When members of the Visual Effects Society gather for their annual awards show, the toughest part of the night isn’t getting the winners to keep their acceptance speeches short but getting them into the venue to begin with. Dressed in their finest evening wear, the men and women okay, mainly men whose skills with a computer create a charging dinosaur, an alien planet or a capsizing ship will talk with each other. And talk, and talk and talk. “It happens every year the same way,” said society Executive Director Eric Roth. “Our members don’t get a chance to be with each other all that often.” Not a union or a guild, the Encino-based VES is a professional society entering its 10th year of service to the artists creating the effects, the educators training the artists, and other entertainment industry professionals giving their support. Its 1,500 members are scattered around the globe for creating visual effects is a high tech venture that need not be chained to Hollywood. An actor, director and cinematographer need to be on a movie set or television shoot. The visual effects artist can be a half world away pecking away at a computer keyboard to bring to life a planet a million miles away or a world that doesn’t even exist. It’s a role, said society board chairman Jeff Okun, which used to be filled by science fiction writers and inventors but now filled by himself and his colleagues. “We make something tangible and visible that used to be imaginative,” Okun said. “We’re implanting in the minds of the young they can create something new.” For all the attention their work receives, an inferiority complex exists about where visual effects artists rank in the entertainment industry chain. Okun said effects artists are seen as the “interlopers” taking away jobs on movie sets. Roth sees the artists as working on an uneven playing field and not receiving the credit for the work that they do. One issue of importance to the society is standardizing titles in film and television credits. Another is outsourcing of jobs overseas and educating the members on how to deal with emerging markets and make themselves valuable to those markets. What the society allows its membership to do is speak with one voice on those issues, said Roth, who was appointed executive director three years ago. Much of what the society brings its members is camaraderie; the utilizing of resources and expertise that each can give one another. “They wanted to come together to network, to be part of a brethren,” Roth said. While not a founding member, Okun has been in the society since it started. A visual effects artist for nearly 30 years, he is an independent contractor as is about 40 percent of the membership. He most recently did effects for the Warner Bros. Studios release “Blood Diamond.” As it has no collective bargaining power to get its member residuals or health benefits, what the society can do is provide the opportunity for its members to learn from each other and improve their skills through seminars and events such as the “Show and Tell” during which nominees for the VES Awards tell how they did a particular effect. Last year, the society embarked on a new training and mentoring program for college students funded through a $5,000 grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. While visual effects practitioners use state of the art equipment to create their images, the society has not turned its back on the past and those artists who came before. A traveling or permanent museum may be in the society’s future, Okun said. Craig Barron, a Northern California-based artist and society member, is engaged in rescuing mattes and models used in films. Videotaped interviews with older artists have also been done so that their knowledge is not lost. “We’re trying to build a body of information that will allow people to see that we are part of the industry and we’re not just the geeks standing on the side watching the big boys play,” Okun said.

When Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced in December that he was extending the Hollywood enterprise zone to include Pacoima, many in the business community were relieved. The northeast Valley had lost its zone a month earlier, along with all of the important economic incentives, tax credits and financial assistance that went with it. Schwarzenegger’s action was seen as a reprieve, but it also had an unforeseen side effect: by connecting the Hollywood zone to Pacoima, businesses in well-to-do areas in between such as Studio City and West Toluca Lake were suddenly made privy to a wide assortment of financial incentives intended for businesses in economically distressed areas. “It came absolutely as a surprise,” said Tony Safoian, president of the Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who was unaware of the new incentives before an official from the city Community Development Department called earlier this year. More than two months later, however, many qualified businesses are still in the dark about the enterprise zone program and are missing out on thousands of dollars in lucrative incentives. “I had no idea,” said Rodger Boaz, owner of L.B.M. Products Inc., a small tool and die shop on a portion of Chandler Boulevard in North Hollywood that is part of the new zone. Boaz, whose family has owned L.B.M. for 50 years, said he’s never heard of the program but was interested in how it could benefit his five-employee shop. “It depends on what it entails,” he said. “If it could help my business, yes. I’d just like to know what it includes.” Renewed zone The state created the enterprise zone program in 1986 to boost businesses in underserved or economically stagnant areas by giving companies up to $35,000 in employee tax credits, expense deductions, sales tax credits and reduced utility fees. The Pacoima zone was granted in 1986 and is credited with improving the climate for small businesses. The state, however, said the renewal application submitted last year by the Community Development Department failed to show the area was under economic distress and was ultimately denied. After a flurry of resistance from business interests, Schwarzenegger stepped in and tacked on Pacoima to the existing Hollywood zone, which encompasses a large swath of the L.A. basin from just southwest of downtown north to Silverlake and west to Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Schwarzenegger’s move extends the zone further north and west through the Cahuenga Pass and along a mostly rectangle-shaped section between Tujunga and Vineland avenues to Sherman Way. The zone then fans out to roughly Kester Avenue, stretching northeast to include Sylmar and Pacoima and wrapping north around the city of San Fernando. The reconfigured boundaries add several areas not part of the first enterprise zone, including large chunks of Sun Valley, Arleta, Panorama City, North Hollywood and portions of Studio City, West Toluca Lake and Van Nuys. “This is all new,” said Clifford J. Weiss, a deputy director in the Community Development Department, pointing to a map of the new zones at an event last month. “There are thousands of businesses in there that could benefit from this.” Despite that possible impact, however, chamber officials and businesses say the city has made only limited efforts to get the word out about the zone and have scheduled no workshops in the Valley. For the moment, the Community Development Department is participating in some forums hosted by business groups and chambers of commerce, such as the one earlier this year by the Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Safoian said about 30 businesses participated, some of whom applied for credits right away. Still, he questions whether the city and the chamber are helping businesses enough, especially with something that could so clearly benefit bottom lines. “I don’t know how well organized (the city is) on a mass scale informing people the enterprise zone has changed,” he said. “But I wish they were doing some footwork in these neighborhoods.” Chamber not told Richard Bogy, president of the Toluca Lake Chamber of Commerce, said his chamber was never told by the city that a portion of its coverage area was part of the new zone a portion of Lankershim Boulevard near Camarillo Street. “We found it and then went to them and said ‘tell us about it’,” he said. The chamber discovered about 25 businesses could benefit, and it held a meeting last week. “We’re lucky that that corridor was needed to connect the two sides,” he said. Bogy chided the city for staying silent too long about who could benefit. “We told them they need to do a better job initiating discussions,” he said. Weiss defended the city, saying they want to help and are planning a workshop in the Valley in the fall. The department also has a feature on its website that allows property owners to determine if they are in an enterprise zone. “We’re trying to get the word out,” he said, adding later, “We have a small staff and have to get around the entire city.” Regardless, Bogy said the city has the responsibility to tell businesses. It has to step up. “It doesn’t matter. Someone tell us,” he said.

Wells Fargo is moving to grab a larger share of the commercial banking market as Santa Clarita continues to expand its population of businesses. The Wells California Business Banking group has opened a business banking office in the city, moving the base of operations serving Santa Clarita closer to the core of activity. “We have watched more and more businesses move into the Santa Clarita marketplace, and we find a lot more of our business opportunity is occurring in that marketplace,” said Roc Caldarone, CBB regional manager for the San Fernando Valley, Pacific Coast and Santa Clarita regions. The new Wells office opens with six employees including commercial loan officers and business deposit consultants. The office targets businesses in the $2 million to $20 million range, which officials say can be best served by some of the products Wells offers. “One of our customers had warehouses located in several different areas of the county with inventory all over the place,” said Caldarone. “We were able to help him finance a new, larger building in Santa Clarita that allowed him to consolidate these facilities and you can imagine the savings in time, logistics and money.” Santa Clarita’s growth has made the area especially attractive to banks, particularly in comparison to business growth in the San Fernando Valley and other parts of Los Angeles County. The region is expected to add 4,300 to 5,100 jobs per year between 2006 and 2010, a growth rate averaging 4.6 percent to 5.7 percent compared to 0.6 percent to 0.7 percent for the rest of L.A. county. By 2010, Santa Clarita could have the largest concentration of businesses in Southern California, according to some estimates. But that growth potential has not gone unnoticed. In the past year, at least four banks have either started up or opened new branches in the Santa Clarita Valley, most catering to businesses in the small to mid-size range. Wells officials acknowledge that the competition has grown fierce in the area, but they say that the company is well equipped to stand out. The bank is already familiar with the region the business bank was first established in the San Fernando Valley in 1996 and has already been providing services to Santa Clarita businesses through that office. At the same time, officials said, the Wells portfolio of services will also help it to compete. “Wells has over 84 business lines available,” said Caldarone. “We also see ourselves as financial consultants. We are also the entry point in helping clients satisfy other banking needs too. Think of the convenience of being able to satisfy your personal and business banking needs with one company,” Caldarone added. “We think that will also separate us from the competition.”

A group of Woodland Hills businessmen is organizing a savings and loan expected to be located in North Hollywood to serve the Hispanic market. Banco Unido in organization has most of its financing lined up and expects to file its application in coming months, the executives said. If it proceeds, the bank would be one of the few de novo thrifts to open in recent years and, according to some, at the cutting edge of a trend to gear savings and loans to specific ethnic markets. “If I was an investor looking at that, I would jump all over it,” said Michael Raab, an analyst with SNL Financial who was speaking generally about the Banco Unido business model and was not familiar with the bank’s organizers. “I think investors are very intrigued by banks servicing an ethnic population.” The organizers of Banco Unido are Bill J. Anz and Francisco J. Martin, co-founders and CEO and CFO respectively of Azure Group, an investment banking firm in Warner Center, and Peter C.K. Judar, who co-founded and serves as managing director for Azure’s wealth management unit. Founded in 2002 as an investment advisory group, Azure later added broker/dealer, mortgage lending and other real estate, legal and advisory services. “We came into the mortgage business with a unique application,” said Anz. “We offered subprime mortgages and carried our own second. As we did that, we noticed a lot of our borrowers were Hispanic and we saw a huge gap in banking products for that group.” The business more recently transitioned from subprime lending to so-called Alt A mortgage lending, a segment that caters to borrowers who are still considered higher risk, but not so risky as subprime borrowers. Then, with the firm’s experience and access to capital, the three began about one-and a-half years ago to organize the bank. Investor groups The organizers say they have lined up three significant investor groups and some individual investors to raise an expected $20 million to open the bank. The board would be composed entirely of Hispanics, most of which the organizers say they have already identified. They expect to choose a CEO in coming weeks and, with a chief executive on board, will file their application with the Office of Thrift Supervision. If all goes as planned, the organizers said, Banco Unido would open in the third or fourth quarter of this year. Their choice of chartering as a savings and loan seems to fly in the face of conventional wisdom. The stigma of the S & L; crisis of the 80s still lingers, and a mere 12 de novo institutions organized as thrifts last year, a fraction of the banks that organized with a bank charter. At the same time, the recent slowdown in the real estate market suggests that the current climate may not be the most advantageous for a new thrift. “People are waiting to see how the real estate market plays out,” said Roberto Barragan, president of the Valley Economic Development Center. “Most of the business plans I’ve seen out there have been business oriented banks because, with the wave of bank acquisitions, there are fewer community banks to serve business needs. I see no one talking about the fact that there is not enough mortgage lending out there.” But the Banco Unido executives figure that organizing as a thrift, with its focus on residential real estate loans, simplified charter requirements in comparison to bank charters and flexibility to operate across state lines, would make the most sense for their business model. “Homeownership within the Hispanic community is something we understand very well,” said Martin. “We understand the risk associated with it, and it’s crucial to have an institution that understands our business model.” Thrifts, despite their stigma, have been performing relatively well. According to the Office of Thrift Supervision, which regulates the industry, net income grew to $15.9 billion industry-wide in 2006 from $14 billion in 2004, although performance has moderated somewhat from 2005. At the same time, the thrifts themselves have been modifying their business models, adding multifamily properties to their lending portfolio. “We’re seeing premium valuations placed on thrifts with a diversified portfolio,” Raab said. The organizers said that their mortgage lending experience pointed up a need in the market that they believe will set Banco Unido apart. “Automatically, if you are Hispanic, there is a disadvantage when it comes to pricing,” said Martin, who is of Spanish descent but was raised in Switzerland. He added that his experience shows Hispanics pay mortgage rates anywhere between one point and one-and one-quarter points higher than Anglos with the same FICA score. Banco Unido already has established relationships with mortgage brokers and other third party providers such as CPAs that the organizers believe will help it to market to the Hispanic community. “I can take my footprint and put it into specific neighborhoods and custom tailor my approach to each one,” Anz said. That way, the three say, they can capture the different Hispanic submarkets in a way that large banks, with cookie cutter programs, cannot.

The line of succession was in place at Sun Quest Executive Air Charter the morning of Jan. 12. Frank Kratzer, a retired airline pilot, ran the day-to-day operations of the charter service company he co-founded in 1992. But it was understood that Mark Smith, a Los Angeles Police officer who serves as company president, would eventually assume Kratzer’s role. “It happened sooner than anybody here had wanted it to happen that’s for sure,” Smith said. Kratzer and Fernando “Chris” Fernandez were killed that morning when the twin-engine Cessna Citation they were aboard crashed shortly after take off at Van Nuys Airport. Initially, the company saw a drop off in business but it gradually returned. The other Cessna Citation kept in the hangars has been permanently grounded by agreement with its owner until the conclusion of the investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. Internally, Smith reviewed the company’s safety standards and found nothing wrong. The real challenge facing the firm in the days and weeks after Kratzer’s death was that of guiding the company’s future and keeping up employee morale. The employees captains, first officers, mechanics, a dispatcher, office help — were unsure of the direction the company would take. To reassure them, Smith said he announced his retirement from the LAPD, where he spent many years as a detective and then later as a chopper pilot. That became the message from Sun Quest: We are here and not going anywhere. “We have 15 years invested of safe flight for southwest passengers,” Smith said. “We are committed to the company and committed to safety.” At a memorial service for Kratzer, mourners were asked to stand if they had been taught how to fly by Kratzer, a 30-year veteran of commercial aviation. Half the audience stood. Smith numbers himself among those who learned flying under Kratzer’s direction at the aviation school he started at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima. The pair hit it off and stated buying planes together. Their first was a piston twin engine used to shuttle visiting Japanese tourists to the Grand Canyon. After starting Sun Quest in 1992, Kratzer stopped instructing at the flight school and didn’t spend nearly as much time there as before. His wife Joanne took over the daily operations as Kratzer busied himself with the air charter service. Her husband had no plans to retire from Sun Quest, that he would keep flying as long as he was found medically fit to do so, Joanne Kratzer said. In December, Kratzer had a medical exam that he “passed with flying colors” and left the results for her to see on the kitchen counter, she said. “He took no medications for anything,” Joanne Kratzer added. “He was a healthy 72 years old that’s for sure.” A preliminary report by the NTSB made no indication pilot error led to the crash. Witnesses to the crash told investigators that they saw dark objects falling from the plane just before it crashed, although a check of the crash site found no “loose objects.” The report also found that “examination of the front left baggage door indicated that the key mechanism was in the unlocked position.” Kratzer and Fernandez were on their way to Long Beach to pick up passengers before continuing to Arizona. Shortly after takeoff, Kratzer and Fernandez radioed the control tower of an emergency and said they needed to return and banked right before the plane plummeted to the ground and exploded into flames. “We don’t know what happened,” Smith said. “I fly that plane too and I don’t understand what happened.” Smith was on a flight to Puerto Vallarta when the crew was notified there had been an emergency at the charter company. Smith who was on vacation with his wife immediately returned to Los Angeles. “It was frustrating I could not be here until later in the day,” Smith said. Smith now has the title of director of operations, a Federal Aviation Administration required position. He ceded the position of chief pilot to one of the company’s Lear jet pilots. Sun Quest leases its hangar space from Aerolease West, adjacent to space used by The Air Group and nearby to Elite Aviation and the Castle & Cook fixed-base operation. The firm charters its own aircraft, provides planes to other operators and rents space to offset the cost of their lease. Smith is moving ahead with expansion plans that had been in the works prior to Kratzer’s death. He is negotiating to add another plane that would require the hiring of two additional crew members, Smith said.

Dr. Marc Kerner says he was one of the first doctors in the Valley 12 years ago to see Botox in a new light. Back then, the material was mostly used to treat facial muscle spasms. But Kerner, a former chief of surgery of Northridge Hospital’s Roscoe campus, thought the substance could also be used to fix, or at least lessen, a common worry: looking old. “People were doing Botox for medical reasons,” he said. “I was doing it for cosmetic reasons.” Kerner seized on to Botox and other cosmetic procedures to build Dermatique Medical Center for Advanced Skincare, a quickly growing medical spa he branded four years ago in an Encino high-rise. The business specializes in non-surgical cosmetic procedures, such as microdermabrasion, fat grafting and something called photofacials, a pulsed light treatment that reduces damaged skins. Treatments range from a $200 underarm laser hair reduction to a set of five skin-tightening procedures for $4,500. Despite the considerable investments, as many as 30 patients come to the 15-employee office each day and his client list tops well over 1,000. Kerner, who still maintains clinical rounds at several Valley hospitals and has a Northridge office, in 2004 also created his own skincare line, B & #237;o Q & #237;. More accepted Kerner said the success the company boasts a compound revenue growth of 20 percent for the past three years is due in large part to his clients trusting him and the product he delivers. It doesn’t hurt that cosmetic procedures are much more mainstream than in previous years, even for men. “It’s much more accepting of men to have the procedures now,” he said. The concept has taken off so much that Kerner is planning to expand, opening locations in Westlake Village and possibly in Beverly Hills. “We’re really growing,” he said. “It’s the perfect time.” Kerner is tapping into a quickly expanding spa industry, which contributed nearly $10 billion to the economy, according to the International Spa Association. Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Lloyd M. Krieger has worked with Kerner for years and credited his accomplishments to a highly nuanced business sensibility. “He’s extremely involved and sets the agenda for the entire spa,” said Krieger, who is partnering with Kerner on the proposed Beverly Hills location. “He’s not an absentee medical director. The key is return customers.” Valley boy Kerner grew up in Woodland Hills and received training in medicine and plastic surgery at USC in 1989 and UCLA in 1995. Initially, he specialized exclusively in head and neck surgery, particularly rhinoplasties and reconstructive surgeries. He opened his own office in Encino about 12 years ago. Then came Botox and Kerner recognized a need for clinics that offered noninvasive cosmetic procedures directly under a doctor’s care. At the time, Botox was just catching on and was being injected in storefront clinics by untrained nurses. (Under California law, Botox and other cosmetic procedures can be injected by nurses under the supervision of a doctor.) Kerner said he wanted to change that image and opened Dermatique. “We were trying to keep it safe. There are those horror stories,” Kerner said, adding later that he has some patients who come to him after having poor results from other clinics. “They’ve had some mishaps.” He picked Encino because it could tap into customers from the Valley and the Westside. Today, his clients come as far away as Santa Clarita. “We get people from all over,” he said. In recent years, he’s seen a significant rise in the number of clients from far western Los Angeles County, which prompted him to leasing space at 869 North Hampshire Road in Westlake Village for a second location. The project will cost about $500,000 $260,000 of it on new equipment and will open in the fall. “We’d like it soon, but you know how that goes,” Kerner said. He said his business plan is simple: expand slowly and gain name brand recognition. In a sea of other spas, it’s the best way, he said. “You have to distinguish yourself with quality,” Kerner said. “Our goal is to play by the rules, establish a brand named that won’t be an overnight success and gone the next day. We want to be here a while.” SPOTLIGHT Dermatique Medical Center for Advanced Skincare Year Founded: 2003 Employees in 2006: 15 Employees in 2007 (estimated): 25 Revenues in 2005: $1.12 million Revenue in 2006: $1.44 million Driving Force: To provide clients with a safe, doctor-supervised location to receive noninvasive cosmetic procedures. Goal: To expand into key, growing markets.

By last week, when Bank of America’s top executives took up positions in what amounted to a seven-hour conference call with Wall Street, there was barely a mention of the controversy over the company’s decision to offer credit cards to customers who may not have Social Security cards. Only one question came up at the conference call, asked and answered in a matter of minutes. And despite the loud protests and threats from those who saw BofA’s decision as a flagrant threat to the nation’s security, executives of the bank said they saw little reason to believe there would be any long-term impact on their business from the fallout. Which raises the question, will other banks follow? What such a program can offer is not just a few more credit card customers. It can help build multi-layered banking relationships that ultimately keep customers from moving to other banks, many say. “You can attract a new customer with a credit card, and maybe they’ll be enticed to open another account or maybe a certificate of deposit,” said Tracey Mills, a spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association. When news broke last month that BofA had quietly begun testing a pilot program to offer secured credit cards to customers with taxpayer identification numbers and other forms of identification in lieu of Social Security cards in somewhat more than 50 of its Los Angeles bank stores, the move caused an outcry from a number of groups who claimed that the idea threatened the country’s security. The BofA program requires customers to pay a security deposit of $99, refundable if the account remains in good standing for a period of time. The limit is typically $500 to start with an annual interest rate of more than 21 percent. To be sure, BofA got a few shredded credit cards returned and some customers did close their accounts, but by and large, the controversy passed uneventfully. And by last week, when BofA held its conference call with The Street, executives fielded only one question about their pilot, and reported that there was little impact from their move. “Customer originated account closures have been unchanged, and the noise level in our banking centers has subsided,” said Ken Davis, CEO of Charlotte-based Bank of America in the conference call. “Nobody’s profit plan has been changed as a result of this.” For Bank of America, the move comes amidst a larger push to build its consumer segment. BofA in recent weeks launched a major advertising campaign for the first time in several years as it moves to leverage a national presence created from recent acquisitions. According to published reports, the bank has lagged behind its rivals, spending just $154 million on advertising, about half of what Citgroup spent, in the first nine months of last year. BofA has made no secret of the fact that building its consumer business is central to its growth strategy and the credit card pilot is part and parcel of that initiative. In a letter to the Wall Street Journal when the controversy first broke, BofA’s Davis wrote, “We created this pilot program in Los Angeles to help Bank of America customers with little or no credit history build a solid credit history with a leading bank, and to strengthen our relationships with individuals and families we hope will become loyal Bank of America customers in the future as their financial needs grow.” So far, there have been no other banks that have stepped into the fray. “What I can tell you is we’re always exploring new ways to serve our customers, but beyond that we don’t discuss the details of our marketing strategy,” said Lisa Westermann, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo Card Services, responding to a question about whether the bank would consider a similar program. But it’s unlikely that competitors will leave BofA to mine this untapped market alone. Wells, which was the first bank to allow customers to open accounts using matricula cards issued by the Mexican consulate, was soon joined by a number of rivals, all seeking new, untapped markets. That can be especially important in the credit card segment, which is among the most competitive in the industry. “There are more than 6,000 issuers of credit cards,” said Mills at the ABA. “It’s a very mature marketplace, so for a card issuer to grow their business, they basically have to lure customers from another card.” Not so with a new market of customers as are immigrants who, until now, have not been able to qualify for credit cards. But more important, the credit card business has the potential to be just the starting point for a longer-term banking relationship that all bankers seek. “Once you get a customer in the beginning you tend to keep them,” said David Pringle, an independent analyst and consultant in Baltimore who covers BofA. “And two, most (immigrants) who come here work like dogs and do better, so there’s more business to be done with them over time.” Among Hispanics particularly, a number of demographic factors help to support the notion that BofA’s credit card program is likely to reap benefits on a broader scale. Besides the sheer numbers of Latino immigrants, marketers say that, as a group, they tend to be more loyal to brands and businesses and more inclined to use a number of different products. “There’s a lot of potential there,” said Mills. “They are loyal customers, their desire for home ownership and it’s a tight knit community. If you’ve got a happy customer, word of mouth could bring them along. Research shows that it’s like planting a seed.”

The Valley-area’s 2007 chambers of commerce have spent the first quarter of the year prepping for a daunting variety of installation ceremonies. On Feb. 24, the Encino Chamber of Commerce hosted its ceremony under the theme “An Evening of Comedy,” which featured a silent auction, 2007 board installation and comedy routines from performers Fred Willard and Bruce Baum. The chamber also gave its annual Business Person of the Year to the owners of Paul Davis & Alberta Bellisario Insurance Services for their work with the 71-year-old organization. Outgoing president Joel M. Simon, an attorney with Alperstein, Simon, Farkas, Gillin & Scott in Encino, said he leaves the position content at what the chamber completed. “I’m so proud of what we accomplished under my tenure over the past years,” said Simon, later passing the gavel to incoming chair Michael S. Turner, an executive with Bearsworth Communications Inc. Turner told the crowd the chamber is looking to build off the successes of 2006, add new programs and expand community outreach. “We are excited we have a lot of things happening,” he said. “As I look at the board, we have a lot of people who want risk and are part of a good team.” Installed to the 2007 board were President-elect Mark Levinson; CFO Rickey Gelb; vice presidents Stanley Goldenberg, Juli McKitterick and Hank Yuloff; Secretary Jamshid Javidi; CEO Kirsten Y. Chong; past presidents J. Richard Leyner and Simon; and board members Armand Arabian, David Asplund, Marty Bogoratt, Stacy Bond, Harvey Branman, Larry Cohen, Liat Cohen, Susan DuBrin, Richard Hernandez, Leon P. Woods and Lou Woolf. Additional Ceremonies Previous chamber events include the Jan. 27 ceremony for the newly merged Woodland Hills Tarzana Chamber of Commerce, which installed Chairman Gordon Luster; Executive Vice Chair Deborah Sable; Government Affairs Co-Chair Sean McCarthy; Programs Vice Chair Susan Hamersky; CFO Tracy Myall; Special Events Co Chair Paul Lawler; Corporate Secretary Stephen T. Holzer; Immediate Past Chair Sherry Keowen; and board members Jim Kinsey, Chandler Vadhera, Debbi Lund, Deane Leavenworth, Collen Buescher, Jennifer Miller, Roger Sterling, Rocky Rhodes, Cynthia Elkins, David Tillman, Jill Dolan, Dale Surowitz and Steven H. Horstein. Also in January, the Calabasas Chamber of Commerce installed 2007 board members Chairman Stephanie Warren; First Vice Chair Doug Ridley; vice chairs Barbara McDaniel, Tina Klaas, Martin Seda and Sue Orgen; Immediate Past Chair Toni Yamin; and members Jeff Blum, Joe Donato, Brenda Johnson, Marie White, Jeff Morton, Jerry Magel, Matthew Pime, Adam Adair and Kimberly Bordonaro. Last month, the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce installed its 2007 board, which includes Chair Pam Ingram; Chairman Elect-Vice Chair Charlie Gill; Immediate Past Chair Chris Fall; CFO Tony Tartaglia; Corporate Secretary Marlee Lauffer; Vice Chair of Economic Development Anna Frutos-Sanchez Vice Chair of Education Dena Maloney; Vice Chair of Events Kim Kurowski; Vice Chair of Film & Tourism Jay Schutz; Vice Chair of Government Affairs Carl Goldman; Vice Chair of Membership Kris Hough; Vice Chair at Large RandyWrage and board members Greg Amsler, Chris Angelo, Jim Bizzelle, Hunt Braly, Richard Budman, Elizabeth Hopp, Bill Kennedy, Bill McClendon, Doug Sink, Lloyd Sreden, Diana Vose, Connie Worden-Roberts, Art Donnelly and Jeffrey Hacker. The Chatsworth/Porter Ranch Chamber of Commerce also named President Bill Powers; vice presidents Melissa Phillipp, Steve Oliver and Tom Elias ; Treasurer Jerre Reimers; Secretary Les Himes; CEO Nanette Phelan; and directors Affie Bahar, Stan Bryant, Ian Gardner, Karen Gross, Kevin Huling, John Jamgotchian, Sean Kane, Julie Lewis, Nick Montano, Dr. James Pasternak, Gloria Pollack, Ron M. Schulkin, Maria Serna, Mona Strehler, Dick Styke, Brent Vallens, Linda Van Der Valk and Mari Weiner. The North Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce installed Chair Victoria Bourdas; Vice Chair Dennis DeYoung; Treasurer Sharon Wolfe; Secretary Pam Allison; directors Lisa Avakian, Pam Branner, Thomas Christopher, Dave Compton, Deborah Cours, Janet Hartley, Christian Hayes, David Honda, Valerie Jordan, Leslie Kaz, Ike Krieger, Marty Laff, Lauretta Martin, Rich Miller, Judith Nutter, Greg Saran, Scott Sterling, Janet Snyder and Dale Verderano; and President and CEO Wayne Adelstein. _________________________________________________________ Business Leaders to Hear City Attorney’s Proposal for Fighting Crime With Valley crime on the rise and local gang activity the focus of police and city officials, the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley is sponsoring a forum for businesses to address the issue. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo will present his plan to combat crime and gang issues in the Valley at the UCC’s General Assembly meeting at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 14, at the Porter Valley Country Club in Northridge. United Chambers Executive Director Debi Schultze said the forum should give chamber members a chance to sound off about concerns and learn about plans in the works. “Business members wanted to know what was going to curtail the gang activity and how that plan worked with businesses,” Schultze said. “This will tell how businesses can be involved and what (Delgadillo) expects.” Last month Delgadillo secured a 435-day jail sentence for a member of the Canoga Park Alabama gang who violated a gang injunction. He also recently charged three members of the Blythe Street Gang in Panorama City Last month the Los Angeles police named 11 of the most violent street gangs in the city and called for a “gang czar.” The LAPD reported homicides in the Valley were up 10 percent in January compared to last year. Chris Coates

Those experiencing an especially dangerous type of heart attack in the Santa Clarita Valley will now be transported to facilities in the San Fernando or Antelope valleys instead of closer Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, which does not meet new county standards. A new policy put into place Jan. 1 by the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency calls for all victims of ST-elevated myocardial infarction, or STEMI, heart attacks in L.A. County to be taken to the nearest hospital equipped with a special lab to treat victims. The idea is to offer victims the fastest and best care possible. However, the Santa Clarita Valley has justone acute care facility, Henry Mayo, and it does not have a cath lab. For the moment, that means patients will have to be taken somewhere else, said Dr. William Koenig, EMS medical director for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. “What will happen now is those patients will go to the closest one, which is Holy Cross,” he said. STEMI heart attack victims from northern Santa Clarita Valley may also be taken to Antelope Valley Hospital, which also has the designation, he said. Officials from Henry Mayo are aware of the problem and are trying to find a solution, said hospital spokeswoman Andie Bogdan. “We’re working toward that designation, but we don’t have it now,” she said. “We’ve always been a little behind in the arena of cardiology because we have not had the ability to provide the interventional emergency treatment.” Bogdan said Henry Mayo is working to construct a cardiac catheterization lab, part of a master plan approved by the Santa Clarita planning commission this month. The 2,500 square-foot facility is expected to open this year. Henry Mayo receives about 250 patients a year experiencing a heart attack. The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services estimates as many as 5 percent of those are actually the more serious STEMI attacks, which can cause permanent damage to heart muscle if not treated early enough. Is it faster? Under the new system, paramedics in the field will determine if a heart attack victim has suffered a STEMI attack. If that’s the case, the paramedics will contact the closest STEMI receiving center, which will have cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons on call 24 hours a day and special equipment. “These hospitals all have (heart catheterization) labs but in addition, they have made a commitment to setting up systems of care in the hospital that will respond immediately to the patient with a STEMI,” Koenig said. Paramedics will then take the victim directly to the closest receiving center within 30 minutes even if that means passing up other hospitals on the way. So far, the county has designated the special centers at Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center, Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, Northridge Hospital Medical Center, Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster and Glendale Adventist Medical Center. The county could have as many as 36 STEMI hospitals and any hospital that meets certain standards can apply for the designation. “Whether the hospital decides whether they want to enroll in this is up to the hospital themselves,” Koenig said. Glendale Adventist President and CEO Morre L. Dean said the designation is important to both the hospital and the community. “Residents of Glendale need to have that available to them,” he said. “Every minute is important, from the time that paramedic arrives at the scene to the time we are dilating that person in the cath lab.” It also keeps Adventist’s doctors on their toes, he said. “All of our areas are better because of that: our ER is sharper, our lab is sharper, imaging is sharper,” he said. “Everything is sharper.” As for Henry Mayo, Bogdan said the hospital plans to apply for the designation once the hospital’s cath lab is completed, although that’s still years away. Until then, victims will be taken outside the Santa Clarita Valley for treatment. Koenig said that despite the long distances Holy Cross is about 14 miles from Henry Mayo in Mission Hills the arrangement is the best possible option for heart attack victims. “There’s a lot of stuff that’s going on concurrently. So when paramedics are transporting a patient, it’s not like that is lost time,” he said. “This is the best.”

A former account vice president for a Valencia brokerage firm has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit securities fraud. Justin Paperny of Studio City admitted that he and Keith G. Gilabert, the founder of Capital Management Group Holding Co. in Valencia, lied to investors about the risks and performance of the firm’s GLT Venture Fund in order to convince them to contribute. An investigation by the FBI found that Paperny, who received kickbacks from Gilabert, had told management and supervisors at the brokerage firm that GLT was not following its stated investment strategy and that many were aware of the illegal activities. The deception resulted in more than 40 investors losing at least $2.5 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Paperny, 31, pleaded guilty to mail, wire and securities fraud and agreed to cooperate with investigators in an ongoing criminal probe into Capital Management and the venture fund. Sentencing is scheduled for July 30. Paperny faces up to five years in prison. Gilabert pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to commit mail, wire and securities fraud and is awaiting sentencing. Chris Coates