Betsy Morris

Elizabeth (Betsy) Morris, San Diego Housing Commission CEO, was appointed v.p. of housing for the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. She will chair the organization’s national housing committee. In addition, Morris is president of the California Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies and is a member of Housing California, a statewide coalition of housing advocates.

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Al George

North Island Financial Credit Union’s Al George was named director of the year by the Credit Union Executive Society for his community involvement and commitment to the credit union movement.

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Cybele Thompson, general manager of PM Realty Group, was named president of the California Building Owners and Managers Association for 2004. Thompson was president of BOMA San Diego for 2000-01.

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Southwest Community Bancorp appointed Stuart F. McFarland president and COO. He has been executive v.p. He previously served as executive v.p. and chief credit officer. Diane Sitar was appointed executive v.p. and chief credit officer, replacing McFarland.

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Craig Higgs, a partner at Higgs, Fletcher & Mack, a San Diego law firm since 1939, was elected a fellow of the International Academy of Mediators.

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Named to the NTC Foundation board were Steven J. Mueller, president of DG Energy Solutions, and Gordon B. Swanson, CEO of Cran Chile, a cranberry grower and processor. The foundation is responsible for the preservation and renovation of the 26 historical buildings at Liberty Station.

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Austin Veum Robbins Partners promoted Stephen Pomerenke and Tom Vorkoper to associate. The firm hired architect John Hinkel as senior designer. Pomerenke has 15 years of experience. Vorkoper, with eight years of experience, has been involved with several local projects. Hinkel’s 20 years in the business include most recently working as a senior designer for Carrier Johnson.

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Larry Marshall, partner in the business law department of the Downtown office of Foley & Lardner, will serve a two-year term on the Centre City Advisory Committee.

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Ronald Evans, the March of Dimes chair in developmental and cell biology at the Salk Institute, was elected to the Institute of Medicine. The institute selects members who, like Evans, have made major contributions to furthering human health and advancing science.

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Foley & Lardner added senior counsel Terry Chapko and associate John English to the firm. Chapko is a member of the firm’s litigation department. English is a graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law, where he was a member of the San Diego Law Review.

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The KPBS Producers Club named Fiona Tudor as president. Tudor is the executive director of the Farrell Family Foundation and serves on the boards of the Athenaeum and Barrio Logan College Institute.

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Stephen M. Cusato joined City National Bank as senior v.p. and manager of San Diego commercial banking services based in La Jolla. Most recently he was with Comerica Bank’s corporate leasing group.

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Michael Ray is the new v.p. and construction loan manager at City National Bank. He has 20 years of banking experience.

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Epsteen & Associates, site selection specialists for Starbucks, Petco, Best Buy and other retailers, hired Joe Wijdowski to begin a landlord services division. Previously he was with Boardwalk Development.

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Elaine Lindeen and Gary Kline were named first v.p.s of Evanco Realty Advisors Inc. Lindeen joined the company in 1995 as a real estate manager assistant, Kline in 2000 as a property manager and leasing agent.

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Joining Cavignac & Associates as an account administrator is Debra Skeen. She has 18 years of insurance industry experience.

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Philip Goodrich

Philip Goodrich was named senior v.p. of human resources and training by USE Credit Union. He has held positions with both Nokia and Gateway.

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USD named Rev. Msgr. Daniel J. Dillabough as v.p. of mission and university relations. In this position, he will oversee institutional advancement programs and will head the communications and marketing office.

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National University named Howard E. Evans dean of the school of engineering and technology. He has moved to the San Diego position from Austin, Texas, where he was a manager with the 3M Co.

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Peterson & Co. named Keith L. Troutman and Ken M. Kasianovitz to the partnership. Troutman has more than 13 years in the field, including eight years working in public accounting and five with the Internal Revenue Service. Kasianovitz has 16 years of public accounting experience.

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The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District board elected Ron Kraft as president for 2004. Kraft has taught more than 20 years at community colleges, including Grossmont and Cuyamaca. Other board officers are Dr. Timothy L. Caruthers, v.p., and Wendell Cutting, clerk.

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Michael J. Cooney joined Community National Bank as senior v.p./senior credit manager. His 25-plus years of banking include most recently a position with the commercial banking division of U.S. Bank in San Diego.

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Invitrogen Corp. named Mark Gardner as v.p. of process improvement; Cheri Walker as v.p., corporate development; and Gerry Garcia, director of internal audit. Gardner was with General Electric Medical Systems. Walker was most recently a v.p. at Deutsche Bank. Garcia has more than 10 years of auditing experience, most recently with Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp.

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Charles Berwanger, a partner with Gordon & Rees law firm in San Diego, was elected v.p. for the Association of Business Trial Lawyers in San Diego, one of four state chapters.

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Chuck White, president and CEO of PSA Management Co., has been elected 2003-04 board chair for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society San Diego Chapter. White joined the board in 2001.

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Ryan Marcos was promoted to senior project professional at Environmental Business Solutions, a part of SCS Engineers. He joined the firm in 2002 and previously worked at GeoTek Insite Inc. in Vista.

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Rigoberto Herrera joined Discovery Bank’s lending department as a loan officer with the responsibility of serving financial needs of Hispanic business owners in North County. Previously, he was with banks in Florida.

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Fish & Richardson added three new associates: Edith Bauer, with corporate and securities expertise, previously with Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe; Michael Murphy, formerly with Munger, Tolles & Olson; and W. Chad Shear, an intellectual property specialist, who was with Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. Two litigation technology analysts also hired by the firm are Marc Abrams, formerly a staff engineer with Sony Network Studios; and Kevin Lau, formerly with Dini Group and the UCSD computer science department.

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Douglas Adams and Shao Hsiin Lin joined Dominy + Associates Architects as interns.

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Alisa A. Woodring was hired as a member of the financial restructuring, creditors’ rights and bankruptcy practice group at Baker & McKenzie’s San Diego law office. Mattias Luukkonen is new to the firm’s litigation practice group. Woodring was an associate at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps. Luukkonen was graduated in 2002 from Thomas Jefferson School of Law.

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3E Co., a provider of outsourcing for environmental health and safety information, appointed Jeffrey Starr, v.p. of marketing; Steven King, v.p. of sales; and Norman Farquhar, CFO.

Starr was a general partner with Mission Ventures, a technology venture capital firm. King has two decades of executive and sales management positions in healthcare, most recently with Woodside Biomedical. Farquhar has more than 30 years of financial experience, most recently with Magis Networks Inc.

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Marla Federe was named director for SDSU’s American Language Institute, a division of the College of Extended Studies. She has been English for Academic Purposes director since January 2001. Formerly, she was director of the English as a Second Language program at United States International University.

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Seth Rhea was named financial analyst for CLB Partners Ltd., a development company with Dallas and San Diego offices. He is based in San Diego. Formerly, he was with Premier Data Services in Denver.

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Shari Schenk, director of marketing for the law offices of Casey Gerry Reed & Schenk, was appointed to the State Commission for Economic Development.

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Christina Solstad was appointed technical editor/proposal coordinator at Environmental Business Solutions. She joined the company in 2001 and has more than 18 years of experience in the environmental industry.

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Joe H. Miller joined Independent Financial Group Inc. as executive v.p. of marketing and was named to its board. Working in the securities industry since 1982, Miller most recently managed the Carlsbad office of Sentra Securities Corp.

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Regents Bank hired Robert Hinijosa as IT specialist, and Nicole Fernandes to work in the central operations department. Hinijosa was previously employed in a similar capacity at Northwest Bank before its sale to U.S. Bancorp. Fernandes most recently worked for CoStar Group in San Diego. Paul V. Barber, general partner of JMI Equity, was named to the Regent Bank board.

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Brent Johnson joined the San Diego division of Fieldstone Communities Inc. as project manager of operations in Southwest Riverside County.

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Dr. Gary S. Firestein, professor of medicine and chief of the division of rheumatology, allergy and immunology at UCSD School of Medicine, was reappointed chair of the Arthritis Advisory Committee for a term that will end in 2005.

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Steve Hanks, a San Diego native with 10 years of experience in sales management, joined N.N. Jaeschke Inc., a property management firm, as a business development manager for management services. Previously he was in sales in the wireless industry.

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The California Association of Resource Conservation Districts honored Margaret “Marty” Leavitt as its 2003 employee of the year for her work in developing multiple level partnerships. She is district manager of the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County.

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Chuck Hoffman, president of Mission Valley-based ACI Commercial, received the 2003 Presidents Award from the San Diego County Apartment Association during the 10th annual Mark of Excellence awards. He was recently appointed to San Diego’s Affordable Housing Task Force and is past-president of both the San Diego County and the California Apartment Association.

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Jainey Marie Dorton has joined The Accounting Group as marketing coordinator. Dorton was with the Pollakov Financial Group/Mass Mutual.

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Heather Cook was hired as an account coordinator/receptionist by SpearHall Advertising & PR. Cook began as an intern with SpearHall in February of 2003.

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BRE Commercial hired Mark Swerling as financial analysis service director; Mike Wilder as retail specialist; Tracy Landowski as marketing coordinator; and Stephanie Burroughs as word processor.

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Steve Doyle, president of Brookfield Homes San Diego, was named secretary and treasurer of the board of the California Building Industry Association.

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Voit Development Co. named Peter Quinn as v.p. of development acquisitions. With more than 20 years of experience real estate, Quinn will be responsible for acquisition opportunities in San Diego County.

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Allison & Partners hired Christine Fox as account executive. Formerly, she was an account executive at Berkman Communications.

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Stephanie Wall, former director of sales and marketing at Villa Encinitas, was named director of sales at The Patrician, a senior residence in La Jolla.

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Mark A. Rael joined Gafcon, a construction, consulting and management firm. His 19 years of experience include working most recently as an independent engineering consultant.