PEOPLE IN BUSINESS.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD HOSPITAL CEO RECEIVES AWARD: Dale Surowitz, chief executive officer of the North Hollywood Medical Center, recently received Tenet Healthcare Corp.'s Circle of Excellence Award. He was one of a handful of hospital CEOs to receive the award in Tenet's hospital system.

North Hollywood Medical Center is a 160-bed acute care facility. Tenet Healthcare, based in Santa Barbara, owns 130 hospitals and employs 105,000 people in 22 states.

SAUGUS OFFICE NAMED COMPANY'S BEST: George Simpson, tax expert and business counselor from Triple Check Business Services, recently was honored as owner of the 1996 Office of the Year. His Saugus office was selected on the basis of overall productivity and customer service.

Triple Check Business Services provides companies with services ranging from basic accounting to business counseling to advanced monitoring systems. It has approximately 300 offices in 42 states.

WESTLAKE AD AGENCY HIRES VETERAN: Carlos Darquea, an award-winning advertising veteran who has worked with a variety of companies across the United States, was recently appointed executive vice president, creative director, and a partner at Ahlman & Associates of Westlake Village.

Darquea will be responsible for the creative conscience of all Ahlman accounts, including the development of strategic positioning, concepts, visual, marketing, advertising, broadcast, graphic design, copy and production.

Darquea, a Westlake Village resident, has worked as vice president of marketing for Victoria's Secret and worked for other agencies on accounts such as Neutrogena, Giorgio Beverly Hills and Revlon.

JOHN HANCOCK HONORS LOCAL REP: Thomas Lin, a marketing representative for the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company office in Burbank, recently received the John Hancock Field Quality Award. The award was given to only a few of the company's marketing representatives.

John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, the nation's ninth-largest life insurer, and its numerous subsidiaries have $106.7 billion in assets under management and provide a wide range of insurance and financial products and services.

MANNING PROMOTED AT PARAMOUNT: Michelle Manning, executive vice president of production at Paramount, has recently been promoted to president of production for Paramount Pictures' Motion Picture Group. Manning will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the development and production of Paramount's motions pictures, and will supervise the Motion Picture Group's creative production executives.

In the six years that Manning has worked for Paramount, she has overseen such films as ``Forrest Gump,'' ``Mother,'' ``Primal Fear,'' ``Sabrina,'' ``Clueless,'' ``Beavis and Butt-head Do America,'' ``The Indian in the Cupboard,'' ``Nobody's Fool,'' ``Searching For Bobby Fischer,'' ``Addams Family Values,'' and ``The Firm.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1) SUROWITZ

(2) MANNING