NEWSMAKERS

Emergent Game Technologies, provider of 3D game development products, officially appointed Scott M. Johnson as chief executive officer. He has held the position since late last year and led the company to record results through the close of 2009. Prior to joining Emergent, Johnson was co-founder and CEO of Mobility Entertainment, a mobile entertainment developer that was purchased by Foundation 9 and delivered more than 20 mobile games to market. He served as vice president of Vivendi Universal Games, and vice president and chief financial officer for Universal Interactive. He managed core franchises like Crash Bandicoot, Lord of the Rings and Spyro the Dragon, and helped launch Vivendi’s Black Label Games. How’s the video game development industry fairing these days? The video game industry as a whole is constantly on the move, and the past year has been no exception. Some of the old truths of the industry are being challenged. Games used to only get better and bigger. But people have begun making games that are not necessarily bigger. And in some cases the games are smaller. They are also rediscovering story telling, puzzles within games, and there’s a lot of innovation happening around online connectivity. What are your immediate goals for Emergent? Emergent is all about helping the game development community’s success. As the industry goes more online, our products and technologies need to help them do that. The cool thing is we’ve been doing a lot in markets like China and Korea that will help companies in U.S. markets. But they will show up in their own Western way. Another thing in L.A. is we’ve started the “Game Team Initiative.” We’re supporting new game teams in town by helping them with technology, the development process, back office support and more. The point is to reinvigorate the independent game development community. – Eric Billingsley Awards The First Ladies of Simi Valley Hospital Foundation announced that the 2010 “Woman of the Year” is Deb Holler. The official award will be given to Holler at the Hats Off to Women Luncheon and Fashion Show on April 16. Hats Off to Women celebrates women and raises funds for hospital community outreach projects. Holler has lived in Simi Valley for 20 years and is deeply active in her community. She has been a member of the Rotary Club of Simi Valley for the past 13 years and is the current president. She also serves on several boards such as the Boys & Girls Club and the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce, where she served as their chief financial officer. Holler has been involved with the Moorpark Community College Foundation Board and is a graduate of Leadership Simi Valley. Banks Steve Beilinson has been promoted to the position of Group Commercial Credit Officer for Bank of the West’s Regional Banking Group. He is responsible for guiding the credit administration function for the group’s network of commercial banking offices throughout the Midwest, Great Plains, Rocky Mountain and Western states’ divisions. This includes oversight of portfolio management, credit policy and procedures, training and the commercial banking office centralized credit support group. Previously, Beilinson was senior VP/division credit manager for the Southern California Division, overseeing commercial lending for five regional offices and the regional construction loan office. He is based in the bank’s Southern California regional office in Los Angeles. Economic Development The Economic Development Collaborative-Ventura County installed Harold S. Edwards, president/CEO of Limoneira Company, as the board chair. Oxnard Councilmember Andres Herrera is now vice chair. New board members who were recognized at the annual meeting include: City National Bank VP and manager Sim Tang-Paradis; Ventura Federated Chambers of Commerce president Patrick Ellis; and Ventura County supervisor John Zaragoza. Edwards has been president and CEO of Limoneira Company since October 2003. Councilmember Herrera has been involved with Oxnard city government for more than a decade. Education George J. Petersen will be the new dean of the School of Education at California Lutheran University. He is currently co-director of the University of California, Santa Barbara/ California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Joint Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. Former positions include chair of the Department of Graduate Studies in the College of Education at Cal Poly, and associate director of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), a national research and policy organization. Petersen has also served in leadership and on the faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Evansville in Indiana and Missouri State University. He begins the new position on July 1, replacing Carol Bartell who is retiring. Finance Robert Katch, president of Manchester Financial, a wealth management firm specializing in portfolio management and integrated tax guidance, has been named a Master Elite Advisor for the Ed Slott Elite IRA Advisor Group. Ed Slott is a registry that helps people locate their region’s top financial advisors, representing the top one percent of all financial advisors in the country. The registry is an invitation-only group, putting Katch in an esteemed group of experts who have helped countless people and businesses navigate the continuing IRS changes to IRAs, Roths, 403(b), and 401(k) retirement plans. Katch founded Manchester Financial in 1990 while serving as Pepperdine University’s Associate Treasurer. Great American Group, Inc., provider of asset disposition, valuation and appraisal services, announced the following executive promotions in the Valuation and Appraisal Division: John Bankert promoted to president; Ken Bloore promoted to chief operating officer; and Michael Marchlik promoted to national sales and marketing director. Bankert, formerly COO of the Appraisal and Valuation Division, is an 11-year veteran at Great American Group. Bloore, previously managing director of the Appraisal and Valuation Division, has more than 14 years of industry experience. Marchlik was formerly executive VP of Western Region Sales. He has been part of Great American Group for 14 years. Local financial services expert Robert C. Kulle has been accepted by the International Forum, the premier national association for the life insurance industry. Membership is by invitation only. The Forum promotes open exchange of diverse ideas and expertise to foster the independent personal business and professional growth of its members. Kulle is the founder of Heritage Capital Strategies, Inc., which is a member firm of Partners Financial, a subsidiary of the public company National Financial Partners (NFP). His expertise is in estate planning, business succession, and life insurance projects. He is also responsible for building the executive compensation sector of his company. Hair Care Newhall Laboratories, Inc., developer and marketer of branded hair care products including La Bella® and GroWorks, appointed Mike Weiss to the position of executive VP. The majority of his professional career has been spent in the health and beauty industry, working with firms such as Beiersdorf Inc. (Nivea Skin Care), Alberto Culver (VO5, Tresemme), Kiss USA and W.E. Bassett Company. His experience with those companies included domestic and international responsibilities. Law Employment law expert Karen Gabler has been designated chair of the HR Executive Strategy Roundtable Committee. The roundtable meets the third Wednesday of every month in Westlake Village, and is focused on strategic professional development and advancing corporate performance through thought-provoking and lively programs. She will oversee the peer-to-peer roundtable, which facilitates collaboration and sharing of best practices among invited executives. Gabler is an attorney with Ventura County law firm Nordman Cormany Hair & Compton. For the past 18 years, she has counseled employers on virtually every aspect of employment law. Real Estate After managing Arden’s 2.6 million square foot Northern California and Salt Lake City office portfolios for the past 2 years, senior portfolio leasing manager Michael Pollack has returned to the Los Angeles region. He is now overseeing the firm’s Los Angeles portfolio. Pollack will manage Arden’s local in-house and third party leasing teams and will be responsible for leasing activity from Valencia to Westlake Village to Glendale. He has worked with Arden for more than 13 years and will work with Paul King, first VP, Southern Region. Jones Lang LaSalle hired 25-year industry veteran Michael Siteman as executive VP of the firm’s Mission Critical Solutions (MCS) group. Based in the firm’s West Los Angeles corporate office, he will continue to build Jones Lang LaSalle’s MCS group throughout the greater Los Angeles region. The MCS group provides the full range of data center and collocation services to the firm’s clients including site selection, site due diligence, project financing, development, project management, public incentives negotiations and ongoing critical facilities management. Most recently, Siteman was CEO of Leverage Lease, Inc., a commercial real estate developer that offers tenants a 25 percent profit share in leased real estate. AMCAL Multi-Housing Inc., builder of affordable and low-income housing, promoted Arjun Nagarkatti to the position of president. Nagarkatti will oversee the management of all AMCAL departments, as well as property developments, and will report to the company’s principal and CEO Percy Vaz. With more than 25 years of experience in residential development, Nagarkatti previously served as AMCAL’s executive vice president, where he was responsible for structuring AMCAL’s market-rate and affordable projects financing. Technology Xytech Systems Corporation, provider of resource, work order and asset management solutions worldwide, announced the appointment of Greg Dolan as executive VP of Worldwide Sales. He will have responsibility for the strategic direction of the company as well as sales and marketing. Dolan joined Xytech after a decade at another firm where he was the primary driver for the company’s growth. As a senior executive, Dolan led that company into new markets and greater visibility while successfully introducing a suite of software products for the Media Services, Broadcast and Video Transmission industries. Prior, Dolan was CIO of the New York Media Group and manager of Budget Systems for Sedgwick James. Online foreclosure marketplace, RebuildUS, LLC welcomed Chet Pipkin to the company’s board of advisors. Pipkin is founder and chairman of the board of Belkin International, Inc. Since founding Belkin International in 1983, he has guided the company to becoming a dominant global consumer electronics brand generating annual sales in excess of US $1 billion. He also advises more than ten nonprofit organizations, such as the YMCA, Diabetic Youth Services, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, AYSO and Little League. Burbank-based Electrosonic announced that Paul Brown has joined the company as general manager of Service. He will be based in the company’s European office in Dartford, England. Brown is responsible for all service activities including on-site service, service and maintenance, and service administration for users of AV systems within corporate, command and control, entertainment and retail markets. He brings more than 20 years of experience to the job. Prior to joining Electrosonic, he worked for Hewlett Packard and Agilent Technologies. He also operated a consulting company that provided services to Verigy, following its spin-off from Agilent Technologies. Bioness Inc. announced that its board of directors named Thomas G. Fogarty as the company’s new president and CEO. He succeeds former president and CEO Yitzhak Zilberman, who left the company. Fogarty is a 25-year veteran of the medical device industry, having held various senior management positions at public and private companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Baxter, Edwards Lifesciences, and ev3. He assisted in the development and global commercialization of more than 25 products over the course of his career. Fogarty has also helped lead the sale of an early-stage device company to a publicly traded company. Westlake Village-based Row 44, provider of satellite-based Wi-Fi equipment for aircraft, added Larry Kellner, former chairman and CEO of Continental Airlines, to its board of directors, according to SoCal Tech. Kellner served as both CFO and CEO of Continental, where he worked for 15 years. He also serves on the board of Marriott International. Row 44 is backed by PAR Capital Management, and is supplying in-flight Wi-Fi to Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and others.