MANAGEMENT Who's News PERSONNEL.

Mitchell C. Hochberg, president of Spectrum Skanska, Inc. has been appointed by New York Governor George Pataki to the board of directors of the Westchester County Health Care Corp., the entity that operates Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. Hochberg will serve on the board through year 2005.

Hochberg is the founder of Spectrum Skanska, the homebuilding and development division of Skanska AB. An attorney and certified public accountant, Hochberg received his law degree from Columbia University School of Law as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and his B.S. in accounting and finance from New York University College of Business and Public Administration.

Hochberg is active in numerous community organizations and serves on the board of directors of the March of Dimes and Gilda's Club of Westchester. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Builders Institute/Building and Realty Institute of New York.

A resident of Harrison, Hochberg is married and has two daughters.

Franklin Speyer, a Cushman & Wakefield veteran and member of the firm's board of directors, has been named executive vice president.

During his tenure at the firm, Speyer has been a principal broker for transactions totaling more than 15 million square feet of office and technology space. He leads a team of six brokerage professionals in the firm's New York headquarters. Clients for which Speyer has performed major tenant representation assignments during the last five years include: Heller Financial, Inc.; Flaplan Inc.; and marchFIRST.

Speyer is a member of the New York City Real Estate Board and is a former governor of the Young Men's/Women's Real Estate Association of New York. He has been secretary of the board of trustees of the Horace Mann School in Riverdale and had served as chair of both the trustee development committee and the annual fund at the school. He recently was appointed a lifetime honorary school trustee.

Speyer earned his B.S. from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ridgewood Savings Bank recently announced the appointment of Steven M. Zarkin as assistant vice president in the commercial real estate lending department.

Prior to joining the bank, Zarkin enjoyed a successful career as a mortgage broker with the Donald Zucker Company. A 1963 graduate of New York University School of Commerce, Account and Finance (now called the Stem School of Business), he is a member of the finance committee of the Real Estate Board of New York, Inc.; board member of the Real Estate Practitioner's Institute at C.W. Post College of Long Island University and a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association of New York.

The David Cronheim Mortgage Corporation announced the appointment of James A. Risko as senior vice president. Risko, a 30-year veteran of the commercial mortgage banking industry, will be responsible for originating, underwriting, and closing mortgage loans on commercial, income-producing properties.

Formerly an adjunct associate professor of real estate at New York University, he has lectured for the Society of Industrial Realtors, New Jersey Bar Association, the New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania Regional Mortgage Conference, and New York University National Real Estate Conference, among others.

Prior to joining Cronheim, Risko spent four years as executive vice president of Island Mortgage Network, where he founded the commercial mortgage loan division. Prior to that, Risko spent 15 years as executive vice president of Poole & Company, specializing in financing commercial, office, and industrial properties.

Cushman & Wakefield's board of directors has named Darcy A. Stacom an executive vice president.

Stacom joined Cushman & Wakefield in 1980 as a capital markets intermediary. She specializes in advisory work and the sale and acquisition of commercial office buildings, residential apartment houses, development projects, and retail centers.

She is responsible for the sale and advisory of more than $3 billion of commercial real estate in New York, and the restructuring of more than $1 billion of mortgage and ownership positions.

Stacom supports a number of charities and is a member of the advisory counsel for the Academy of Woman Achievers of the YWCA and the fundraiser for the United Way. Stacom is a 1980 graduate of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, where she received a degree in marketing.

Kapell and Kostow Architects, PC, has announced the promotion of Francelle Lim to associate principal. Since joining the New York City-based firm in 1997, Lim has served as project manager on a number of significant cultural projects, including the renovation and upgrade of Central Park's landmarked Delacorte Theater, which was completed in 1999.

Currently, Lim is project manager on the renovation of four downtown Brooklyn buildings that will become the new home of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. That project involves the restoration of the former Loew's Metropolitan Theater.

As associate principal, Lim will also be involved in business development, focusing on architectural design for the performing arts.

Steven D. Leader, president of LEADER Realty Advisors, Ltd., announced his certification as mediator under the Unified Court System of the State of New York. Leader, a 32-year veteran in the real estate counseling arena, has been called upon to arbitrate, mediate, and provide expert testimony to individuals, law firms,. companies, nonprofit entities, and professional associations.

Racanelli Construction Company, Inc. announced the appointment of Michael Gedacht as project manager. His responsibilities encompass aspects of project management, from reviewing subcontractor bids and scope analysis to cost estimates, project scheduling, and monitoring.

Gedacht brings with him a proven track record and a strong specialization in commercial/industrial construction. Prior to joining the Racanelli organization, he served as project executive with several other major construction companies, including HRH Construction, Tishman Realty and Construction, Lehr Construction, and Kulka Construction.

Gedacht holds a B.S. in industrial construction management from Colorado State University. He resides in Dix Hills.

Israel Gelman has been named chief financial officer of Madison Title Agency, announced president Joseph I. Rosenbaum.

Gelman assumes financial oversight of the Lakewood, N.J.-based firm. Gelman joins Madison Title after serving as chief financial officer at M. Rieder Companies where he was responsible for legal and financial functions. Before taking that position in 1997, he was controller for Jackson Development Center.

He is a graduate of Ocean County College's business law/finance program. He was a senior research fellow in law and jurisprudence at Beth Medrash Govoha Institute in Lakewood, and also earned a baccalaureate in Talmudic Law and Jurisprudence there.

John J. Gallo, Sr. has been named president & chief financial officer of the investment banking firm of Whiteweld, Barrister & Brown, Inc. He is responsible for the investment banking operations, in addition to financial oversight of the company.

Gallo also serves as chief financial officer for Town & Country Developers, Inc. and Affiliated Companies, and other Whiteweld, Barrister & Brown affiliates across the United States. A 30 year veteran of the financial affiliated service arena, Gallo initially joined the firm as senior vice president of finance. In that position, he was responsible for arranging equity capitalization for real estate revenue projects. He was named executive vice president in 1999, the position he held until this promotion.

A graduate of New York University, with a bachelor's degree in business administration, Gallo attended Brown University's Graduate School of Banking. He also is a graduate of the New York University Real Estate Institute. He is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Forum Club.

Greg Sandler has joined Walter & Samuels as managing director, announced president Elena Zweifach.

In his new position, Sandler is involved with several projects, including East Meadow Plaza in Nassau County, office buildings at 701 Seventh Ave. and 500 Eighth Ave., and retail space at 304 Park Avenue - South.

Sandler will also be involved in new acquisitions and the expansion of the firm's brokerage department. Before joining Walter & Samuels, Sandier was an assistant vice president at Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation. Prior to that he worked for Walter & Samuels as a leasing associate.

Sandler is a current student at New York University's School of Continuing Education and is a B.A. graduate of Stony Brook University.

NetStruxr announced the addition of three new executives: Jonathan Coun as vice president of SPACEdirect; Patrick Foy as vice president of business development; and Maureen Welch as vice president of business development.

Coun comes to NetStruxr with experience in corporate real estate. As the development director and asset manager at the Prudential Insurance Company, he oversaw millions of dollars in leased and owned corporate property acquisitions and dispositions.

Foy joins NetStruxur from RealtyIQ where he served as vice president of member development and sales. He played a critical role helping RealtyIQ transform from a regional real estate information provider to a national Webbased B2B site for the commercial real estate industry.

Welch brings to NetStruxr hands-on knowledge and appreciation for business and technology processes. Her broad career, including experience at HOK, Johnson Controls, and Lucent Technologies, has given her the insight on both a quantitative and qualitative basis to develop and implement tools that enable businesses to strategically align their business goals with their real estate assets.