People on the move
11:13 AM PDT on Monday, August 6, 2007
Education
Claremont Graduate University has named Rick Wartzman as director of The Drucker Institute. He is an author and longtime writer and editor at the Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times. In 2006, Wartzman revamped the Times' Sunday magazine, West.
Finance
Rabobank in Ontario has appointed Joaquin Serna-Gomez as senior community banking manager and Joanna Merrill as vice president, community banking manager. Gomez previously was an assistant vice president and branch manager with San Diego National Bank. Merrill most recently was assistant vice president at Union Bank in Chino Hills.
Desert Commercial Bank in Palm Desert named James Nelson as vice president-commercial loan officer. Nelson most recently served as business banking manager for the Inland Empire at Wells Fargo.
PFF Bank & Trust in Rancho Cucamonga promoted Keith Howard to vice president and senior market manager for the desert cities. He will provide management oversight for the PFF branches in La Quinta, Cathedral City, and Palm Desert University Village while he continues to manage a Palm Desert branch.
Altura Credit Union, based in Riverside has named two new retail branch managers: Deborah Diamond and Margo Rivera.
Diamond works in Altura's Murrieta branch. She is expected to move to a new Temecula branch when it opens later this year. Rivera is based at the Magnolia Avenue branch in Riverside. She most recently was a vice president/branch manager for Arrowhead Credit Union.
Bank of America has named Al Arguello as president of the Inland Empire market, based in Riverside. Arguello will continue to serve as senior vice president of community impact for Southern California.
Franchises
American Leak Detection in Palm Springs hired John Davis as director of corporate operations and development. For the past 10 years, Davis was the owner/operator of an American Leak Detection franchise in Kentucky. Before joining the business world, Davis spent 14 years pitching for the Kansas City Royals, the Chicago White Sox and the San Diego Padres.
American Leak Detection meanwhile hired Lisa Stickley as director of marketing. Most recently she was marketing communications manager at Henkel Corp.
Hospitality
Las Campanas restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga has hired Richard Pacheco as its executive chef. Most recently, Pacheco was executive chef for Entrepreneurial Hospitality Corp., an affiliate of the Mission Inn in Riverside.
Leslie Mercado has joined the Temecula Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau as sales manager. Most recently, Mercado was sales manager at Pala Mesa Resort in Fallbrook.
Logistics
DHL in Riverside has hired Robert Doherty as manager of the new West Coast distribution hub in Riverside. Doherty has 20 years of experience in the transportation and logistics industry including positions at Fed Ex Ground and United Parcel Service.
Public agencies
SunLine Transit Agency in Thousand Palms has hired Naomi Nightingale as director of administration & human resources. Most recently she was special assistant to the president of Antioch University.
The Inland Empire Economic Partnership in Riverside named Greg Wright as director of public policy and government affairs. He also will serve as the executive director of the Inland Empire Transportation Coalition through a staff-sharing agreement between the two organizations.
Wright was formerly responsible for public policy and government affairs at the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership in Irwindale. The graduate of Claremont McKenna College once served as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Water
Basin Water Inc. in Rancho Cucamonga appointed Scott B. Hamilton as general counsel.
