Newsmakers.

Accounting & Consulting

David Fox has joined Business Valuation Services -- a valuation, litigation and financial advisory services firm in Los Angeles -- as director of the Los Angeles office. His responsibilities will encompass all operations of the L.A. office, including support to existing clients and practice development. Fox was senior manager in the forensic and litigation services practice of KPMG before joining BVS.

Banking & Finance

Michael Duran and Marie Tran have both been promoted at California Bank & Trust. Duran is now senior vice president in the firm's Gardena office. Most recently he was branch manager. Tran has been appointed to vice president and branch manager of the California Bank & Trust's Arcadia office. Formerly, Tran was a personal banking sales leader for the L.A. East Region.

Education

Father Albert J. DiUlio has been named president of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He will take a lead role in strategic long-range planning for the future growth of Catholic schools in the archdiocese. DiUlio is the former head of Marquette and Xavier universities.

Entertainment

Chris Curtin has been named vice president, corporate synergy and special assistant to the chairman for The Walt Disney Co. He will be responsible for a wide range of cross-promotional and marketing activities related to major events and initiatives. Curtin most recently served as director, government relations in Disney's Washington, D.C. office. Jody Dreyer has been named to the new position of senior vice president, corporate public service for Disney. She will oversee the company's employee voluntEARS initiatives worldwide; the company's corporate relations function, which is responsible for all corporate community relations activities and contributions; and Disney learning partnership, which supports and funds creative teaching strategies, teacher recognition and professional development, and also is responsible for Disney's American Teacher Awards. Dreyer had been senior vice president, corporate synergy and special projects.

Dean Hallett has been promoted to executive vice president and chief financial officer at Walt Disney Studios. He is responsible for all financial, strategic and operational aspects of the studio. Hallett was previously vice president of Buena Vista Pictures Marketing.

High Tech

Rich Wunder has been appointed chief operating officer of the consulting group at Computer Sciences Corp., a consulting and information technology company in El Segundo. He will work with senior group management to provide strategic direction, manage delivery of the organization's solutions and oversee daily business functions. Wunder has 18 years of consulting experience with CSC and most recently led the consulting group's e-business practice.

Law

Stephen R. Mick has joined Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP as a partner. He will focus his practice on entertainment and intellectual property litigation. Mick was previously practicing out of the Century City office of Loeb & Loeb. Also new to the firm is Geoffrey K. Willis, who is a partner in the environment, land use and project development practice group in Los Angeles. Most recently, Willis was at the Riverside office of Burke, Williams & Sorensen LLP.

Marketing

Samuel Weinstein and Kenneth Anderson have both been promoted at C.A. Walker & Associates, a market research company in Los Angeles. Weinstein is now president and COO, and oversees all day-to-day operations in addition to managing studies for a variety of clients. Most recently he was executive vice president. Anderson has filled Weinstein's vacancy as the new executive vice president. He will be responsible for custom research as well as managing studies in diverse industries with emphasis on consumer packaged goods, the Internet and media. Anderson was most recently senior vice president.

New Media

Dario Fasciano has been appointed to the position of vice president of marketing at POPcast Communications Corp., a video solutions provider in Los Angeles. He will assume responsibility for the company's worldwide marketing effort, brand management and product marketing strategy. Fasciano most recently served as director of corporate marketing for HNC Software.

Joe Varraveto has been appointed the new executive vice president and chief financial officer for eUniverse, an interactive entertainment network in Los Angeles. He will be responsible for the finance, treasury, human resources and investor relations functions. Varraveto was previously vice president of finance at PepsiCo's Frito Lay international snack food unit.

Nonprofits

Karen A. Clark, Ray Coleman and Jena Roscoe have all been named to new positions at Operation Hope Inc., a national economic empowerment corporation in Los Angeles. Clark is the new corporate vice president and chief development officer. Most recently, she was a vice president and personnel manager in Bank of America's Southern California corporate headquarters. Coleman is corporate vice president and controller. She comes to the position after serving as the accounting manager with the city of Malibu. Roscoe has been named corporate vice president, chief of government relations. Roscoe comes to the position from the White House where she held the post of associate director, White House office of public liaison.

Real Estate

John K. Wood III has joined PropertyFirst, a Web-based information service for commercial real estate professionals in Los Angeles, as vice president, product management, appraisal information services division. He is responsible for management and growth of the new division, which is developing the appraisal institute commercial database and a full suite of other data-related products. Wood was previously president of First Realty Advisors.

Retail

Barbara Bach has been named the new marketing director at the Beverly Center. She will be responsible for all marketing, public relations and special events at Beverly Center. Bach comes to the position from S.M.A.R.T. Institute for sports medicine and rehabilitation in Los Angeles, where she served as marketing and operations director.

Maurice Menares has been named director of retail operations at XLarge, a clothing manufacturer and retailer in Los Angeles. He will be responsible for spearheading the company's plans to expand nationwide retail distribution as well as broadening the brand's visibility. Menares has been with the company since 1998, most recently as manager of XLarge's retail outlet in New York.

Security

Steven W. Heaney has been promoted to vice president of business development for Southern California at Allied Security, a contract security services firm. He is based in Los Angeles and is responsible for new business growth and development in Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange counties. Heaney has been with the company since 1997 and formerly held dual positions of district manager and business development manager for Seattle and Portland.

Tourism

Maximo Villar has been appointed to head the Americas regional office of the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau. He will be responsible for developing strategies to increase the number of visitors to Los Angeles from Mexico, Canada, Central and South America. Prior to joining LACVB, Villar served as regional vice president for Discover the World Marketing Inc.

Wholesale

Daniel J. Murphy and John C. Bedrosian have been named corporate officers at Unified Western Grocers Inc., a grocery wholesaler in Los Angeles. Murphy has been named to the newly created position of senior vice president, retail support services. He is responsible for the development and introduction of programs to help Unified's member retailers and customers maximize sales. Bedrosian has been named vice president, manufacturing operations. In his new position, he will be responsible for the operation of the company's fluid milk dairy and full-service bakery, located in Los Angeles.

Tech CFO Bullish on Hollywood Future

THE new chief financial officer of Picture PipeLine LLC, Jan A. Camacho, has joined the growing ranks of new-media types who are betting that digital content delivery will be the future of the entertainment business. Unlike many start-ups though, she has the full support of a Fortune 500 powerhouse -- TRW Inc. -- behind her and the company.

"A lot of companies go out and try to raise venture capital; it's nice not to have to deal with that," said Camacho, who is based in Carson and will oversee all financial activities for the company.

The technology employed by Picture PipeLine provides secure data transfer over broadband networks and was developed by TRW as part of its research-and-development contracts with the Department of Defense. The company claims that there is a growing demand for its application in the film, television, commercial and music video production communities.

"The technology was developed and is being used in the defense industry," she said. "We're basically offering the same technology to different markets -- one happens to be the entertainment industry."

So far, Picture PipeLine has inked a deal with Warner Bros. (which owns a stake in the company). The deal is focused on NBC's series "Third Watch," which Warner Bros. produces. The show is shot in New York and edited in Los Angeles, its content sent across the country via Picture PipeLine's proprietary software rather than overnight delivery services. (Overnight delivery is still the preferred method for many shows with the same shooting/editing arrangement.)

Camacho said other Hollywood deals are in the works at Picture PipeLine.

"We have a lot of potential customers that we will be signing contracts with shortly," she said. "We have a definite revenue stream."

Camacho is projecting that the company will be profitable within the year.

Conor Dougherty