PEOPLE IN BUSINESS.

IRANI PROMOTED AT VERTEL: Cyrus Irani, vice president of business development for Vertel, was recently promoted to vice president of marketing. Irani will continue developing business relationships while expanding his responsibilities to include management of marketing efforts in the telecommunications market.

Woodland Hills-based Vertel provides advanced telecommunications management solutions including communications infrastructure products, network management platforms and applications software for telecommunication carrier networks worldwide.

WITHAM PROMOTED AT UVDI: Dave Witham, director of engineering at Ultra Violet Devises Inc., was recently promoted to vice president of engineering. Witham will oversee the engineering support for existing and new product development and quality assurance.

A world leader in the development of ultraviolet technology, Santa Clarita-based UVDI manufactures ultra violet lamps and devices for water and air treatment, and has recently expanded into plastic injection molding and the specialty UV lamp arenas.

AUTO MALL HONORS TOP TECHNICIANS: The Thousand Oaks Auto Mall recently held its second annual Project Technician competition to determine the best technician at the mall and further improve customer service standards. Jean Preis won the master technician competition and Donald McLaren finished first as a general technician. Trophies, cash prizes and gift certificates were awarded to the winning technicians.

The program stressed repair knowledge, the mechanics' ability to fix the problem correctly the first time, employee dependability, work ethic, willingness to train and on-time performance.

GRUEN PROMOTED AT WARNER BROS.: Rob Gruen, senior vice president of worldwide marketing and retail business development for Warner Bros. Consumer Products Division, was recently promoted to executive vice president. Before joining Warner Bros., Gruen held senior management positions with Target stores, Dayton Hudson Department Stores and Federated Department Stores.

Warner Bros. Consumer Products is a division of Time Warner Entertainment Company.

MCGRATH PROMOTED AT UNIVERSAL: Brian McGrath, senior vice president of international business development at Universal Studios, was recently named president of Universal Studios Recreation Group. McGrath will maintain the duties of his old position, but will now also be responsible for all international activities in the Recreation Group, including the oversight responsibility for Universal Studios Japan.

Before joining Universal in 1996, McGrath held a number of senior executive positions in entertainment, marketing, investment banking and sports, and was previously president and chief executive officer of ISL Marketing in Switzerland, a leading sports marketing company.

MORALES PROMOTED AT PARAMOUNT: Nan Morales, production management executive of Paramount Pictures, was recently promoted to vice president of feature production management. Morales will be responsible for the budgeting and scheduling of all assigned motion pictures as well as supervising and negotiating for key crew, office and stage facilities, and equipment from pre-production through principal photography.

Before joining Paramount, Morales was a free-lance production coordinator and production supervisor for three years, working on feature films for Warner Bros., Sony Pictures and Castle Rock Pictures.

CHARLTON BECOMES MEMBER OF DENTISTRY ACADEMY: Gregory Charlton, a general, cosmetic and denture prosthetic dentist, recently became a member of the Academy of General Dentistry. The academy is a national organization run by and for general practitioners. Members maintain a high standard of professional proficiency through continuing dental education.

Charlton is a published author and regular speaker in the dental field, and was recently a featured speaker at the British Columbia Dental Society convention.

BOHM PROMOTED AT PEARSONS: Pauline Bohm, executive director of worldwide marketing at Pearsons, was recently promoted to vice president. Bohm will continue to be responsible for developing international marketing campaigns for Pearsons film and television library.

She will also supervise marketing activity on behalf of Pearson Television at international festivals and develop strategies for U.S. domestic syndication marketing campaigns.

Pearsons Television's worldwide activities range from production and broadcasting to global television distribution.

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6 Photos

Photo: (1) IRANI

(2) WITHAM

(3) GRUEN

(4) MCGRATH

(5) MORALES

(6) BOHM