Newsmakers.

Accounting & Consulting

Michael D. Cohen was named partner at Singer Lewak Greenbaum & Goldstein in Los Angeles. He will provide counsel on mergers, acquisitions and sales. Cohen previously had his own practice.

David Hemmerling was appointed partner in the Southern California/Nevada region of the international tax services group at Deloitte & Touche in Los Angeles. He will provide tax services to multinational companies and high-tech clients. Hemmerling was most recently a partner with Ernst & Young in Los Angeles.

Miles E. Holsworth was appointed senior partner and vice president of finance at J.D. Power and Associates in Agoura Hills. He will be responsible for finance and accounting functions, and office services. Holsworth was most recently chief financial officer and acting president at JESI in Los Angeles.

Advertising & P.R.

Andi Poch was appointed vice president of West Coast sponsorship sales at the Los Angeles offices of Phase2Media, an Internet advertising and marketing firm. She will be responsible for integrated Web site marketing. Poch was previously vice president of advertising and sponsorship sales for ETM Entertainment Network in Costa Mesa.

Banking & Finance

Hal C. Rose was appointed first vice president for L.J. Melody & Co., a Los Angeles national real estate investment banking firm. He will originate commercial real estate transactions and mortgage loans. Rose was previously executive vice president for ARCS Commercial Mortgage in Los Angeles.

Education

Chloe T. Reid was appointed executive dean of Antioch University in Los Angeles. She will be responsible for student services, including registration, recruitment, admissions and financial aid. Reid was most recently associate dean of student affairs at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa.

Entertainment

Steve Lange was named general manager of Weller/Grossman Productions in Los Angeles. He will supervise all ongoing productions and oversee new business development. Lange was most recently executive producer of "Extra."

George Nunes was appointed vice president of House of Blues Media Properties in Los Angeles. He will focus on developing the company's music division and record label, as well as devising marketing strategies and strategic alliances. Nunes was most recently general manager of Miramar Recordings in Seattle.

Michael E. Silver was named vice president of business and legal affairs for Universal Studios Recreation Group in Universal City. He will assist with negotiation and review of contracts, new business proposals, acquisitions and divestitures, joint ventures, licensing, and corporate partnerships. He was most recently director of contracts and legal administration for Universal Creative.

Barry Smith was promoted to vice president of business development at Novocom, a broadcast production and graphic design firm in Los Angeles. He will oversee sales and marketing for company operations in Los Angeles, London and Singapore. Smith was previously director of business development. Also, Gil Haslam was promoted to vice president of design. He will be responsible for the entire design production process for all projects. Haslam was previously director of design.

High-Tech

Neil Speakman was promoted to chairman and chief executive of Dynamic Digital Depth in Santa Monica. He will direct company growth and develop strategic alliances with commercial partners. Speakman was most recently chairman and chief financial officer for the firm. Also, Mark Schwartz was appointed chief financial officer. He will lead financial strategy and initiatives. Schwartz was previously co-founder and chief financial officer of Bodega Latina Co., a Los Angeles grocery retailer.

Law

Ted Ambrister was named partner at Gordon & Rees in Los Angeles. He specializes in litigation on product liability, medical products and employment law. He was previously a senior attorney with the firm.

Laura Davis Jones was named partner at Pachulski, Stang, Zihel, Young & Jones in Los Angeles. She focuses on bankruptcy, litigation and transactions. Jones was previously a senior partner at Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor in Delaware.

Victor Hsu was named partner at Fulbright & Jaworski in Los Angeles. He specializes in public finance and municipal utility restructuring. Hsu was most recently senior counsel with the firm.

Charles J. Moore was named partner at Cox, Castle & Nicholson in Los Angeles. He specializes in providing counsel on land-use entitlement matters to real estate development clients. Moore was previously principal deputy counsel for Los Angeles County.

Harriet M. Welch was named managing partner at Arter & Hadden in Los Angeles. She will be responsible for general operations, administration and staffing for the Los Angeles and Woodland Hills offices. Welch will continue her municipal finance practice at the firm.

New Media

Jeremy Gimbel was appointed finance manager for iWeb Corp., an Internet incubator in West Los Angeles. He will review all proposals and provide financial guidance and planning for start-up companies. Gimbel was formerly an investment banker with ING Baring Furman Selz in New York.

Abby Hossein was appointed chief information officer at PeopleSupport, a provider of Internet customer-service solutions in Los Angeles. He will manage all systems infrastructure and technology development. Hossein was previously e-business practice manager at Hewlett-Packard in Fullerton. Also, Cormac Whelan was named vice president of operations. He will be responsible for all customer interaction centers. Whelan was most recently vice president of worldwide support services at Epicor Software Corp. in Irvine.

Kami Kotobi was named vice president of customer service at Virtualis Systems Inc., a Web hosting and application service provider in North Hollywood. He will oversee customer service and support. Kotobi was most recently director of customer service operations at NCR Corp. in Rancho Bernardo.

John Kjenner was appointed chief information officer for WhatsHotNow.com, an e-commerce service provider in Los Angeles. He will be responsible for information systems and new product development. Kjenner was most recently vice president of operations and technology at Disney Consumer Products. Also, Carl Pregozen was named vice president of engineering. He will be responsible for day-to-day maintenance of the company Web site. Pregozen was most recently a systems engineer at Sun Microsystems.

Jane Lee was named executive vice president of sales and marketing for Traffic Station, a Los Angeles company that provides personalized traffic information through the Internet and wireless communications. She will oversee four sales divisions and advise on messaging and strategy. Lee was most recently vice president of sales and marketing at iXL in Los Angeles.

Personnel

Steven Finnick was promoted to vice president of operations at DNA Search Inc. in Encino. He will oversee daily operations. Finnick was most recently general manager.

Real Estate

Jerry Asher was named managing director at CB Richard Ellis in Beverly Hills. He will oversee daily operations and will continue marketing local and western region properties. Asher was most recently marketing director for international partnerships for the firm.

Kitty Wallace was promoted to vice president at Sperry Van Ness in West Los Angeles. She specializes in the sale of Westside apartment buildings valued at over $1 million. Wallace was previously a senior associate with the firm.

James A. Rosten was named senior managing director of Kennedy-Wilson in Beverly Hills. He will be responsible for new business development, expanding existing relationships and generating strategic corporate alliances. Rosten was previously president of the western region of Grubb & Ellis Management Services.

Huttas Making High-Tech Plans at Printing Company

Jennifer Smith

HAROLD Huttas wants to turn Insync.Media into a one-stop print shop for the electronic age.

As new president of the firm, Huttas intends to expand high-tech services at the Inglewood printing company, which also builds Web sites where clients can store and dispatch digital images for use in advertising, brochures and other media.

"The bulk of our business is still print, but the fastest-growing portion is our digital division," Huttas said. "Keeping up with technology is our biggest challenge."

As a sales executive with Alan Lithograph, Insync's founding print division, Huttas watched digital technology revolutionize the printing business in the '90s. After acquiring Cal Litho in 1993, the company branched out from simply printing brochures and catalogs to take advantage of the latest online technology.

Insync's Digital Asset Systems division makes digital copies of bulky graphics files for clients like Columbia TriStar Home Video and Toyota. The digitized information is stored in specially designed online libraries. Customers can access and download files through the Internet.

Insync now plans to develop an expanded array of digital services. To that end, it's recruiting programmers while providing ongoing education to home-grown staffers.

Huttas also wants to make sure clients get their print jobs on time, and plans to increase Insync's efficiency by eliminating overlapping steps in the production process.

As a veteran sales executive, he believes Insync has been overlooking the deadline needs of customers, including some that have been with the company for over 40 years. "We needed a change," he said.

Huttas joined the company in 1976 and was an executive vice president since 1985. He received his bachelor's degree in advertising from New York University.