Newsmakers.

Accounting & Consulting

Richard L. Murphy has been named chief executive at IMPAQ, a consulting and training organization in Los Angeles. Murphy previously worked at Organizational Dynamics Inc., an international management consulting firm.

Advertising & P.R.

Mike Morris was recently appointed vice president in the Los Angeles office of Grizzard, a direct marketing agency. He will focus on developing and growing donor programs for clients such as Goodwill Industries, Catholic Charities, CareNet and Guide Dogs for the Blind. Morris previously served as an account director and was responsible for coordinating direct marketing programs for the Salvation Army, as well as managing the American Bible Society account.

Architecture

Robert Lyons has joined Fields Devereaux Architects & Engineers in Los Angeles as a project manager in the healthcare and science studio. He is responsible for extending the range of the firm's services in the healthcare and science markets and for guiding the staff on larger and more complex projects. Lyon had been serving as a senior project manager for Rossetti Associates of El Segundo.

Banking & Finance

Tom Davin has joined Brentwood Associates, a private equity investment firm in Los Angeles, as an operating partner. He will work closely with the chief executives of Brentwood's portfolio companies to refine strategies in order to achieve investment returns. Davin was previously chief operating officer of Taco Bell Corp. and a founding executive of its parent company, Tricon Global Restaurants.

Education

Brian Farrell, president and chief executive of THQ Inc., has been appointed chair of the board of advisors the Harold Price Center for Entrepreneurial studies. He has been on the Price Center's board since January 2000 and will lead the 30-member advisory board in its guidance of the school's entrepreneurial program.

Entertainment

David Goldstein has been promoted to vice president of post production engineering, sound services at Universal Studios operations group in Universal City. He has responsibility for all technical operations and staffing in addition to setting the engineering standards in post production sound and projection division, which includes mixing studios, sound editorial, projections and DVD digital mastering. Goldstein has been an engineer with Universal since 1985, most recently serving as director of engineering.

Bruce Gordon has been named senior vice president and chief financial officer for the Walt Disney Internet Group in North Hollywood. He will be responsible for all aspects of financial planning and management of WDIG, a business unit of Walt Disney Co., providing strategic and operational leadership to the company's Internet properties, including ABCNEWS.com and ESPN.com and managing the Disney.com Web site. Most recently, Gordon served as president and general manager of WTVD-TV, the ABC-owned television affiliate in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Wendy Nordstrom has been named director of series development at Granada Entertainment in Los Angeles. She will be working on series development of both comedy and drama at Granada, including the creation of American series from British formats and the development of original material. Most recently, Nordstrom worked at Touchstone Television as the coordinator of drama and comedy series for both current programming and development.

Darryl Taja has been hired as senior vice president of the talent and literary management division of Catch 23 Entertainment in Los Angeles. In addition to his role as talent manger, he will oversee the company's newly launched urban entertainment label, working with the production and management division's senior staff and overseeing the development of projects and talent specifically targeted at the urban market. Most recently, Taja served as the managing partner of the Machine, the management division of the Bubble Factory.

Charles S. Warn has been promoted of assistant executive director at the Directors Guild of American in Los Angeles. He has been with the guild since 1996 and most recently served as national executive and led the department of communications and public affairs.

Health Care

Rick Lyons has been named chief operating officer at the Encino campus of Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center in Tarzana. He will be managing day-to-day operating procedures as well as legal and regulatory requirements in addition to developing, implementing and monitoring operating plans, goals and objectives. Most recently, Lyons served as interim president of Bakersfield Memorial Hospital.

Law

Andrew Kim has been elected partner at Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan LLP in Los Angeles. He will continue in his entertainment and sports litigation practice which emphasizes breach of contract, business tort, unfair competition, misappropriation of trade secrets, intellectual property, right of privacy and publicity, defamation cases and guild arbitrations. Kim joined the firm in January of 2000.

Carol Lucas has joined the Los Angeles office of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP as senior counsel. Her practice focuses on health law matters, with emphasis in mergers, acquisitions, private placements, joint ventures, entity formation and general corporate representation of public and private companies in the healthcare industry.

M. Sean McMillan and Thomas S. Loo have joined the corporate practice of Greenberg Traurig LLP in Los Angeles as shareholders. McMillan's practice focuses on assisting technology-based companies to exploit their intellectual property both domestically and overseas. Loo concentrates on the financing and securities aspects of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions. McMillan and Loo were attorneys at Bryan Cave LLP before joining the firm. Frank E. Meredith has also joined the firm as a shareholder. He is a member of the litigation department and also worked for Bryan Cave LLP before joining Greenberg Traurig.

Media

Roger Workman has joined KCET in Los Angeles as executive vice president of institutional advancement. He is responsible for all fundraising, including major gifts, planned gifts, foundation underwriting, membership and program marketing. Workman most recently worked for the University of Southern California where he was executive director of development with the school of engineering.

New Media

Stephen Anspach has been named chief technology officer at E-Poll, an Encino-based provider of audience research and interactive tools for the entertainment industry. He is responsible for expanding E-Poll's proprietary technology and expanding it into a suite of applications that will deliver interactive features for online, interactive television and wireless platforms. Anspach joins the company from Razorfish, where he was vice president of research & development and director of technology.

Real Estate

Cynthia Chong has been named vice president and general manager of The Grove, a retail and entertainment center being developed by Caruso Affiliated Holdings Inc. She will have responsibility for day-to-day operations at the Grove along with long-term strategic planning, financial reporting, marketing, community and tenant relations. Chong joins the Grove after 11 years as vice president and general manager of the Glendale Gallena.

Research

Kenneth P. Trevett has been named president and chief executive at Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute in Torrance. Trevett is charged with leading REL by focusing on modernizing laboratory facilities, enhancing transfer technology, increasing collaborative exchange among scientists and exploring opportunities for new faculty recruitment. Most recently, Trevett was chief operating officer and general counsel at the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston.

Software

Adam Brenner, Chet Petrow and Stephanie Kamp have all joined Fasturn, a software provider for the fashion industry in Los Angeles. Brenner, who previously worked at Ariba, Oracle and PeopleSoft, will be serving as vice president of field operations. Petrow is vice president of regional sales and Kamp will be serving as vice president of sales operations.

Reshaped Coldwell Gets New L.A. Head

Conor Dougherty

ROUCH times are nothing new to Scott Gibson, newly named president of Coldwell Banker/NRT's Los Angeles office.

Having lived through the consolidations in the residential real estate business, it's worth noting that he comes to his new post through a break-up of sorts.

CoIdwell Banker/NRT, country's largest residential real estate brokerage, split its Southern California operations into three units: Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County. The firm has tapped Gibson to run L.A.'s 48 offices with more than 3,300 sales associates.

"It's really a reconfiguration in a way that better serves the local markets," said Gibson, who most recently served as executive vice president of the Southern California operating company. "(Each company) can better respond to what's going on at the field level. Each area needs its own autonomy."

Gibson's covers greater Los Angeles and Ventura counties -- from Santa Barbara to Palos Verdes, Los Angeles to Claremont. "I'm happy that I'm able to focus on L.A' he said.

Real estate forecasts have been dreary of late, but Gibson said he has been expecting a challenging market for some time. He even expects the company to grow. "Our vision of the business is local, but we have the resources of a large company," he said.

Gibson began his career in real estate in 1978, the year he graduated from UCLA, as a sales agent with Harleigh Sandler Realtors in Los Angeles. He also was an agent at Jon Douglas Co. and Fred Sands Realtors. In 1988 he purchased Kent Realtors, with three offices and 150 agents. In 1993, the company was purchased by Prudential California, at which point he became vice president/manager at Prudential California Realty. He joined Coldwell Banker/NRT in 1997 when it purchased Prudential Jon Douglas. Gibson served as senior vice president for the Westside/South Bay region before moving into his most recent position for the Southern California operation.

A third generation Angeleno, he lives in Pacific Palisades with his wife and three daughters.