Susan Hollander, chief government affairs officer for Providence Health & Services, California, will receive the American Hospital Association’s Grassroots Champion Award. She is the sole winner from California. The awards presentation will be on April 27 at the AHA Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C. The California Hospital Association chose Hollander for the honor because of her dedication to educating legislators about the impacts of health care reform and other public policy issues related to hospitals and their patients. How long have you worked in government affairs? I have actually worked in hospital government affairs for many years. And I worked with Arnold Schaffer, chief executive for the California region of Providence Health & Services, when he was with Catholic Healthcare West. When he decided to create the government affairs position at Providence he called me. I like a lot about the work. It’s always challenging; the issues are complex; and I’m always learning new things. What was it like educating legislators about healthcare reform? It has been a challenge. At Providence, our issues are focused on access to care for the poor and vulnerable. Even though we had a lot of issues with the legislation, and it’s far from perfect, we supported it all the way through. Our challenge was to convey our support, but to also encourage legislators to protect the healthcare safety net. And healthcare providers are a key part of the safety net. My sense all along is that we will be doing technical corrections on this legislation for decades. There’s still a lot of work to be done. — Eric Billingsley Architecture James Heimler, Architect, Inc. hired Matthew Finn, who is LEED certified, as project architect. He has 15 years of experience on various types of projects including residential, commercial and industrial. Sizes include a 1.12 million square foot mixed-use complex and a 4-star, 375-room hotel. His responsibilities include conceptual design, schematic design, design development, construction documentation, governmental approvals, LEED certification, construction administration and coordination with project personnel. Michael Djajich, who is also LEED certified, joins James Heimler, Architect as senior designer. He has nine years of experience in architectural projects. Some of his responsibilities include conceptual design, schematic design, design development, construction documentation, rendering, code reviews and construction administration. Prior, he worked on the design for the renovation of the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena. He also worked on construction documentation for the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco. Education The California Music Educators Association awarded Lawrence Stoffel, director of bands at Cal State Northridge, the 2010 “John Swain College/University Educator Award.” The award is presented to a California music professor each year to recognize his or her contribution to music education at the college and university level. Stoffel is the second CSUN faculty member to receive this award. He joined the CSUN faculty in 2004. Since then, he has been highly visible throughout the state promoting both band music and quality of music education programs in public schools. He has lectured and has published on a wide-range of topics – from musical interpretation, band transcriptions and the use of religious music in the public schools to band in the school curriculum to copyright law and band discography. Finance Great American Group, Inc. appointed Paul Brown as vice president managing the Northeast for its Wholesale & Industrial Division. He will be based out of Fairfield, Conn. and will cover the Northeast and Southern seaboard territories. He will be responsible for sourcing, developing and directing auction and liquidation sale activities within target accounts and a network of contacts. Prior, he was VP in the commercial asset services division of a financial services and private investment company. He was director of Auction Services at a firm that specializes in surplus industrial machinery and equipment auctions and valuations. And Brown served as account executive for a reseller of metal fabrication and stamping equipment. Commercial real estate investment banking firm George Smith Partners has hired former Bank of America executive Raffi Sarkissian as senior VP. Prior, Sarkissian served more than 15 years with Bank of America as a senior VP, originating commercial real estate loans including Small Business Association (SBA) and conventional loans. During his tenure with Bank of America, he established himself as one of the top producers in the country, securing status as the number one lender nationwide from 2002 through 2009. He also received The Annual Award of Excellence/Annual Gold Club honor for 12 consecutive years. In his new role, Sarkissian will serve to place debt with lenders for commercial real estate property owners, structuring both conventional and SBA loans. Insurance Zenith National Insurance Corp. announced today that Craig Thomson joined its principal operating subsidiary, Zenith Insurance Company, as executive VP. He will be responsible for building and leading Zenith’s non-workers’ compensation property and casualty operation, specializing in California agriculture and headquartered in Sacramento. Prior, Thomson was VP of sales and marketing for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company’s Agribusiness. He also held various underwriting management positions with Allied Insurance Company and CalFarm Insurance Company. Jeannene Scearce joined Danone Simpson Insurance Services LLC as director of Property & Casualty Account Services. She has 15 years of experience in the insurance industry in areas such as marketing, service and managing support staff. Scearce holds an Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designation. She focuses on finding the right insurance coverage and pricing designed to meet client’s needs in property & casualty and workers compensation in all industries. Industry specialties include but are not limited to contractors, manufactures/distributors. She has experience with complex coverages including loss sensitive products and multi-layer products covering multiple locations and multiple states. Manufacturing Kevin Johnson has been hired as the new marketing director for adult novelty manufacturer Pipedream Products. In that role, Johnson will head up marketing efforts, assist in writing copy for packaging, blogging, answering consumer questions, getting product to reviewers, and expanding its social networking presence. He previously was an independent contractor with Pipedreams. Media Jim Gewert has been named executive VP, Worldwide Finance, Planning and Systems, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. He will oversee worldwide finance for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, which encompasses Warner Home Video, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Gewert moves from his current post as executive VP of Finance and Administration for Turner Broadcasting System’s Entertainment Networks, Animation, Young Adults & Kids Media, Turner Broadcasting Sales, and Turner Sports divisions. Previously, he served as executive VP of Finance for Domestic Sales and Distribution for TBS, Inc. Public Relations Marty Cooper, public relations professional, teacher and columnist for the Business Journal, has been selected to receive the UCLA Extension Distinguished Instructor Award. The award recognizes exemplary teaching, professional knowledge and standing, and outstanding commitment to students. Cooper is former editor of the Daily Bruin and Life Member of the UCLA Alumni Association. He has been teaching public relations, strategic marketing, crisis management, and related courses, at UCLA for approximately 20 years. Real Estate Investment Real Estate Associates (IREA) announced that Dennis Herzig joined its Encino brokerage office as senior advisor. Herzig is a veteran commercial real estate advisor with more than $140 million in transactions since 2001. He specializes in retail and office properties across Southern California and has wide experience from high-end Beverly Hills properties to smaller owner-user transactions in the San Fernando Valley. He joins IREA after more than nine years with Sperry Van Ness where he started as a junior trainee and became a vice president. Prior to launching his real estate career Herzig worked in broadcast news for more than 25 years, most recently serving as news director at KCAL (Los Angeles) Channel 9. Technology Therese Tucker, CEO and founder of financial software provider BlackLine Systems, is in the running for an Ernst & Young (E&Y) Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Tucker has been recognized by Ernst & Young as a 2010 Semi-Finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year in the Greater Los Angeles Region for her accomplishments in building BlackLine from the ground up and contributing to the growth of Southern California as a center for technology innovation. An independent judging panel comprised of regional business, academic and community leaders evaluated nominees based on several selection criteria, such as management style/team building; corporate culture; personal and professional accomplishments; determination, ethics and drive; company profitability and fiscal resourcefulness; product innovation; and contribution to the local community. ValueClick, Inc. announced that Tom A. Vadnais is retiring and resigning from his roles as chief executive officer and director. The company’s board of directors elected James R. Zarley as president and chief executive officer. As part of this announcement, Zarley is stepping down from his current role as executive chairman. The company’s board appointed director Martin T. Hart as chairman of the board. Zarley was an angel investor in ValueClick and served as the company’s chairman and chief executive officer from 1999 to May 2007. He assumed the full-time role of executive chairman in May 2007 to focus primarily on the European operations and corporate development program. Hart has been a director of ValueClick since March 1999. Westlake Village-based Inphi Corporation opened up a new design center in the United Kingdom. As part of the new center, the company appointed Mike Harwood as director of Inphi United Kingdom. Harwood has 20 years of experience in microelectronics design. He co-founded HSZ Consulting, a company that specializes in microelectronics for high-speed data communications, and was the architect of several generations of Texas Instruments’ Physical Layer Devices and SerDes IP. Harwood was elected a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Texas Instruments in 2001 and graduated in Physics from Trinity College, Oxford University. Transportation Bill Thom joined Music Express as human resources manager. He was previously VP of HR for Metrocities Mortgage in Sherman Oaks. Music Express Worldwide is a chauffeur and premier executive ground transportation service in Burbank. Thom is a native Californian, member of the National Wildlife Federation and human rights speaker.