The San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce named Linda Caballero-Merritt president/CEO. She has been director of marketing and corporate communications for the San Diego Workforce Partnership Inc., which she joined in 2000.

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Robert Svet was named to the board of the SDSU College of Business. Svet founded the Eastridge Group of Staffing Companies in 1971, and was a business major at SDSU.

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Phil Blair has been elected chair of the NTC Foundation board. He is the president of Manpower Staffing Services of San Diego.

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Ian D. Campbell, general director of San Diego Opera, was awarded the 2004 Wolfensohn Award given annually by the Sydney University Graduates Union of North America. The award is named for James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, and is awarded to one who has made a significant contribution for the betterment of society and his or her profession, business or academics.

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Joel Bonnema, a long time Miller/Russell investment counselor, will manage the newly opened Miller/Russell & Associates Inc. advisory office in Torrey Pines Bank’s Carmel Valley site.

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Alan Brown was hired as tax manager at Grice, Lund & Tarkington’s Encinitas office. He was formerly with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Orange County. The accounting firm also hired Debi Loetell as a senior accountant in the tax department of its Escondido office. She was formerly with Moss Adams in San Diego.

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Dr. Thomas J. Kipps was appointed holder of the Evelyn and Edwin Tasch Chair in Cancer Research in the UCSD School of Medicine. Kipps is a professor of medicine in the UCSD School of Medicine, deputy director for research at the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center and associate director of the UCSD Human Gene Therapy Program. He is also director of a federally funded national research consortium for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

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William Ostrem, president and CEO of the EastLake Co., was elected to the board of the Greater San Diego Division of the American Heart Association.

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Invitrogen Corp. named Ronald A. Matricaria to its board. He replaces William J. Mercer, who is retiring. Matricaria is the former chairman and CEO of St. Jude Medical Inc. Retiring from the board is William J. Mercer, a member since 2001 and founder and managing member of Avocet Ventures.

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Four design professionals who joined Graham Downes Architecture are Justin Martinez, Matthew Buster, Meredith Hoyle and Laura Lisauskas. Martinez has five years of experience in the field; Buster most recently was a CAD drafter for the Whitley Consulting Group in San Diego. Hoyle previously worked with HOK Sport architects, assisting in construction administration services for Petco Park. Hoyle previously was with Whitley Consulting Group. Lisauskas, a native of Lithuania, is completing her studies at the Design Institute of La Jolla.

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The Burnham Institute appointed Adrienne Day to the newly created position of v.p. of business development. She has more than 10 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry which includes positions with Conforma Therapeutics Corp., Molecumetics Ltd. and Ligand Pharmaceuticals.

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Karen M. Hsu has joined the business insurance team of Goreham, Moore & Associates as an account executive. Hsu has more than 13 years of experience in the business.

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Viking Systems Inc. appointed Dr. Nathan J. Harrison to its board. He is the medical director of Dunhill Marketing and Insurance Inc.

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Genetronics Biomedical Corp.’s board appointed Riaz Bandali as a director of the company. He is senior v.p. of business development and operations at MDS Sciex.rine Systems.

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KMA Architecture & Engineering hired Walter Chambers as project architect and Dennis Nikolaev as graduate architect. Chambers has 15 years of experience. Nikolaev formerly was architectural designer for SFCS Inc.

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Robert A. (Bob) Hoehn, was elected chair of the University of San Diego board of trustees. He is president of The Hoehn Co. and v.p. of Hoehn Motors. He and his brother, Bill, operate six franchises: Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Acura, Porsche, Audi, and Infinity. A Mazda franchise will open this month. Hoehn has been board secretary for three years and a trustee since 1996.

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San Diego National Bank hired Richard Cavallero as v.p.of commercial real estate. He was with Pacific Mercantile Bank in La Jolla where he was the v.p. of the real estate department. He has been in banking for 23 years. Kevin McHugh was hired by the bank as a community lending officer/assistant v.p. McHugh was director of development for Junior Achievement of San Diego and Imperial Counties.

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Cox Business Services named Larry Coval director of sales. Before joining Cox, Coval worked at AT&T for nine years.

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Lorelie Gutlay joined the audit department of Lavine, Lofgren, Morris & Engelberg CPA firm to work with health care and technology clients. She formerly worked for J. Michelle of California.

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John Batis and Paul Roe joined Johnson & Jennings General Contracting as superintendents. Batis’ 20 years of experience include working for FCC/Bilbro in San Diego. Roe’s 34 years of experience includes six years as a superintendent for Reno Construction in San Diego.

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Jeffrey Stumbo was named to head a newly consolidated Metropolitan Transit System Human Resources Department. Formerly v.p. of human resources and labor relations, Stumbo has been with MTS for 16 months. Tiffany Lorenzen was named general counsel for the MTS. She joined the staff as deputy general counsel in July of 2003.

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Kevin D. Anderson of Jamul was elected treasurer of the Academy of General Dentistry. He is a trustee for the organization and in 2003 was named “Dentist of the Year.”

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USD’s Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate added Charles Tu as an associate professor of real estate. Tu will teach in the master of science degree program in real estate and undergraduate courses. Elaine Worzala, professor and research director for the center, received a $91,000 grant for USD to complete a research project focusing on the international pension plan community. It is funded by the Pension Real Estate Association.

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Sharon Rissling joined Tucker Sadler Noble Castro Architects as a project architect. Rissling has more than 15 years of experience in the architectural field. Most recently, she worked for Dominy & Associates Architects in San Diego.

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Linden Painting & Refinishing appointed Michael Cornish to v.p. Cornish joined the company in 1996 and has more than 20 years of experience in project management. After 20 years at 19th and Imperial Avenue in San Diego, Linden Painting & Refinishing (formerly Wilson & Hampton Refinishing) moved this month to El Cajon.

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Two new associates in the San Diego office of Gordon & Rees are Scott Barber, senior associate with the health care and real estate groups, and Michelle Dicks, an associate with the employment group. Barber formerly was an associate with Grace Brandon Hollis. Dicks was an associate with Shea, Stokes & Carter.

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Scott Metzger of Duckor Spradling Metzger & Wynne was inducted into the American Board of Trial Advocates. He has more than 20 years of experience as a trial attorney.

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John Collier, was appointed a principal at Tucker Sadler Noble Castro Architects. With nearly 26 years of experience, Collier joined the firm in 2003, relocating from San Jose.

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David Kieffer, Carla Petticrew, Robyn Lamb and Annette Jackson joined the Douglas Wilson Cos real estate services firm as associate directors. Kieffer relocated from Denver; Petticrew was with CP Investments and CB Richard Ellis; Lamb was a consultant with BPP Liquidating Trust and was an office manager for Burnham Pacific Properties and Jackson is a network administrator with a background in computers.

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Benjamin Haddad was reappointed by Mayor Dick Murphy to the San Diego County Water Authority board as the city representative. Haddad is senior v.p. for communications at Science Applications International Corp.

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Silvergate Bank hired William Conkey as v.p., secondary marketing. He has 25 years of experience in the secondary mortgage market.

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Barnhart Inc. promoted Richard Bruce and John Bernardy to v.p.’s for construction management, jobsite operations. Both have been with Barnhart for more than 15 years. Steve Radford and Steve Ybarrando were promoted to general superintendent at Barnhart. Radford has worked for the firm for 11 years; Ybarrando’s expertise is in cast-in-place concrete and utilities development for difficult sites.

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The San Diego Employers Association appointed Ciara Hotz business development liaison. Prior to joining SDEA, Hotz was with TEC International. Also appointed was Brandon Hernandez as membership liaison. He was a budget assistant in the UCSD Pharmacology Business Office.

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The San Diego YMCA awarded Ken Stimeling the Golden Triangle of Distinguished Service Award. Stimeling has worked for Union Bank of California for 34 years.

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Kara Lieberfreund is marketing coordinator for James Leary Architects. She has previous public relations/marketing experience in the interior design textile industry.

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James S. King joined the staff of Able Patrol & Guard as business development manager. He has 16 years of experience in his field.

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Pat Bromley joined JK Investment Properties as a specialist in asset acquisitions. He worked 31 years for Bank of America.

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The San Diego Regional Energy Office hired Dave Weil as director of programs. He was business operations officer for the Southwest division of Naval Facilities Engineering Command. Also hired was Jason Knight as energy engineer. Amy Lyons, with five years of experience, was hired as marketing communications specialist. Promoted was Jose de la Torre to controller from financial analyst. He has more than 12 years of experience. Other promotions were: Tom Geldner to director of marketing from marketing manager; Ben Erpelding to senior energy engineer; Stephen L. Kapp and Lynne Olson to program manager; and Adrienne McCrumb to program assistant from administrative assistant.

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Leon Brooks of Leon Brooks & Associates was appointed to the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee of San Diego City Schools. Brooks has served as a San Diego County planning commissioner, Urban Core board member and is a charter member of the San Diego Council of Black Engineers and Scientists.

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Stacie Spector was named associate vice chancellor for university communications at UCSD. She worked at the White House during the Clinton administration.

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Linda McGrath was appointed sales and marketing director for The Patrician, a full-service senior residence near University Town Centre. McGrath is experienced in local and national marketing of retirement communities.