Paul Twardowski

Hines, the international real estate firm, has named Paul Twardowski as head of its San Diego office. He was promoted from project manager to v.p. and will oversee all Hines investments and development activities in the area. A Hines employee since 1998, Twardowski led the acquisition of Golden Eagle Plaza Downtown and Pacific Plaza in Del Mar. He’s also leading development of the La Jolla Commons office building that will break ground this year.

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USE Credit Union’s board selected COO and acting CEO Jim Harris as the San Diego-based firm’s new top executive. Harris has served as acting president and CEO since April when Linda Baughman left the position. He joined the credit union in 2004 and has spent more than 25 years in the business.

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Kirk Cypel

Equastone, a real estate investment firm, named Kirk Cypel to a newly created position of general counsel, based at the firm’s San Diego headquarters. Formerly he was a v.p. with Security Pacific Merchant Bank’s Financial Strategies Division.

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Kevin W. Alexander

Kevin W. Alexander was named managing partner for the 82-attorney San Diego office of Gordon & Rees. He succeeds P. Gerhardt Zacher, who led the office for five years.

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San Diego-based real estate Internet marketing company Z57 Inc. promoted Ken Corbit to v.p. of sales and marketing. Corbit joined Z57 as director of sales in 2004. Previously Corbit was the director of sales and marketing for NewPros Communications.

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NTDStichler Architecture has hired John Husar as marketing director. Husar holds a bachelor’s degree. in interior architecture design from Northern Illinois University, has completed post-graduate courses from Harvard Graduate School of Design, and has been a member of SMPS for 18 years.

Todd Stichler was elected partner at NTDStichler Architecture. He joined the firm in 2003 as CFO and head of human resources.

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Luxtera Inc., a fabless semiconductor and silicon photonics firm, added two senior executives: Marek Tlalka as v.p. of marketing, and James Perrott as v.p. of sales. Tlalka was with Ample Communications where he was v.p. of marketing and sales. Perrott was with Solarflare Communications Inc., where he was v.p. of sales and business development.

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Catherine Birch joined Sudberry Properties Inc. as director of administration. Birch has 19 years of real estate marketing and office management experience. For the past 10 years, she was a marketing specialist at the San Diego central office of CB Richard Ellis.

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Sherri Morris joined Higgs, Fletcher & Mack as a partner in the tax practice group. Formerly Morris was of counsel for the San Diego law firm of Dysart & Dubick. Mitchell Dubick also has joined Higgs, Fletcher & Mack, as a partner in the tax practice group. For the past 18 years, Dubick was a partner at Dysart & Dubick.

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Verari Systems appointed David B. Wright as CEO. Dave Driggers will continue as chair and CTO. Most recently, Wright was executive v.p. for Strategic Alliances and Global Accounts of EMC Corp.

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Attorneys Michael R. Kiesling and Franco A. Serafini have joined Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps law firm. Kiesling is in the environmental litigation practice group, and is based in the Downtown office. Serafini has joined the intellectual property practice group and is the Carmel Valley/Del Mar office. Kiesling formerly worked at Sempra Energy. Serafini managed his own practice in La Jolla.

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Tiffany Sutor has joined Cruzan|-Monroe as an asset and property manager for the San Diego-based real estate development and investment firm. Sutor was a finance and escrow transactions processor with Crescent Heights.

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Morrison & Foerster partner Kate Murashige received the Distinguished Alumni Award in Arts & Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis. The award is for distinction in academic or professional career and demonstrated service to community and the university.. Her practice focuses on the pharmaceutical and health care industries.

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Thomas E. Christian joined SGPA Architecture and Planning as principal architect of the firm’s recently formed Education Studio, which will provide services to community colleges in California and the Western states. He has 20 years of experience.

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Matthew Slakoff joined Cavignac & Associates as an account executive to manage the risk and insurance programs for new clients. Formerly, he served five years as a property/casualty underwriter at Deans and Homers.

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Vertical Village Realty hired Monica Stone to work out of the new Marina District office in the Pinnacle Museum Tower on Market Street.

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San Diego Metropolitan Credit Union hired John Ash as lending manager. Ash has more than 30 years of experience in the lending services industry. Formerly Ash was an independent mortgage broker and real estate division manager at First Future Credit Union in San Diego.

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San Diego native Tom Knight, with more than 30 years of experience in the insurance business, opened his own agency, Pacific Standard Insurance Services Inc. He started with Allen Mason Insurance Co. and stayed when the Robert Driver Co. acquired it until opening his own business.

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Daniel Johnson, v.p. of environmental engineering firm SCS Engineers, was appointed to the board of advisers for Pollution Engineering magazine by Publisher Dave Lurie. Also on the board is Dick Young, who in 1969 created the magazine

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Veteran litigator James N. Godes joined Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch as a partner on the litigation team. Formerly he was a partner at Foley & Lardner.

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Roel Construction hired Ryan Hawkins as project engineer. Ryan has been in the construction industry for more than five years. Hired as a project coordinator was Dana Valade, who has been in the business more than 20 years. Roel also hired Tony Prieto as superintendent. He formerly worked for Johnson, Barnes and Finch Inc.

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Business and real estate attorney F. Gregory Pyke joined the San Diego office of Best Best & Krieger as a partner. Pyke was previously an executive partner with Higgs, Fletcher & Mack, where he headed the transactional practice. Kelly J. Salt joined the firm as of counsel in the public finance practice group. Salt worked for the San Diego City Attorney’s Office for more than 16 years.

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Three Blind Mice Window Coverings Inc, headquartered in San Diego, hired Kelsey Gibson as operations manager. She formerly was with Whalen Marketing and Sales, where she was operations manager for six years.

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Carol D. Hian was named g.m. of Britt Scripps Inn, an estate motel in San Diego. She most recently was a consultant to companies like Pathway to Recovery Inc.

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Bailey Gardiner Inc. marketing agency hired four new staff members: Wenny Lo, junior art director in advertising, formerly a freelancer in West Hollywood; Heather Rothnem, media coordinator, formerly an intern at Sexton Communications; Kelsey Bollinger, account coordinator in advertising, a former intern at BGI; and Lesley Mason, part-time account coordinator, hired after completing an internship with the agency.

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Townsend Inc. appointed Denise Herich as v.p. of the health & life sciences practice, Liya Sharif as v.p. of technology and mobile marketing practice, and Andrew Jones as assistant account executive, technology and mobile marketing practice. Sharif joined Townsend in 2004 and has more than 12 years of experience in public relations. Herich has been in public relations for more than 15 years. Prior to joining Townsend, Herich was with Hill & Knowlton’s Washington, D.C., health and pharmaceuticals practice. Jones joined Townsend in October 2005.

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Community Catalysts of California, a nonprofit agency that serves individuals with developmental and other disabilities, promoted Steve Lawrence to director of development. His experience includes more than 25 years of paid and volunteer work with nonprofit agencies that focus on children and families.

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McCullough Landscape Architecture Inc. project manager David Solmes was designated as an accredited professional by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System. He is now fully certified in “green” landscape design.

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Zagrodnik + Thomas Architects added Christina Sarkees and Kathy Tucker to its office design team. Sarkees is a certified interior designer with more than 13 years of professional experience. Tucker has been working in the field for 10 years.

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Editha C. Benoit joined Smith Consulting Architects as a job captain. She was a job captain with Kenneth Smith Architect and Associates. Marcos Sardon also joined the company as a project manager. Sardon has 16 years of experience, most recently as a project manager with Donald Henke Architect in Poway. Angela Collins has been named controller. She has seven years of accounting experience, most recently as an accounting manager for Mail Dispatch in Miramar.

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Vical Inc. appointed Ronald B. Moss as v.p., clinical development. Moss was v.p. of medical affairs at Telos Pharmaceuticals from 2004 to 2006. Before that he worked for Merck.

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Ferguson Pape Baldwin Architects, formerly McGraw/Baldwin Architects, promoted Andy Darragh to principal architect in the San Diego-based firm, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

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Littler Mendelson’s newest associate, Lara K. Strauss, joins the firm as a lateral associate from the San Diego office of Fisher & Phillips. Before joining Fisher & Phillips,Strauss was an associate at the San Diego office of Morrison & Foerster.

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BRG Consulting Inc., a San Diego-based environmental planning firm, promoted Tim Gnibus to v.p. He has more than 17 years of experience in environmental and land use planning for both the public and private sectors, including Lennar’s Bressi Ranch master plan. He also worked for the cities of Poway and San Marcos and the county.

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Walden Family Services, a nonprofit foster family agency, hired Glenn Paris as director of development. Paris formerly held the same title at San Diego Repertory Theatre. Other new staffers are Carol Kennedy, foundations and corporate relations manager, formerly with Einstein Industries, and Arnold Marquez, development communications manager, formerly at Summerdale Enterprises Inc., and director of programs at San Diego Asian Film Festival & Foundation.

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HDR, an architectural, engineering and consulting firm, named Michael Flores as v.p. at its San Diego office. Flores, an engineer and project manager for a variety of water and wastewater projects, has been with HDR for seven years.

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H.G. Fenton Co., which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, promoted Geoffrey (Geoff) Swortwood to v.p. of commercial building development. Swortwood has been part of the company for the 14 years, most recently as director of commercial development.

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Glen H. Brodowsky, associate professor of marketing at California State University San Marcos, was named a Fulbright Scholar and will lecture at National Cheng-Chi University Taiwan during the 2006-2007 academic year. He will lecture on global marketing in the international MBA program.

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Emily Cutrer was named provost and v.p. of academic affairs at California State University San Marcos. She will oversee the academic colleges: Arts and Sciences, Business Administration and Education, and the Kellogg Library, Information and Instructional Technology, and Extended Studies.

She succeeds Robert Sheath, who after 20 years will retire to be a be a biology professor. Cutrer was the dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University West campus, and is a professor in the department of Language, Cultures and History.

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Invitrogen Corp., a provider of technologies for disease research and drug discovery, named Dr. Leonard A. Herzenberg as chair of the newly formed Flow Cytometry Scientific Advisory Board , and Dr. Leonore A. Herzenberg as a board member. The two are Stanford professors.

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Dale Meacham was appointed director of operations for KBM Building Services, a contract janitorial company celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Meacham has more than 10 years of experience. Prior to joining KBM, he was director of operations for McKowski Maintenance Systems.

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Building Analysts, the forensic architecture venture of Salerno/Livingston Architects, named Jon Luft a senior associate. He is a 30-year veteran of the industry and is licensed in eight states.