TORONTO, ONTARIO, Jul 28, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Lingo Media Corporation (CA:LM 0.43, 0.00, 0.00%) (LMDCF 0.40, 0.00, 0.00%) ("Lingo Media" or the "Company"), a leader in online and print-based English language learning ("ELL") solutions, is pleased to announce that Ryan Robertson has been appointed Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Robertson joins Lingo Media from Luxell Technologies Inc., where he was CFO for the last three years. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he provided auditing and advisory services to medium and large sized private equity and mutual funds. He received his Bachelor of Science Business Finance (Honours) degree from Liberty University in Virginia. He succeeds Khurram Qureshi, who is stepping down after 10 years.

Michael Kraft, President & CEO of Lingo Media said: "First, I would like to thank Khurram for his commitment and dedication to Lingo Media. I am delighted that he will remain on our team as a consultant. I want to welcome Ryan as a key member of our management. With this appointment, along with other hires, including Gali Bar-Ziv as Chief Operating Officer and Brent St. Pierre as Chief Technology Officer, we have all the operating capabilities to continue to build and expand our revenues."

Ryan Robertson said: "I am pleased to be joining Lingo Media as the Company emerges as a leader in the English language learning space. Lingo Media has made significant strides in expanding its ELL platform from a print and audio-based publishing company to an internationally diversified online education products and services company. I look forward to leading Lingo Media's accounting and finance team to build the business."

About Lingo Media (CA:LM 0.43, 0.00, 0.00%) (LMDCF 0.40, 0.00, 0.00%)

Lingo Media Corporation (www.lingomedia.com) is a diversified online and print-based education products and services company focused on English language learning ("ELL") on an international scale through its four distinct business units. ELL Technologies is a globally-established ELL multi-media and online training company marketed under the Q Group brand (www.qgroupplc.com). Parlo is a fee-based online ELL training and assessment service (www.parlo.com). Speak2Me is a free-to-consumer supported online ELL service (www.speak2me.com/advertising). Lingo Learning is a print-based publisher of ELL programs. Lingo Media has formed successful relationships with key government and industry organizations, establishing a strong presence in China's education market of more than 300 million students. The Company continues to expand its ELL offerings in China and plans to extend its reach globally.

TORONTO, ONTARIO, Jul 28, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Lingo Media Corporation (CA:LM  0.43, 0.00, 0.00%) (LMDCF  0.40, 0.00, 0.00%)  ("Lingo Media" or the "Company"), a leader in online and print-based English language learning ("ELL") solutions, is pleased to announce that Ryan Robertson has been appointed Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Robertson joins Lingo Media from Luxell Technologies Inc., where he was CFO for the last three years. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he provided auditing and advisory services to medium and large sized private equity and mutual funds. He received his Bachelor of Science Business Finance (Honours) degree from Liberty University in Virginia. He succeeds Khurram Qureshi, who is stepping down after 10 years.

Michael Kraft, President & CEO of Lingo Media said: "First, I would like to thank Khurram for his commitment and dedication to Lingo Media. I am delighted that he will remain on our team as a consultant. I want to welcome Ryan as a key member of our management. With this appointment, along with other hires, including Gali Bar-Ziv as Chief Operating Officer and Brent St. Pierre as Chief Technology Officer, we have all the operating capabilities to continue to build and expand our revenues."

Ryan Robertson said: "I am pleased to be joining Lingo Media as the Company emerges as a leader in the English language learning space. Lingo Media has made significant strides in expanding its ELL platform from a print and audio-based publishing company to an internationally diversified online education products and services company. I look forward to leading Lingo Media's accounting and finance team to build the business."

About Lingo Media (CA:LM 0.43, 0.00, 0.00%) (LMDCF 0.40, 0.00, 0.00%)

Lingo Media Corporation (www.lingomedia.com) is a diversified online and print-based education products and services company focused on English language learning ("ELL") on an international scale through its four distinct business units. ELL Technologies is a globally-established ELL multi-media and online training company marketed under the Q Group brand (www.qgroupplc.com). Parlo is a fee-based online ELL training and assessment service (www.parlo.com). Speak2Me is a free-to-consumer supported online ELL service (www.speak2me.com/advertising). Lingo Learning is a print-based publisher of ELL programs. Lingo Media has formed successful relationships with key government and industry organizations, establishing a strong presence in China's education market of more than 300 million students. The Company continues to expand its ELL offerings in China and plans to extend its reach globally.

CONCORD, N.C. — Hendrick Motorsports has promoted Marshall Carlson to president and chief operating officer.

The role of president had been held by team owner Rick Hendrick's brother, John, from 1998 until his 2004 death in a plane crash. It had gone unfilled until Carlson's promotion Wednesday.

Carlson has overseen the day-to-day operations at HMS as team general manager since 2005.

He started at Hendrick sweeping floors as part of a summer internship, and gradually moved through the ranks following his full-time hiring in 1997. Carlson spent time working for Hendrick Automotive Group, but was moved back to Motorsports following the 2004 plane crash that killed several Hendrick executives.

Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) promoted added the president's title to Chief Operating Officer Martin Craighead, shifting the post from Chairman and Chief ...

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--Macau casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (MPEL) said Wednesday that Greg Hawkins, president of its flagship City of Dreams casino resort, has resigned and that it will subsequently revise its management structure.

Ted Chan, currently president of the company's Altira ...

NEW YORK — Iconix Brand Group Inc., a brand licensing company, said Tuesday it is promoting Yehuda Shmidman to the position of chief operating officer.

Shmidman joined Iconix in 2005. The company said he has been involved in building its relationships with both retailers and wholesalers and helped guide its international growth strategy.

Iconix added that Shmidman has recently taken a leadership role on the integration of the iconic "Peanuts" brand, which the company bought from newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps Co. this year.

Continental and United Airlines have chosen the leaders for a combined company as they inch closer to merging by the end of this year.

Four of the executives now work for Houston-based Continental and four with Chicago-based United, according to a statement released Tuesday. The board of directors of the new company must elect these officers when the merger closes.

The merged company would be named United and based in Chicago. Continental's Jeff Smisek would serve as its president and CEO. United CEO Glenn Tilton would be become non-executive chairman until Dec. 31, 2012, or on the second anniversary of the closing of the deal, whichever is later.

From Continental, Zane Rowe would be chief financial officer, Nene Foxhall would oversee communications and government affairs, Jim Compton would be chief marketing officer and Mike Bonds would be responsible for human resources and labor relations.

From United, Pete McDonald would be chief operations officer, Keith Halbert would be chief information officer, Tom Sabatino would be general counsel and Jeff Foland would lead the combined carrier's loyalty program, including the frequent flier programs.

"Overall, it seems to be a reasonable mix of senior executives," said Jack Stelzer, a former airline executive and president and CEO of Houston-based Worldwide Transportation Group. He said Bonds is a good choice for labor relations.

"It's well known that United has not had the best labor management relations and Mike has been doing a very good job there at Continental," Stelzer said.

He also noted that Foland's selection makes sense because United's loyalty program is larger than Continental's.

"Now the question is what happens with the next rank of leadership," Stelzer said.
Severance packages

United also announced which of its executives would depart after the merger. They are John Tague, president; Kathryn Mikells, chief financial officer; Graham Atkinson, president of Mileage Plus; and Rosemary Moore, senior vice president of corporate and government affairs.

Filings in June with the Securities and Exchange Commission listed the severance packages for three of those executives. Atkinson would receive $3.6 million in cash severance, Mikells would receive $4.3 million and Tague would receive $5.3 million. The executives also would receive medical benefits, lifetime travel privileges and outplacement services.

The document did not disclose Moore's severance package.

Continental didn't list its departing executives.

It said in a letter to employees that Mark Moran, Continental's executive vice president and chief operating officer, will oversee the process of obtaining a single operating certificate for the merged airline from the Federal Aviation Administration. That is expected to happen by the end of 2012.
European approval

Also on Tuesday, United and Continental received clearance from the European Union on the airlines' proposed merger.

"We are pleased to have received this clearance from the European Union, a significant market for our combined new company, and we continue to work cooperatively with the U.S Department of Justice toward an expeditious completion of our merger," said Tilton, chairman, president and CEO of United's parent company, UAL Corp..

Continental's shares closed Tuesday down 44 cents at $25.21 Tuesday. UAL closed down 54 cents at $23.71.

Baker Hughes Incorporated  announced today that effective immediately, Martin Craighead is promoted to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer (COO).

“Martin’s leadership has been a major factor in the successful implementation of the geomarket reorganization and in executing our strategy to achieve long-term profitable growth,” said Chad Deaton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Baker Hughes Incorporated. “In his tenure as Chief Operating Officer he has demonstrated excellence in both strategic planning and tactical execution. Martin will continue to be responsible for engineering and technology development, as well as field operations in his new role.”

Biography

Prior to assuming his new responsibilities, Martin Craighead (50) served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since May 2009. During his career at Baker Hughes, he served as President of the Drilling & Evaluation Group and as President of Baker Atlas and INTEQ. He joined the company in 1986 and has worked in engineering, operational and managerial positions throughout North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Mr. Craighead earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Vanderbilt University.

Baker Hughes provides reservoir consulting, drilling, pressure pumping, formation evaluation, completion and production products and services to the worldwide oil and gas industry.

60 Seconds Chief. To go with the '60 Seconds Chief' feature in Business Line. Wednesday, July 28, 2010. K.Sunil, Chief Operating Officer - Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd., Chennai ...

Executive Management Changes, Transition Plan Announced at Southern Company

Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO David M. Ratcliffe has announced that he will retire December 1. As part of the company's succession and management transition plan, Ratcliffe also announced a number of executive appointments.

Thomas A. Fanning, 53, currently the company's chief operating officer, has been named president of Southern Company effective August 1. Upon Ratcliffe's retirement, Fanning will become chairman and CEO of Southern Company.

"During his nearly 30-year career with Southern Company and its subsidiaries, Tom has demonstrated the technical and financial capabilities and the strategic vision needed to guide this company during a period of unprecedented capital expansion and growth," said Ratcliffe. "Moreover, his leadership and team-building qualities will be crucial assets as he navigates a challenging, evolving energy landscape."

Since joining Southern Company in 1980 as a financial analyst, Fanning has held numerous officer-level positions in the areas of finance, strategy, international business development and technology. Prior to becoming executive vice president and chief operating officer in 2008, he was Southern Company's chief financial officer. Fanning also served as president and CEO of the company's Florida subsidiary, Gulf Power, and chief financial officer of subsidiaries Georgia Power and Mississippi Power.

Fanning earned bachelor's and master's degrees in industrial management from the Georgia Institute of Technology. His executive education includes programs at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland, Harvard University School of Business and the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. Fanning also serves on the board of directors for The St. Joe Company.

In addition, the following leadership changes were announced, effective August 13:

Art P. Beattie, 56, has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer of Southern Company, where he will oversee the company's accounting, finance, tax, investor relations, treasury and risk management functions.

W. Paul Bowers, 53, currently Southern Company's chief financial officer, has been named chief operating officer of Georgia Power. Bowers will oversee that company's operations, customer service, financial, legal, external affairs and nuclear development functions. He will remain an executive vice president of Southern Company and continue to serve on the Southern Company management council.

Anthony J. Topazi, 60, has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of Southern Company, succeeding Fanning. In this role, Topazi will have responsibility for Southern Company Generation, Southern Power and Southern Company Transmission.

Edward Day, VI, 50, will succeed Topazi as president and CEO of Mississippi Power, which provides retail electric service to approximately 200,000 customers across the southeastern region of the state. In addition, the company sells wholesale power to multiple electric power associations and cooperatives in Mississippi.

Ratcliffe noted that each of these individuals brings to their respective roles the knowledge and experience needed to ensure a seamless transition. "With more than 130 years of combined service throughout the Southern Company system, Art, Paul, Anthony and Ed embody the management bench strength that has always been a key part of our strategy for maintaining consistency, stability and long-term success in our business. Moreover, these leaders will guide the company with the same unquestionable trust, superior performance and total commitment that are the foundation of our values and actions."

Beattie, currently executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer of Alabama Power, joined the Southern Company system at Alabama Power in 1976 as a junior accountant and progressed through a number of management and officer-level roles in the company's accounting, finance, treasury and corporate governance organizations. He holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Tennessee and a master of business administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He also has completed the Stanford Executive Program at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.

Bowers joined the company in 1979 at Gulf Power. Before being named chief financial officer of Southern Company in 2008, Bowers served as president of Southern Company Generation and president and CEO of Southern Power. He also was president and CEO of the company's former United Kingdom subsidiary, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Southern Company and has held executive positions at Georgia Power. Bowers is a 1978 graduate of the University of West Florida and also holds a master's degree in management from Troy University. In 1993, he completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. He serves on the boards of Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited and is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's energy policy council.

Topazi, named president and chief executive officer of Mississippi Power in 2004, began his career with Southern Company at Alabama Power in 1969. Progressing through roles of increasing responsibility, he has held executive positions in Alabama Power's customer service organization, including vice president for the divisions serving Birmingham and the state's western region. He also has served as senior vice president of Southern Power - the company subsidiary that acquires, builds, manages and owns wholesale generation assets - and as executive vice president for Southern Company Generation and Energy Marketing. Topazi earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Auburn University and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

He serves on the board of directors of the Hancock Bank Holding Company and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta - New Orleans branch, and is a member of the Engineering Council at Auburn University.

Day joined Southern Company in 1983 as an engineer in the company's nuclear operations division and progressed through positions of increasing responsibility across a number of functional areas, including engineering and business development, before becoming executive vice president, engineering and construction services for Southern Company Services in 2003. Day holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama and a master of business administration from Samford University. He also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

With 4.4 million customers and more than 42,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE:SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast. A leading U.S. producer of electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices below the national average. Southern Company is consistently listed among the top U.S. electric service providers in customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

In this third and final part of this exclusive NutraIngredients podcast with Professor Albert Flynn, chair of European Food Safety Authority’s Scientific Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA), explains how rejected article 13.1 can be resubmitted to the process.

Professor Flynn explains why dossiers originally submitted under article 13.1 of the health claims regulation may fare better under article 13.5, where NDA-applicant dialogue potential is greater.

“Many of the claims on the article 13 list could easily have been submitted also as applications under article 13.5 and indeed quite a number of them were,” Professor Flynn said.

Live Current Media Inc. (OTCBB:LIVC), an e-commerce company that owns and operates the luxury fragrance brand, www.perfume.com, as well as a portfolio of other domain names, today announced that it has appointed Mr. Paul Morrison as President and COO effective immediately. Mr. Morrison has also been appointed as CEO of Live Current’s wholly owned subsidiary, Perfume.com Inc.

“The addition of Paul to the senior management of the Company accomplishes one of our key goals of bringing in experienced management with both on-line and perfume knowledge. We believe that Paul’s prior experience with direct response and multi-channel online internet companies, as well as his time spent working for one of the major perfume brands, makes him an excellent fit for Live Current as we continue to implement our plan to grow our presence as a major on-line luxury perfume site and as an international media company.” stated Geoffrey Hampson, CEO and Chairman of Live Current Media Inc. “Mr. Morrison intends to use his experience to drive new online growth, a key factor in creating real value with the Company’s new luxury strategy. We believe that his experience in working on the brand side of the perfume business will assist perfume.com in building relationships with the key influencers in that industry.”

Mr. Morrison will be focusing on implementing the current plan to transform perfume.com into an on-line luxury destination for perfume lovers. The Company plans to launch the new perfume luxury website in September 2010 and to implement the inventory and fulfillment strategy to support that plan. By leveraging his experience in on-line marketing, Mr. Morrison plans to drive increased traffic, improve conversion rates and develop a strategy to capture those organic searches seeking discounted perfume. The Company expects these changes to lead to increased sales and profit margins.

Mr. Morrison stated, “My plan is to execute and improve on the current Perfume.com Inc. business strategy of building a luxury perfume destination site. This allows Perfume.com Inc. to build brand equity as a premium gift site that is a portal for all perfume enthusiasts who want to send someone that special gift and be a part of the perfume community. I believe that the perfume.com domain name has enormous value with millions of focused visitors looking for one thing, perfume. We plan to make the consumer experience on perfume.com unlike anything available on the internet by including customized gifts with purchase, specialized purchase guides and advice. Our goal is for the user to perceive a prestigious, exciting and memorable site. In our efforts to increase our customer base, we also plan to market to our current customers by providing loyalty incentives and the chance to join an exclusive perfume club that will allow users to socialize with others who are passionate about perfume and to take advantage of unique offers.”

Mr. Morrison further added, “I look forward to working with the perfume industry and informing them about the ways in which Live Current Media can market brand awareness and convey their message through the distribution of video and targeted content through television and the internet, and through contacts with our growing passionate customer base. In the near future I plan to use my experience and contacts to achieve marketing agreements, to find partners in the perfume and gift giving industry, to leverage our traffic, and build an affiliate program that will accelerate growth and build value for all stakeholders.”

Mr. Morrison has more than 20 years of experience as an international and entrepreneurial executive, with a successful track record building and operating businesses in advertising and marketing services, new media (internet), retail and technology. He has worked in operations for large companies such as Calvin Klein Cosmetics, Wyeth Pharmaceutical, and Schering Plough Pharmaceutical. He has worked with startups at OmniReliant, acquiring assets and launching multiple multimedia platforms to build a vertical integrated structure to effectively market products.

Mr. Mark Melville, formerly the President of Live Current Media, Inc., has resigned that position, effective immediately but will remain with the Company until October 31, 2010 as previously announced, to assist with the transition.

About Live Current Media Inc.

Live Current owns one of the most powerful and engaging content and commerce destinations on the Internet in www.perfume.com. This site and others in the Company’s portfolio can be built into subject-specific DestinationHubs™, that can connect people to each other and to the information, brands, and products they are passionate about. Live Current has headquarters in Vancouver, Canada with an office in Washington, W.A. and New York City, N.Y. and is publicly traded on the OTCBB (LIVC). For more information, visit www.livecurrent.com.

(RTTNews) - Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI:  News ) said it promoted Martin Craighead to president and chief operating officer, effective immediately.

Previously, Martin Craighead served as senior vice pesident and chief operating officer of the company since May 2009. Martin Craighead has also served as president of the Drilling & Evaluation Group and as president of Baker Atlas and INTEQ. Chad Deaton, chairman and chief executive officer of Baker Hughes, stated, "In his tenure as Chief Operating Officer Martin has demonstrated excellence in both strategic planning and tactical execution. Martin will continue to be responsible for engineering and technology development, as well as field operations in his new role."

Jul 28, 2010 (Datamonitor via COMTEX) --

Orion Energy Systems, a power technology enterprise, that designs, manufactures and deploys energy management systems, announced that Michael Potts has been named president and COO.

Mr Potts has served most recently as Orion's executive vice president, building on a more than 20-year career in energy management. He joined the company in 2001 as vice president of technical services. Later he was named as the vice president of technical services and government affairs, and then as executive vice president.

Neal Verfuerth, chairman and CEO of Orion Energy, said: "This is a natural transition given Mike's many years of strong leadership and innate understanding of our industry. His ability to successfully lead and execute key company initiatives has been demonstrated time and again and we look forward to the significant contributions he will make as president and COO."

(RTTNews) - Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Ltd. (CPD) announced that it has appointed Singh Sachdeva as Chief Operating Officer or COO of the Company.

Commenting about his experience, the company stated that previously, Singh served as Senior Vice President, Business Strategies of the company from July 2007 to July 2010.

He also has served as Vice President, Sales and Marketing from September 2003 to July 2007, as well as National Sales and Marketing Manager from September 2000 to September 2003, Caraco noted.

Regina Lunkenheimer has been promoted from vice president, commercial lines to chief operating officer (COO) for Eastern Shore Associates Insurance (ESA), a Trusted Choice® agency, Fulton, it was announced Robert K. Wallace, agency president and CEO. In addition Wallace also announced that Martha Murray has joined ESA and succeeds Lunkenheimer as vice president, commercial lines, and [...]

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Power president and CEO Anthony Topazi has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of Southern Company.

It's one of several new executive appointments in a management transition plan at Southern Company.

Topazi will have responsibility for Southern Company Generation, Southern Power and Southern Company Transmission.

Edward Day VI will succeed Topazi as president and CEO of Mississippi Power, which provides retail electric service to about 200,000 customers in southeast Mississippi.

Southern Company CEO David M. Ratcliffe, who has run the Southern Company as chairman, president, and CEO since 2004, and has worked there since 1971, will retire Dec. 1.

The company said on Tuesday that Thomas A. Fanning will be the company's new CEO.

To Play Key Role in Owner Relations, Acquisitions, Management Contracts and Operations

SEATTLE, July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dow Hotel Company, LLC (DHC), a hotel ownership investment and management company, today announced that C.A. Anderson, CHA, has joined the company as president and chief operating officer. 

Anderson will be responsible for the overall guidance and growth of The Dow Hotel Company.  He will be involved in all aspects of hotel acquisitions and development of relationships with financial and institutional fund partners.  He will work closely with company founder and CEO Murray Dow on operations and design.

"DHC is an entrepreneurial company with a great reputation for integrity and an excellent record of financial results," Anderson said.  "I look forward to building on that legacy and to helping the company extend its leadership position with an energized acquisition effort."

"With the addition of C.A., we are fully positioned to take advantage of this stage of the economic cycle," said Dow.  "With our strong management team and institutional investors, DHC is ready to move to the next level and take full advantage of an industry recovery as it begins to gain traction."

A 30-year hospitality veteran, Anderson most recently held the position of executive vice president of acquisitions and development for Interstate Hotels & Resorts.  Prior to that, he held posts as managing director, hotel group, at Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, a private equity firm, and vice president of development for Red Lion Hotels, Inc, a publicly traded owner/operator.  He also held senior hotel operations, strategic planning and development positions with Japan Airline Group of Companies, Nikko Hotels and Trusthouse Forte Hotels, Inc.

Anderson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and pre-law from San Diego State University and continued his graduate work in finance at the University of San Diego.  He is a Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) and a past board member of Hospitality Asset Managers Association, serves on the Lodging Industry Investment Council, and is active on numerous industry advisory committees, boards and hotel schools. 

About the Dow Hotel Company

The Dow Hotel Company, headquartered in Seattle, is a national hotel owner/investor and operator of hotels.  The company's portfolio of owned and managed properties is comprised of institutional grade hotels such as Hilton, Embassy Suites, Doubletree,  Marriott, Sheraton, Crowne Plaza, and Radisson.  Founded in 1997, the company aggressively seeks to acquire, co-invest with joint venture partners and/or manage mid- to large-size, institutional-grade, full-service hotels, especially those that have extensive food and beverage capabilities.  More information on The Dow Hotel Company is available at www.dowhotelco.com.

Health IT company Shared Health has named Justin L. Neece, MBA, its chief operating officer.

Neece will be responsible for the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based company's day-to-day operations while overseeing the sales and marketing, finance, client services, legal, security, privacy, compliance and risk management and contract management functions, according to Shared Health.

Most recently, Neece served as partner for the Viability Company, a Brentwood, Tenn.-based healthcare consulting firm, where he led several operations implementations with healthcare firms focused in renal care, health IT and acute-care hospitals.

Clear Channel Outdoor Americas, 90 percent held by San Antonio-based CC Media Holdings Inc., on Monday announced that Joseph Bagan has been named chief operating officer — Americas, effective immediately.

Bagan will be based in the Clear Channel Outdoor's Phoenix offices, and report to Ron Cooper, president and CEO of Clear Channel Outdoor — Americas. Bagan's appointment to the new post completes a realignment of the company's operating structure that includes the recent framework of four regional group presidents.

Those group presidents, as well as the leaders of Clear Channel Outdoor Airports, Operations and Information Technology, will report to Bagan. Bagan joins Clear Channel Outdoor from Sharklet Technologies, a Denver-based biotechnology company, where he has been CEO since 2007.

DIAL plans to use old terminal for low-cost international carriers

This is it. After hogging television footage and print space for weeks, tomorrow is the day of reckoning for Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) as its swank new baby, Terminal 3 (T3), opens to international passengers.

At the same time, it is not curtains for the old terminal. DIAL, the operator of the airport, is reworking its plan to devote T2 — which handled all international flight movements till today — to low-cost international carriers.

The airport’s initial plan to start commercial operations in T3 from mid-July had to be put off after airlines complained of lack of necessary infrastructure and proven flights. The terminal has now received Airbus A380, the largest commercial aeroplane.

“The new terminal has many new features and some glitches might happen initially. But we have back-up plans to provide seamless travel to our passengers,” said DIAL Chief Operating Officer (COO) Andrew Harrisson.

Though all the airlines will shift their operational offices to T3 from tomorrow, the administrative offices will be shifted only on August 10.

T3 can now handle 27 million passengers a year. Its total capacity is 34 million, but that can be reached once it adds more check-in counters and immigration staff, among other things.

To start with, T3 will handle 90 flights, which will eventually go up to 220.

While the terminal will allow international passengers from tomorrow, it will start domestic operations by the end of next month when Air India, Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and their low-cost subsidiaries will shift their operations to the new terminal. Other LCCs will, however, operate from the Terminal 1D, the existing domestic terminal.

“We have upgraded the T2 terminal and have made large investments in it. It has a capacity to handle 4.5 million passengers though we were handling as much as 8 million. The terminal, of course, is not as modern as T3. But the thinking is that we could convert it into a low-cost carrier (LCC) international terminal offering differential or lower rates for services,” Harrisson said.

Harrisson further said that with Indian LCCs like SpiceJet and IndiGo about to start services and a bevy of foreign LCCs like Air Asia coming in, there was a growing demand for a separate airport for international LCCs where services offered would be cheaper than T3.

The COO pointed out that DIAL currently handles about 26 million passengers annually, of which 12 million are of LCCs. He said that the LCCs had expressed the desire to shift to T3 by March next year.

“We have to examine their proposal and take a call; we would like to accommodate them,” said Harrisson. However, if that happens, T3’s capacity to handle 34 million passengers per annum would be enough only for a limited period.

Harrisson said DIAL, therefore, had to take a call on whether to defer further expansion of the airport and build a fourth terminal (T4) by June 2018 as envisaged earlier, or let the LCCs operate from the existing terminals rather than shift to T3.

But DIAL could decide on this only after it was able to make traffic projections, considering the recession faced by the industry, he said.

The COO, however, added that the runway was capable enough to handle 60 movements an hour, which is equivalent to handling over 45 million passengers per annum.

“Earlier, the airport was built on a projection of traffic growth of 16-18 per cent. But with the recession in the aviation industry, the new projections were 8 per cent per annum. However, in the last few months, we have seen a better-than-expected growth rate of 13 per cent. But it is still early to project and we will have to wait for a few months,” Harrisson said.

New York -- A board-certified veterinarian has been tapped for the new position of chief operating officer for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

Steven Hansen, DVM, Dipl. ABT, Dipl. ABVT, MS, MBA, a veterinary toxicologist, has worked with the ASPCA since 1997, first as vice president of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center and later as senior vice president of Animal Health Services.

In his new role, Hansen will oversee anti-cruelty initiatives, community outreach, capital projects, human resources, and finance and IT, as well as continue to supervise spay-and-neuter initiatives, the Animal Poison Control Center and Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital.

Hansen received his DVM from Iowa State University and an MS in Veterinary Medical Science (toxicology) from the University of Illinois, where he still holds an adjunct appointment.

Shared Health named former health technology consultant Justin L. Neece as its new chief operating officer, the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based health IT company announced Monday.

The 20-year veteran of health care, retail and automotive industries will oversee all sales and marketing, finance, client services, security, legal and risk management, the company said.

According to Neece's LinkedIn profile, he joined Shared Health in May.

"As we position Shared Health for future growth in an era of health care reform, we are eager to leverage Justin's expertise to enhance our place at the forefront of the HIT industry," Shared's CEO Jana Skewes said in a statement.

Neece comes to six-year-old Shared Health from his role as a partner of The Viability Company, a health care consultancy that served Aetna, Ascension, Blue Cross Blue Shield Tennessee, Cigna, Humana, Children's Mercy Hospital and Shared Health.

Before joining Viability, Neece held executive positions at Dollar General Corp and Manchester Tank and Equipment Company, and served as business manager at Tyco Healthcare.

Neece, who sits on the board of the Tennessee chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, also served as an adjunct professor at Lipscomb University's College of Business.

Neece is the new COO

Harvey Golubock is retiring as president and chief operating officers of American Refining Group, and will be replaced by Jeannine Schoenecker, current chief financial officer, the board of directors announced Monday.

Golubock’s retirement as president and COO is effective March 31, but he will still be president of ARG Resources Inc. and will be vice chairman of ARG’s board of directors. Also, the board announced that Tim Brown will be responsible for all marketing related activities.

Golubock joined ARG as the President and Chief Operating Officer in 1997 when the Company purchased the Bradford refinery.

Prior to joining ARG, Golubock spent 28 years with Witco Corporation and held many senior positions including Vice President of Witco's Lubricant Group. Prior to Witco, Golubock worked at Gulton Industries and Permutit Company.

Golubock served for seven years as Chairman of the Board of Beacon Light Behavioral Health Systems and still serves as a member of the Board of Directors; Co-Chairman of the Bradford Area Alliance; and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Advisory Board of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

Schoenecker joined ARG as Assistant Controller in 1985. Later that year, she assumed the position of Controller and in 1991 she was promoted to Vice President of Accounting. Schoenecker assumed the position of Chief Financial Officer in 2008.

She is responsible for banking relationships, and the preparation of financial statements, budgeting, daily operations of the accounting department and for all federal and state tax compliance and reporting. She is also responsible for purchasing, logistics and information technology.

Schoenecker is also President of AR Trucking and a Certified Public Accountant licensed to practice in Pennsylvania.

Brown was named Vice President of Refinery Sales and Marketing in 2008. He is responsible for the sale and marketing of ARG’s refinery outputs including: fuels, solvents, base oils and waxes. Prior to being appointed a Vice President, Brown held the position of Director of Refinery Sales. Brown has over 15 years of experience in the lubricant and petroleum industries.

Power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has officially confirmed the appointment of Oscar S. Reyes as its chief operating officer (COO) as affirmed by its Board of Directors, replacing newly-installed Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) Secretary Jose “Ping” de Jesus.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the company indicated that Reyes will also assume added function as senior executive vice president; while concurrently holding to his post as Chief Energy Adviser.

Reyes is apparently a nominee of the Pangilinan group, given that his current connection is as board director of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, one of the major shareholders in Meralco.

Just early this week, Meralco underwent re-shuffling at its Board, with the appointment of two new members, Eric O. Recto and Vicente L. Panlilio who are from the group of another key shareholder, San Miguel Corporation.

Reyes’ entry as among Meralco’s key officers is coming at a time when the utility firm is exploring its way into vertical re-integration. The company already laid down plans of going back into power generation – which it proposes to do so either through asset acquisitions or equity partnerships with project developers of brownfield or greenfield power projects.

After recent reorganizations at the Board and management, anticipations are also high that more changes might happen next year at the company’s helm and likely firmed up at the utility firm’s next stockholders meeting.

Prior to his stint at PLDT and other corporate organizations, including many of Ayala companies, Reyes was widely known in the energy sector as country chairman of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation; local subsidiary of the world’s second largest multinational oil firm. he also held concurrent post then as managing director of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V., the corporate vehicle that set into the commercial fruition the $4.5 billion Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project.

The other corporate involvements of Reyes are at MRL Gold Philippines inc., Link Edge inc., as well as with the board of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI); Manila Water Company; Smart Communications inc.; Pepsi Cola Products Philippines inc.; Basic Energy inc.; Sun Life Financial Plans inc.; and First Philippine Electric Corporation.

He also has involvements as member of the Board of Trustees of the Shell Foundation inc., El Nido Foundation inc. and SGV Foundation inc.

Southern Co. said President and Chief Executive David Ratcliffe will retire later this year, prompting the shuffling of several executives into new roles.

Mr. Ratcliffe will be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Thomas Fanning, who ...

United Airlines will keep Continental Airlines Inc. Chief Financial Officer Zane Rowe in his post when the two carriers merge, while United CFO Kathryn Mikells and President John Tague will leave.

The moves shaped the senior leadership team of Continental Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smisek, who will remain CEO of the combined company. United Chief Administrative Officer Pete McDonald will be chief operating officer, while CEO Glenn Tilton becomes non-executive chairman.

Other United executives who will depart include Rosemary Moore, senior vice president of government affairs, and Graham Atkinson, president of the Mileage Plus frequent-flier program, parent UAL Corp. said today in a statement.

“This is a reflection of a high-class problem, which is a deep bench on both sides,” said Hunter Keay, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Baltimore.

Rowe, 39, joined Houston-based Continental in 1993 and previously worked in the network strategy department before being named CFO in 2008. Continental’s Jim Compton will stay on as chief marketing officer; Nene Foxhall will continue overseeing communications and government affairs; and Mike Bonds will run human resources and labor relations, the carriers said.

United’s Tom Sabatino will be general counsel, while Jeff Foland will lead the combined loyalty program at the merged airline, which retains the United name and Chicago headquarters.

Mikells, Tague

Mikells, 44, has been with United since 1994, and was named CFO in 2008 when record oil prices and the recession forced airlines to cut jobs and park planes to lower costs.

She helped the carrier raise cash and improve its fuel hedging program, and earlier this year she led the merger talks with Continental, which were completed in three weeks.

Tague, 48, joined United in 2003 during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. He helped increase revenue by $1.2 billion and reverse the airline’s on-time arrival rate from worst to first among the so-called legacy airlines, and he led United’s efforts to charge for services such as checked luggage.

“United’s liquidity turnaround occurred on Kathryn’s watch, and John is well respected on Wall Street for United’s revenue outperformance and unbundling initiatives,” Keay said. “That said, Continental has been on more firm financial footing on a consistent basis throughout the revenue crisis and that reflects very well on Zane and his team.”

Keay rates UAL and Continental as “buy.” UAL dropped 54 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $23.71 at 4 p.m. in New York in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, while Continental fell 44 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $25.21 on the New York Stock Exchange.

UAL and Continental agreed to merge in May in an all-stock deal, a tie-up that will surpass Delta Air Lines Inc. as the world’s largest carrier.

Separately, the European Commission gave United and Continental an unconditional clearance on the merger, and said the combination wouldn’t raise any specific competition concerns in Europe or the trans-Atlantic market. The carriers say they expect to complete their tie-up by year’s end.

NEW YORK, July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Rockefeller Financial ("Company") -- a leading global wealth management firm serving high-net-worth individuals, families, family offices, trusts, foundations and endowments -- announced today that it has named Reuben Jeffery III as Chief Executive Officer of the Company.  He will assume the office and join the Board of Directors effective September 7, 2010, and will have responsibility for the general oversight of the Company and its four business groups: Rockefeller Wealth Advisors, Rockefeller Asset Management, Rockefeller Capital Partners, and Rockit® Solutions. 

Mr. Jeffery has been a Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C. and previously served in the U.S. government as Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs where he led the work of the Department on issues ranging from trade and investment, energy, agriculture and aviation to bilateral relations with the U.S.'s global economic partners. 

Prior to joining the State Department, Mr. Jeffery was the Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and held a number of other positions in U.S. government service.  He spent eighteen years at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he was Managing Partner of the firm's Paris office (1997-2001) and of its European Financial Institutions Group in London (1992-1997).  Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he was a corporate attorney with Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. 

Colin G. Campbell, Chairman of the Board, said, "We are very pleased to have Reuben Jeffery lead Rockefeller Financial into the next decade.  His broad range of global financial knowledge, risk management expertise and executive leadership, alongside his commitment to excellence and reputation for integrity, make him ideally qualified for this role.  He shares our commitment to high-quality service and standards. His vision and expertise will benefit the Company as it continues to grow." 

"To lead Rockefeller Financial, a business with a history of success, is an honor," Mr. Jeffery said.  "As the marketplace continues to seek independent and focused wealth management firms, I believe the opportunities for Rockefeller Financial are significant.  I look forward to working with the Board, President and Chief Operating Officer Austin Shapard and senior management, and all of the professionals at Rockefeller Financial in achieving our shared goals for our clients."

Mr. Jeffery is currently a member of the President's Council on International Activities at Yale University, and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  He received a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University and both an M.B.A. and a J.D. from Stanford University.

About Rockefeller Financial

Headquartered in New York and with offices in Boston, Washington D.C., Stamford, Connecticut, and Wilmington, Delaware, Rockefeller Financial is a leading global wealth management firm that provides comprehensive wealth and investment management services to a diversified client base of high-net worth individuals, families, family offices, trusts, foundations and endowments.

Rockefeller Financial provides access to best-in-class solutions and comprehensive services through four business groups: Rockefeller Wealth Advisors, Rockefeller Asset Management, Rockefeller Capital Partners, and Rockit® Solutions.  Rockefeller Financial was incorporated in 1979 and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1980 as an investment adviser.  Rockefeller Financial is the trade name used by Rockefeller & Co., Inc.  Products and services may be provided by various subsidiaries of Rockefeller & Co., Inc.  As of June 30, 2010, the firm and its subsidiaries had approximately $25 billion in assets under administration.

HONG KONG—Sands China Ltd. appointed two senior executives following the abrupt dismissal of Steve Jacobs as its chief executive Friday.

The company, which operates resort casinos on Macau, said it named Edward Tracy as president ...

In a statement, CEO Charles Zhang said the company was emphasizing advertising in online video and programs that play the content on devices such as Apple Inc.’s iPad. Chief Operating Officer Belinda Wang said the World Expo and the World Cup helped boost online advertising in the quarter.For the April to June period, Sohu said its net income increased to $33.5 million, or 82 cents per share, from $30.2 million, or 73 cents per share, in the same three months last year.

Revenue grew 13 percent to $146.1 million from $129.5 million in the year-ago quarter. Sohu’s online advertising and Changyou online games groups saw revenue increase in the quarter, helping offset a decline in its much smaller wireless business.That’s better than Wall Street was expecting. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast net income of 80 cents per share on $142.3 million in revenue.

Shares of Sohu rose $1.25, or 2.8 percent, to $46.29 in afternoon trading.China has the world’s biggest population of Internet users, with 420 million people online as of June 30, according to the government-sanctioned China Internet Network Information Center.

Looking ahead, Sohu forecast third-quarter adjusted earnings of $1 to $1.05 per share on total revenue of $153 million to $158 million. Advertising revenue is expected to range between $61 million and $63 million, and online game revenue is estimated to be between $80 million to $83 million.Analysts are expecting earnings of 93 cents per share on revenue of $154.9 million, on average.

NEW YORK — Tribune Co. believes it will still emerge from bankruptcy protection this year even though a court-appointed examiner concluded that talks leading up to a leveraged buyout of the company had bordered on fraud.

In a memo to employees, Tribune CEO Randy Michaels and Chief Operating Officer Gerald Spector said they agreed with only some of the conclusions in Monday's report, while disputing others. They did not go into specifics, saying it would be premature to comment while the full examiner's report remains under court seal.

A hearing on whether to release the nearly 700-page document was scheduled for Thursday in Wilmington, Del.

The 2007 leveraged buyout took the company private and ultimately helped land it in Chapter 11. The deal has drawn scrutiny from bondholders who are trying to recover more of their money.

Real estate mogul Sam Zell led the deal, which piled on what turned out to be an unsustainable amount of debt. The company, which owns the Chicago Tribune, Los Angles Times and other properties, filed for Chapter 11 protection in December 2008.

The court examiner's report, based on thousands of pages of documents and 38 interviews, could make it more difficult for Tribune Co. to get its Chapter 11 plan approved and emerge from bankruptcy protection by the end of the year. The plan calls for handing the company over to a group of lenders.

In his report, court-appointed examiner Kenneth Klee criticizes some of those lenders, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., for acting irresponsibly in loading Tribune up with debt, even as it became more apparent that the company would have trouble paying it back.

JPMorgan did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Tuesday.

Tribune executives weren't fazed.

"Most important, while there are a lot of variables, we remain optimistic that the company can emerge from Chapter 11 before the end of the year," Michaels and Spector told employees.

Potts' Experience, Understanding of Business Provides Natural Transition to New Role

MANITOWOC, Wis., Jul 26, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Orion Energy Systems Inc. (OESX  3.26, +0.08, +2.52%) announced today that Michael Potts, P.E., has been named the power technology enterprise's president and chief operating officer.

In his new position, Potts will manage the day-to-day operations of Orion. Potts has served most recently as Orion's executive vice president, building on a more than 20-year career in energy management.

"This is a natural transition given Mike's many years of strong leadership and innate understanding of our industry," said Chairman and CEO Neal Verfuerth. "His ability to successfully lead and execute key company initiatives has been demonstrated time and again and we look forward to the significant contributions he will make as president and chief operating officer."

Potts is a recognized expert in energy issues, and has often testified before state and federal regulatory bodies regarding energy-related issues. In addition, Potts has been active in many government and civic organizations dealing with energy issues in various capacities.

Potts began his career in energy management with the Kohler Co. in 1988 and was responsible for the company's corporate energy management portfolio. He also served as the general manager for Kohler's natural gas subsidiary, where his duties included energy strategy and management, public affairs, energy efficiency projects and budget management.

Potts joined Orion in 2001 as the company's vice president of technical services. He was later named the vice president of technical services and government affairs, and then executive vice president.

Potts earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration from Lakeland College.

Orion has deployed its energy management systems in 5,612 facilities across North America, including 120 of the Fortune 500 companies. Since 2001, Orion technology has displaced more than 527 megawatts, saving customers more than $856 million and reducing indirect carbon dioxide emissions by 7.3 million tons.

Orion Energy Systems Inc. (OESX 3.26, +0.08, +2.52%) is a leading power technology enterprise that designs, manufactures and deploys energy management systems, consisting primarily of high-performance, energy-efficient lighting platforms, intelligent wireless control systems and direct renewable solar technology for commercial and industrial customers without compromising their operations. For more information, visit www.oesx.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube.

The Orion Energy Systems, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4540

Clear Channel Outdoor has created a new executive level position that will have management oversight of the company’s operations throughout the Americas.

Joseph Bagan is the new chief operating officer for Clear Channel Outdoor - Americas, effective immediately. He will report directly to Ron Cooper, president and CEO of Clear Channel Outdoor - Americas. Bagan comes to Clear Channel Outdoor from Sharklet Technologies, a Denver-based biotechnology company, where he had been CEO since 2007.

Bagan’s appointment to chief operating officer comes at a time when the company is realigning its operating structure. Under this new structure, the group presidents of Clear Channel Outdoor’s four regional operating units, the co-presidents of Clear Channel Airports, the executive vice president of operations and the chief information officer will report to Bagan. He will be based at Clear Channel Outdoor’s Phoenix office.

Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE: CCO) is the world’s largest outdoor advertising company. It sells outdoor advertising on more than 200,000 advertising displays in the United States and has a presence in 48 of the top 50 markets nationwide, including San Antonio. The company is majority owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc. (OTCBB: CCMO) in San Antonio.

For those who are interested in holding an executive position during their professional career, an MBA program may be able to help bolster their chances as many employers look to individuals who have MBA degrees for leadership positions.

Tenneco Incorporated, a global manufacturing company, recently appointed Hari Nair as the new chief operating officer (COO) and Josep Fornos as the senior vice president of Europe, South America and India.

Nair, who has a finance MBA, was most recently the company's president of its International Group, a position he has held since March 2007. He was responsible for operations in Europe, South American, India and the Asia Pacific.

"Tenneco is creating the Chief Operating Officer position as part of our continuing effort to better serve customers by increasing global coordination and driving synergies across all our businesses," said Gregg Sherrill, Tenneco chairman and CEO.

Fornos, who also has an MBA degree, was previously the company's vice president and general manager for its European original equipment (OE) emission control, a position he has held since March 2007.

Bestinvest has recruited former UBS head of operations Donald Reid as chief operating officer.

Reid, who has over twenty years experience in the investment and wealth management industry, will take up the role from 1 September.

He moves from his job as head of operations at UBS Wealth Management, which he has held since March 2007.

There he led the successful migration to a new systems platform last year.

Previously, Reid has also been operations director and finance director at Barclays Stockbrokers and Barclays Wealth Management.

At Barclays, he was responsible for the integration of Charles Schwab.

Peter Hall, chief executive, Bestinvest says:"Donald brings with him a vast amount of experience and no one is better placed to help us deliver an excellent service for our clients and to manage our major investment programme in our systems.

"Having worked closely with Donald in the past, I am very aware of his abilities and am delighted that he has agreed to join."

ALPHARETTA, GA, Jul 26, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- F3 Technologies, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: FTCH) has named Paul Campbell its chief operating officer, the company announced today.

Campbell has been with the company for nearly a full year as its executive vice president and national sales manager. His new title reflects additional duties that he has overtaken since last summer, including the management of F3's relationships with affiliates and the company's expansion of its sales and marketing staff.

"Paul's addition to the team has greatly enhanced the company's ability to succeed through greater efficiency and tighter relationships with our vital partners in all business lines," CEO Frank Connor said.

Campbell arrived in August at F3, an innovative developer of online software services, bringing 22 years of senior-level experience in the banking and software industries. He was the general manager of the commercial-banking group at Digital Insight, an Intuit, Inc. company.

Since coming on board, Campbell has successfully negotiated the first major affiliate agreement for the company's FargoTube entertainment service, and the first affiliate agreement for Interactive Defense System, which F3 owns in a joint venture with Noble Heroes, Inc. Agreements like these are vital because these services rely on affiliates as a primary means to acquire paying customers.

FargoTube (http://www.fargotube.com) lets owners sell their video content through social networks that they set up on the service.

Interactive Defense (http://www.interactivedefense.com) is a social-networking platform that facilitates two-way communication between city governments and the residents they serve.

F3 also operates Interactive Community Systems (http://www.interactioncs.com), a management and social-networking platform for homeowners associations and other member groups. Interactive has several dozen affiliates and about 15,000 users.

F3 Technologies, Inc.: http://www.f3technologies.com

ABOUT F3 TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

F3 Technologies is a software innovator that creates niche social networks for groups ranging from homeowners associations to music fans. Its products include Interaction Community Systems (http://www.interactioncs.com), an online tool for homeowners associations and other member groups; Interactive Defense, for police and other municipal departments; and FargoTube (http://www.fargotube.com), a platform for profitable online distribution of videos.

For more information, contact
Chris Bagley
F3 Technologies
(760) 473-3915

Or Paul Campbell
(404) 307-0294

NEWTON, Mass., Jul 26, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Senior Housing Properties Trust /quotes/comstock/13*!snh/quotes/nls/snh  (SNH  22.43, -0.13, -0.58%)  today announced that it will host a conference call in conjunction with the announcement of its second quarter 2010 financial results.

SNH plans to issue a press release containing its second quarter 2010 financial results before the NYSE opens on Monday, August 2, 2010. Later that afternoon, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, David Hegarty, President and Chief Operating Officer, and Richard Doyle, Chief Financial Officer, will host a conference call to discuss the second quarter 2010 results. Following the company's remarks, there will be a short question and answer period.

The conference call telephone number is (877) 704-5384. Participants calling from outside the United States and Canada should dial (913) 981-4903. No pass code is necessary to access the call from either number. Participants should dial in about 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call. A replay of the conference call will be available through 4:00 p.m. Monday, August 9, 2010. To hear the replay, dial (719) 457-0820. The replay pass code is 4533390.

A live audio webcast of the conference call will also be available in a listen-only mode on the company's web site, which is located at www.snhreit.com. Participants wanting to access the webcast should visit the company's web site about five minutes before the call. The archived webcast will be available for replay on the company's web site for about one week after the call.

Senior Housing Properties Trust is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, which owns independent and assisted living communities, nursing homes, rehabilitation hospitals, wellness centers and medical office buildings throughout the United States. SNH is headquartered in Newton, MA.

SOURCE: Senior Housing Properties Trust

Senior Housing Properties Trust
Elisabeth A. Heiss, 617-796-8234
Manager, Investor Relations
www.snhreit.com

Loren Thompson Chief Operating Officer at the Lexington Institute is a public policy think tank based in Arlington, Va.

Thirty years ago, Jacques Gansler published a seminal study titled "The Defense Industry" (M.I.T. Press, 1980) that analyzed the inner workings of America's most peculiar industry. Gansler had already been an executive at several major military contractors and served in the Pentagon, and he later went on to be both the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology and the Chairman of the Defense Science Board -- making him the leading authority on the defense industrial base of his generation. By 1980, he had already formulated some striking insights about how the defense industry differed from normal businesses. In his book, he set forth 30 features of the defense market that diverged significantly from free market theory. For example...

1. There was only one buyer, making it a monopsony market.

2. There were only a few suppliers of any given item.

3. Rather than the market setting prices, oligopolistic pricing prevailed.

4. Barriers to entry and exit were very high.

5. Prices rose rather than fell when demand declined.

6. Supply did not adjust readily to demand so there was chronic excess capacity.

All of these peculiarities (and many others) persist today, despite major shakeouts of the sector during the 1970s and the 1990s. With the sector now apparently headed into a third such shakeout, analysts have begun to speculate what the defense industry will look like in the future. The last downturn resulted in two dozen "system integrators" consolidating into half a dozen defense conglomerates with similar competencies in electronics, aerospace and information services. The Obama Administration says it would like to see more competition in military procurements, but it's hard to see how that could happen with demand falling unless it decided to open up procurements to overseas suppliers such as Thales and EADS.

Because of the way the industry consolidated at the end of the Cold War and the government subsequently awarded contracts for next-generation weapons, there are only a handful of domestic suppliers for any given category of weapon. For instance, Lockheed Martin and Boeing both build fighters, but Boeing will cease supplying fighters to the U.S. military within five years as Lockheed's F-35 joint strike fighter ramps up production for three services and overseas allies. On the other hand, Boeing looks likely to be the only surviving domestic integrator of large military aircraft because of its ability to adapt commercial transports to military purposes. The naval shipbuilding sector is dominated by General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman, but outside of surface combatants like destroyers, they don't really compete on any ship type. Similarly, heavy armored vehicles are built mainly by GD and BAE Systems, with GD appearing to consolidate its leading role while BAE Systems struggles to find a successor to its Bradley infantry vehicle; a handful of companies such as Force Protection and Textron occupy niches in the armored vehicle business, but they can't expect to be players on the next big platform unless they team with one of the big boys.

With military production similarly concentrated at the subtiers of the supply chain, it's an open question what future real competition has in the defense business. The Navy has found a novel way of getting continuous price and productivity gains from its submarine team by incentivizing companies to surpass previous performance levels, but that isn't competition in the traditional sense. The way GD and Northrop Grumman have divided up work on the current Virginia-class sub and then reduced capacity, it isn't clear there will ever again be a full-up competition for submarines in the U.S. And once Lockheed Martin's team on the F-35 has been producing the multi-role fighter for a couple of decades, it's hard to see how any newcomer could challenge them in the tactical aircraft market.

The bottom line is that outside the area of dual-use technologies like information networks, there just isn't much competition left in defense -- and with the government paying all the costs to keep two military suppliers going, it isn't likely to look kindly on plans to preserve competition. Just look at how strongly it is opposing General Electric plans to develop an "alternate engine" that can compete with United Technologies' offering for the F-35. This leads me to two conclusions. First, the government needs to examine cases like the Virginia-class submarine program to see how it might secure improvements in price and performance even when competition is not feasible. Second, policymakers ought to consider how to shape the coming sector consolidation to leave the broadest possible latitude for still holding competitions in the future. For instance, if Boeing were to buy Northrop Grumman it would get a big subcontracting role on the F-35 -- which could keep the company engaged at the cutting edge of fighter work even as its legacy fighter franchises fade.

Clark Kent says: What does this mean for the video game world? Find out after the jump.

VIA SI:

At the same time, Stan Glasgow has been named to the newly created position of Senior Advisor, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group, Sony Corporation of America (SCA). Both announcements were made today by Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Sony Corporation, and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sony Corporation of America. The appointments are effective September 1, 2010.

Mr. Molyneux, in his new role, will oversee the electronics business of Sony Corporation in the United States, working closely with both the Consumer, Professional and Devices and the Networked Products and Services Groups of Sony Corp. As Managing Director of Sony Central and South East Europe (SCSE) since 2007, Mr. Molyneux has overseen all business management and development for both consumer and professional products across the 20 countries that make up that region. He will relocate to SEL’s headquarters in San Diego.

In his new position, Mr. Glasgow will utilize his wide-ranging professional experience to help fuel Sony’s future revenue and profit. He will develop strategies and business plans for potential growth areas utilizing Sony’s specialized competencies, technologies and knowledge. He will also serve as Chairman of Sony Electronics Inc. Mr. Glasgow has been the President and Chief Operating Officer of SEL since March 2006, overseeing its business operations in the U.S. Before joining Sony, he spent more than 20 years in Hong Kong managing operations, as well as mergers and acquisitions, throughout Asia for both General Electric and Capetronic, a worldwide OEM display company.

Clark Kent says: Read more about Mr. Molyneux’s position and purpose by heading over to Sony Insider HERE!

Phil Molyneux, a 23-year veteran
of Sony’s European electronics operation,
has been named President and Chief Operating Officer,
Sony Electronics Inc. (SEL), in San Diego, CA.

More exciting news at TheWrap: Mark J Davis, a veteran of digital media and most recently vice president of strategy and interactive media at the San Diego Union Tribune has joined TheWrap as our Chief Operating Officer.

Mark will be a critical part of TheWrap's next stage of expansion, fuelled by our second capital raise earlier this year.

He has deep experience both in in news and in the digital space, having launched one of the first online subscription services and pioneering online television listings.

As I said in our press release, Mark's expertise aligns perfectly with our core objectives as we look to growth across the company.

“TheWrap has redefined the entertainment news category and is poised for market dominance,” Mark said today.  “I’ve closely observed the company’s growth with great interest since its launch and it’s an honor to lend my support to a digital media brand with unlimited potential.”

Here's the full release:

THEWRAP NEWS INC NAMES DIGITAL MEDIA PIONEER MARK J. DAVIS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Highly Regarded Business Strategist to Lead Operations and Corporate Development for Rapidly Growing Online News Organization

(Santa Monica, CA) – July 26, 2010 – TheWrap News, Inc., the leading digital news organization covering the business of entertainment and media, is pleased to announce the addition of veteran digital and consumer product business strategist, Mark J. Davis as its new COO.  In his new role, Davis will lead operations and corporate development for TheWrap.com, looking to advance the award-winning news site’s powerful momentum and consistent growth in readership.

Since the mid-nineties, Davis has guided the strategic direction of a diverse array of Internet companies and led the successful launch of one of the first subscription websites.  Additionally, Davis is credited with pioneering online television listings as well as the online delivery of economic data and forecasts.  Most recently, Davis was Vice President, Strategy and Interactive Media for The San Diego Union-Tribune, leading the growth of  HYPERLINK "http://www.signonsandiego.com" SignOnSanDiego.com and playing a key role in the sale of the company.

“Mark is a game-changing addition to our team with a track record and skill set that speaks for itself,“ said TheWrap.com Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman. “His expertise aligns perfectly with TheWrap’s core objectives as we look forward to continued growth across every pillar of the company.”

“TheWrap has redefined the entertainment news category and is poised for market dominance,” added Mark J. Davis, TheWrap.com COO.  “I’ve closely observed the company’s growth with great interest since its launch and it’s an honor to lend my support to a digital media brand with unlimited potential.”

In addition to his work with The San Diego Union-Tribune, Davis has had key strategic and transactional roles in eleven acquisitions, divestitures, or strategic investments in both the media and consumer products industries.  Davis has also worked in finance and strategic planning for consumer product companies and has spoken on the challenges and opportunities facing the online content business at industry and academic conferences.

NAPA, Calif., July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Napa-based AUL Corp., America's largest national provider of used car service contracts, announced today the hiring of Jimmy Atkinson as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President.  Mr. Atkinson had been serving as Senior Vice President of Assurant Solutions, Vehicle Service Contract Business Division, in Atlanta, Georgia.

In announcing the appointment, Luis Nieves, President and C.E.O. of AUL Corp., said: "We were determined to introduce someone to the Company with a strong history of excellence in leadership, but also with down-to-earth qualities and communication skills.  Jimmy fits that bill perfectly.  He'll be a great asset to all of our employees, and a key to raising the next generation of leadership."

Upon accepting the appointment, Mr. Atkinson said: "AUL has a pristine reputation.  The Company is the leader in its field, due in large part to its solid infrastructure.  I'm excited and grateful for the opportunity to join the team. I'm committed to contributing to the growth of a great company."

Prior to joining AUL, Mr. Atkinson spent seven years at Assurant, where he completed tours of duty as Director of Training, Director of Sales, and Senior Vice President of the Vehicle Service Contract Business Division.  Before joining Assurant, Mr. Atkinson held a number of retail auto positions, and developed a sterling reputation as one of the top sales and management trainers in the auto industry.

About A.U.L. Corp.

A.U.L. Corp. founded the national used car service contract industry in 1990, with its famous ANY YEAR, ANY MILEAGE® Vehicle Service Contract.   AUL continues leading its industry and is the only provider of its type authorized to conduct business in all 50 states, as well as some Caribbean locations.  AUL enjoys the longest relationships with its underwriters who hold the highest A.M. Best ratings. AUL also enjoys the longest term relationships in the industry with its agents and dealer clients, verified by independent third party research.  AUL's mission is to be the premier service contract administrator in America, by any quantifiable measurement of business activity.  A.U.L. Corp. is 100% locally owned.  For more information, please visit www.aulcorp.com.

Bestinvest has appointed Donald Reid as chief operating officer.

Reid has over 20 years experience in the investment and wealth management industry and was previously head of operations at UBS Wealth Management.

Other previous roles included being operations director and finance director at Barclays Stockbrokers and Barclays Wealth Management. He joins Bestinvest on September 1, 2010.

In March,  Bestinvest announced that John Spiers would step down from the helm of the firm for the second time after the group appointed Michael Cowell as chairman and Peter Hall as chief executive.

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

Press release – Paris, 26 July 2010

As part of the Agility corporate project, whose principal conclusions were released on the Capital Market Day on 20 May 2010, Pernod Ricard (Paris:RI) announces the following organisational changes:

    * the creation of a new Brand Company called Premium Wine Brands
    * the responsibilities of The Absolut Company are extended to include all the Group’s international vodka brands
    * the creation of a new region covering Sub-Saharan Africa, called Pernod Ricard Sub-Saharan Africa, reporting into Pernod Ricard Europe

1. Premium Wine Brands is in charge of the development and global strategy of the Group’s strategic wine brands. The portfolio includes: Australian wines (Jacob’s Creek), New Zealand wines (Montana and Brancott), as well as Spanish and Argentinean wine brands with international potential (Campo Viejo and Graffigna). The new company’s objective is to accelerate the international development of these brands within the Pernod Ricard distribution network.

Jean-Christophe Coutures, who is currently Chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard Pacific, becomes Chairman and CEO of Premium Wine Brands. He will report to Thierry Billot, Managing Director, Brands.

2. The Absolut Company now brings together all the vodka brands of the Group with an international outlook, such as the ABSOLUT, Friis and Wyborowa brands. Its objective is to establish the Group’s strategy for the entire Vodka segment. In addition, The Absolut Company retains the responsibility for the Malibu and Kahlúa brands.

Stéphane Longuet, currently Vice President Finance of The Absolut Company, is appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Standard Vodka division of The Absolut Company and therefore will report to Philippe Guettat, Chairman and CEO of The Absolut Company.

As a result, Rolf Cassergren is appointed Vice President Finance at The Absolut Company, in charge of Finance, Accounting, Reporting, IT, Customer Service and General Services.

3. Pernod Ricard Sub-Saharan Africa will be a direct subsidiary of Pernod Ricard Europe with the with the objective of accelerating the Group’s development in this region with great potential.

Henry Carew, currently Managing Director of Pernod Ricard Southern Central Europe is appointed as Managing Director, Pernod Ricard Sub-Saharan Africa, with effect from 1st October and will report to Laurent Lacassagne, Chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard Europe.
His replacement will be announced at a later date.

4. Lastly, Pernod Ricard announces the following changes within the Group’s General Management:

Following a career which spanned twenty years within Pernod Ricard, Michel Bord has decided to relinquish the post of Managing Director, Distribution Network with effect from 30 July 2010. Michel Bord was instrumental in the Group’s internationalisation, particularly on the American continent.

Michel Bord’s responsibilities will now be assumed by Pierre Pringuet, Chief Executive Officer.

Bruno Rain, currently Managing Director, Human Resources is now responsible for the Group’s Corporate Responsibility Policy: Responsible Consumption, Environmental Responsibility and Corporate Ethics.

Jean-Christophe Coutures, 43 years old, holds a MBA from the Paris ESCP Business School. He joined Pernod Ricard in 1997 as Business Analyst at CSR Pampryl and was subsequently appointed as VP Finance Pernod Ricard Asia in April 2000 and Chairman & CEO Pernod Ricard Korea in January 2005. Since February 2006, he has been President and Representative Director of Jinro Ballantine’s Company Limited (JBC*) and Jinro Ballantines Import Company Limited (JBIC). He has been Chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard Pacific since July 2008.

Stéphane Longuet, 38 years old, holds an MBA from ESC Rouen. After working for Deloitte Touche Tomatsu for 3 years he joined the Group in August 1998 as Auditor with Pernod Ricard Europe. In June 2000, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Pernod Ricard Deutschland, before being appointed Chief Financial Officer of Pernod Ricard Italia in August 2003. He has been Vice President Finance of The Absolut Company since August 2008.

Henry Carew, 53 years old, is a graduate in History and Political Science from the University of Exeter. He joined Hiram Walker & Sons in 1988 as Sales Director for the United Kingdom and then Development Manager for Europe in 1991. He was appointed Regional Manager for the former Yugoslavian countries in 1993 on behalf of Allied Domecq, then General Manager of the Cluster "Countries of Southern Europe" (CoSE) in 1999. He joined Pernod Ricard in 2006 as Managing Director of South Danube. He has been Managing Director of Pernod Ricard Southern Central Europe since 2009.

About Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard is the world’s co-leader in Wines and Spirits with consolidated sales of € 7,203 million in 2008/09. Created by the merger of Pernod and Ricard (1975), the Group has undergone sustained development, based on both organic growth and acquisitions: Seagram (2001), Allied Domecq (2005) and Vin&Sprit (2008).
Pernod Ricard owns one of the most prestigious brand portfolios in the sector: Absolut Premium Vodka; Ricard pastis; Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute and The Glenlivet Scotch whiskies; Jameson’s Irish Whiskey; Martell cognac; Havana Club rum; Beefeater gin; Kahlúa and Malibu liqueurs; Mumm and Perrier-Jouët champagnes; and Jacob’s Creek, Montana, Campo Viejo and Graffigna wines.
The Group believes in a decentralised organisation, with 6 Brand Owners and 70 Distribution Companies established in each key market, and employs a workforce of around 19,000 people. Pernod Ricard is strongly committed to a sustainable development policy and encourages responsible consumption of its products.
Pernod Ricard’s strategy and ambitions are founded on 3 key values that guide its development: entrepreneurial spirit, mutual trust and a strong sense of ethics.
Pernod Ricard is listed on the NYSE Euronext exchange (Ticker: RI; ISIN code: FR0000120693) and is a member of the CAC 40 index.
To read more, please go to www.pernod-ricard.com

Contacts

Pernod Ricard
Olivier CAVIL / Communication VP
T: +33 (0)1 41 00 40 96
or
Florence TARON / Press Relations and External Communication Manager
T: +33 (0)1 41 00 40 88
or
Denis FIEVET / Financial Communication - Investor Relations VP
T: +33 (0)1 41 00 41 71

Dr. K. Bobbi Carbone, an anesthesiologist and Texas health system chief, has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer at Beaumont Hospitals, the health system announced today.

Carbone will be the first physician and first female COO in Beaumont’s 55-year history. She will join Beaumont July 26.

Dr. Carbone has been chief clinical operations officer at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston. She got her medical degree at the University of Wisconsin Medical School; held a residency in anesthesiology at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, and a fellowship in cardiac anesthesia at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

She also has a master’s degree in business administration from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College, Amherst, Mass.

SanDisk Corp.'s chief executive, Eli Harari, will retire at the end of the year, the company said Thursday during its second-quarter earnings release, surprising investors after its revenue came in roughly in line with Wall Street expectations.

"SanDisk is stronger than ever and poised to do even better in the years ahead," Mr. Harari, who will turn 65 this year, said on a conference call with analysts. "This is a good time to pass the baton to a new leader."

Company co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Sanjay Mehrotra will succeed him, with board member Michael Marks becoming chairman.

SanDisk posted ...

Condé Nast announced on Friday that it is splitting the job of its chief executive officer and president in two, the latest in a series of high-level management reshuffling that has shaken the magazine publishing world’s crown jewel.

The company said in an internal memo to its staff that Robert A. Sauerberg, currently the president of consumer marketing and a rising star within Condé Nast, would be assuming the role of president. Charles H. Townsend, who had been both chief executive and president since 2004, will remain in the chief executive position.

The move signals a broader effort at Condé Nast to retool its business model around consumer revenue rather than advertising revenue, which has long produced the lion’s share of the company’s profits.

In a statement, Condé Nast said it was positioning itself to better adjust to a changing marketplace. “The company will be realigned to better embrace and harness developing technology; broaden consumer touch points; and create contemporary value propositions for advertisers.”

Other top brass positions were realigned as well. Lou Cona, currently executive vice president, Condé Nast Media Group, will become chief marketing officer. John Bellando, currently the chief operating officer, will add the duties of chief financial officer to his job.

Condé Nast’s approach to making money had always been heavily weighted toward advertising. It was able to charge advertisers top dollar for pages in its high-end, glossy publications like Vogue and Vanity Fair while charging consumers relatively low subscription rates.

As the advertising market cratered during the recession, Condé Nast was forced to make some highly unusual cuts. It shuttered several of its titles last year, including established brands like Gourmet, slashed its enviable employee expense accounts, and laid off editors and business managers.

And this year the publishing giant has undergone a virtual house cleaning at its senior executive level. The latest to depart in just the last month and a half were Thomas A. Florio, a senior vice president who oversaw the business operations at the Vogue group, and David Carey, who was a group president. Mr. Carey now leads the magazine division of Condé Nast’s rival, Hearst.

Robert A. Sauerberg

NEW YORK—Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. named its second chief executive in fewer than six months as the troubled supermarket operator reported a wider fiscal-first-quarter loss on weakening sales and margins.

The Montvale, N.J., company named Sam Martin president and chief executive, replacing Ron Marshall, who had joined A&P in January. Mr. Martin assumes a company dealing with declining sales, the need for more liquidity and losses in 33 of the past 40 quarters, according to CapitalIQ.

In addition, A&P shares hit a multidecade low Friday, falling as much as 36% to $2.50. The stock closed at $2.61, ...

PORTLAND, Ore. —  Integra Telecom Inc., an integrated communications provider for business, has promoted Steve Wachter to executive vice president and chief operating officer. In this role, Wachter is responsible for overseeing all the customer facing operations of local network management, customer care, and sales across Integra’s 11 state service area. Wachter most recently served as senior vice president for Integra Telecom of Minnesota and North Dakota. He is now based in Portland, Ore., and will report directly to Dudley Slater, CEO of Integra Telecom.

“Steve has demonstrated tremendous leadership and strategic foresight throughout his tenure at Integra Telecom,” said Slater. “He understands the telecommunications industry as well as the value Integra’s decentralized, local customer service model brings to the customer experience. Steve is committed to delivering superior service to all of our customers and will be a valuable member of Integra’s executive management team.”

Wachter has more than 16 years of telecommunications management experience. He joined Integra through the company’s acquisition of Eschelon Telecom Inc. in 2007. Before Integra, Wachter served as executive vice president of sales and service delivery for Eschelon in Minneapolis. Wachter graduated with honors from State University of New York in Geneseo.

About Integra Telecom

Integra Telecom Inc. provides integrated communications services across 33 metropolitan areas in 11 Western states, including: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah and Washington. It owns and operates a best-in-class fiber-optic network comprised of more than 2,800 route miles in 11 metropolitan access networks including approximately 1,386 on-net buildings, a world class Internet and data network, and approximately 4,900-mile high-speed long-haul fiber network. The company has earned some of the highest customer loyalty and customer satisfaction ratings in the telecommunications industry. Primary equity investors in the company include Goldman, Sachs & Co., Tennenbaum Capital Partners, funds managed by Farallon Capital Partners and Warburg Pincus. Integra Telecom and Electric Lightwave are registered trademarks of Integra Telecom Inc. For more information, visit: www.integratelecom.com.

Steve Wachter, Executive Vice President and 
Chief Operating Officer for Integra Telecom Inc.

MILWAUKEE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sensient Technologies Corporation (NYSE: SXT – News) announced today that Douglas S. Pepper has been elected to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Pepper joined Sensient in December 2005, as Chief Financial Officer of the Sensient Color Group and most recently served as Sensient’s Vice President, Administration. Mr. Pepper is a CPA with over 30 years of experience in management and finance. he is assuming the position previously held by Neil Cracknell following Mr. Cracknell’s departure from the Company.

The Company also announced that its Board of Directors has amended its employment agreement with its Chairman and CEO, Mr. Kenneth P. Manning. under the amended agreement, Mr. Manning has agreed to serve as Chairman and CEO until January 1 of 2013. after that time, Mr. Manning intends to serve as a non-employee Chairman of the Board until January 1, 2015. the previous employment agreement called for Mr. Manning to serve as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer until December 31, 2011, and as non-employee Chairman for two additional years.

Sensient also announced the following officer elections within Sensient’s executive leadership. Stephen J. Rolfs has been elected to the position of Vice President, Administration. James P. McCarthy and Paul Manning have been elected to the positions of President, Flavors and Fragrances Group and President, Color Group, respectively. Jeffrey T. Makal has been elected to the position of Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer. Christopher M. Daniels has been elected to the position of Vice President, Human Resources.

“Each of these individuals has played an important role in the Company’s ongoing success,” said Kenneth P. Manning, Chairman and CEO of Sensient Technologies Corporation. “These internal promotions will greatly strengthen the Company’s leadership and will allow us to execute the Company’s strategies for growth.”

ABOUT SENSIENT TECHNOLOGIES

Sensient Technologies Corporation is a leading global manufacturer and marketer of colors, flavors and fragrances. Sensient employs advanced technologies at facilities around the world to develop specialty food and beverage systems, cosmetic and pharmaceutical systems, inkjet and specialty inks and colors, and other specialty chemicals. the company’s customers include major international manufacturers representing most of the world’s best-known brands. Sensient is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

www.sensient.com

Lance, Inc. (Nasdaq: LNCE) ("Lance") and Snyder’s of Hanover, Inc. ("Snyder’s") today announced they have signed a definitive agreement to combine in a stock-for-stock merger of equals that will create a combined company to be called Snyder’s-Lance, Inc. ("Snyder’s-Lance").

The combined company will have the operating scale and balance sheet strength to provide even more value to consumers, customers and shareholders. In addition to leading iconic brands including Lance®, Snyder’s of Hanover®, Cape Cod® and Grande®, Snyder’s-Lance will have a national distribution footprint including one of the largest Direct Store Delivery ("DSD") networks in the United States. Snyder’s-Lance will have pro forma combined net sales of approximately $1.6 billion, adjusted EBITDA of approximately $170 million, pre-synergies, and strong free cash flow for the twelve month period ended June 26, 2010. The combination is expected to generate more than $30 million in annualized synergies. The transaction is not expected to materially impact stand-alone Lance earnings in 2010, excluding special items, but will add incremental earnings per share of more than 10%, on a fully synergized basis.

The transaction brings together Snyder’s, a global leader in pretzels and a U.S. leader in specialty snacks that traces its roots to 1909, with Lance, a U.S. snack food leader in sandwich crackers, potato chips, and cookies founded in 1913. "This transaction allows us to create a stronger company in a highly competitive industry and simultaneously create value for our shareholders. Snyder’s-Lance will have a broad array of leading snack food products supported by a strong national DSD system," said David V. Singer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lance. "We are extremely pleased with the opportunity to combine two leading snack food companies in such a strategically compelling merger. Combining our strengths in salty, cracker and cookie snacks creates the opportunity to be a focused specialty company with the scale to compete in high volume categories," said Carl E. Lee, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Snyder’s.

"This historic transaction combines 200 years of excellence in salty snacks and baking and will create a dynamic and competitive organization able to deliver long-term value to shareholders and a superior customer service experience, while continuing to be an important contributor to the communities in which we operate," said Michael A. Warehime, Chairman of Snyder’s. "The initiatives that we have been working on for the last few years have positioned us for this opportunity, which will create a company with nationwide distribution, a culture of customer service, and an excellent portfolio of snack food brands, products and capabilities," added Mr. Singer. "Snyder’s national distribution, national advertising and market presence will be used to support our new broader portfolio of products," added Mr. Lee.

The combined company will have a well-established portfolio of snack food brands that includes Snyder’s of Hanover®, Lance®, Cape Cod®, Grande®, Tom’s®, Jays®, O-Ke-Doke®, Stella D’oro®, Krunchers!®, Archway®, Naturals® as well as Lance Private Brands, a leader in private label cookies and crackers. Products will include pretzels, sandwich crackers, potato chips, cookies, tortilla chips and nuts.

Management Structure and Board Composition

Snyder’s-Lance will draw on an experienced and talented group of leaders from both companies. Michael A. Warehime, current Snyder’s Chairman, will serve as Chairman of the Board of the combined company, and W. J. Prezzano, current Lance Chairman, will serve as Lead Independent Director. David V. Singer, current Lance President and Chief Executive Officer, will become Chief Executive Officer of Snyder’s-Lance. Carl E. Lee, Jr., current Snyder’s President and Chief Executive Officer, will become President and Chief Operating Officer, and Rick D. Puckett, current Lance Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will become Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the combined company.

Snyder’s-Lance will have a 16 member Board drawn primarily from the existing Boards of both companies. It will be comprised of eight Directors of the current Lance Board and seven Directors of the current Snyder’s Board. An additional independent Director will be elected by the new Board immediately after closing. The company will have corporate headquarters in Charlotte, NC and additional headquarters in Hanover, PA, where certain key leaders and functions will continue to be located.

Mr. Lee commented, "We will be driving to unlock the significant value opportunity presented to our shareholders. We believe there are opportunities to drive revenue growth in the combined company given its national DSD footprint. In addition, we believe there are significant synergies available in areas including purchasing, production, distribution and other areas."

Mr. Puckett noted, "Snyder’s-Lance will have a strong balance sheet with a total debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of approximately 1.6x, pre-synergies, and will generate significant free cash flow. This cash flow will be utilized to invest in opportunities to further increase value for shareholders going forward. We believe there are significant opportunities for our new company to grow organically and through acquisitions."

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Rosetta Stone Inc. (RST  21.46, -0.29, -1.33%) shares declined 13% to $22.15 in Friday trading. The Arlington, Va., provider of language-learning solutions said late Thursday that Chief Operating Officer Eric Eichmann resigned and Chief Executive Tom Adams would assume his sales and marketing responsibilities. The company also estimated second-quarter net income at 17 to 18 cents a share, or an adjusted 20 to 21 cents, on revenue around $60.5 million. A survey of analysts by FactSet Research produced consensus estimates of 14 cents a share of profit on $62.9 million of revenue. Rosetta Stone's international and institutional businesses "continued to produce solid results" while the U.S. consumer segment was weaker than expected, Adams said in a statement.

Tribune Interactive, part of the Tribune Co. media conglomerate, said Thursday it promoted Jeff Kapugi to chief operating officer, starting immediately.

Kapugi replaces Nick Cory. The company said Cory had been doing two jobs during the last six months, and that he will now focus all of his energy on reorganizing certain back-office functions.

Kapugi joined Tribune Interactive in 2008. He was most recently senior vice president of representation for the company.

Before Tribune Interactive, Kapugi worked at Clear Channel Radio.

Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers, is operating under bankruptcy protection. The company is privately held.

A co-founder and former executive of Denver corn-ethanol refiner BioFuel Energy Corp. has launched a consulting firm in Steamboat Springs.

Daniel Simon was COO and executive VP of BioFuel Energy (NASDAQ: BIOF) until June 30. The company announced then that he was stepping down "to pursue other business interests."

Simon will serve as president and CEO of Elevant Advisors LLC, an advisory firm that says it will provide financial, development, operational, merger-acquisition and restructuring services to the energy, biofuels, cleantech, manufacturing and construction industries.

“Elevant Advisors is a unique assemblage of 10 exceptional executives, business founders and industry specialists, all with deep, diverse, yet complementary backgrounds in energy and related fields prepared to offer solutions to energy companies throughout the world,” Simon said in a statement.

The new company's website is www.elevantadvisors.com.

Integra Telecom, a competitive service provider serving the Western U.S., did not have to look to far to find its new EVP and COO. Instead, the CLEC decided to promote Steve Wachter, who came to Integra through its acquisition of Eschelon Telecom in 2007.

As Integra's EVP and COO reporting directly to Dudley Slater, CEO of Integra Telecom, Wachter will oversee all of the customer facing operations, including local network management, customer care, and sales across the CLEC's 11 state service area. Prior to the new post, Wachter served as senior VP for Integra Telecom of Minnesota and North Dakota, while at Eschelon he served as the VP of sales and service delivery in Minneapolis.

"Steve has demonstrated tremendous leadership and strategic foresight throughout his tenure at Integra Telecom," said Slater in a release. "He understands the telecommunications industry as well as the value Integra's decentralized, local customer service model brings to the customer experience."

Out of all the many video game companies out there, EA’s COO John Schappert is one of the most outspoken individuals you can find. Which, in cases like this, lead to some very interesting, and telling, scenarios. For example, while the Nintendo 3DS isn’t even out yet, there’s plenty of speculation about whether or not it’s going to be a success, or just disappear into the shadows of forgotten tech. If you ask EA’s COO, well, you’d get an answer.

According to Schappert, who was speaking with Industry Gamers, the 3DS is not only “incredibly cool,” but also “magical.” He believes that the 3D technology, especially with the fact you don’t need to actually wear glasses to access the tech, is just about as good as it gets, especially considering the platform you’re playing it on. He goes on to add that the whole experience is amazing, and that he is happy that EA is part of the device’s existence.

EA is bringing titles like The Sims, FIFA, and Madden to the platform, so it’s good to see some of the company’s biggest franchises making an appearance on the new mobile video game console. Of course, we can’t say whether or not the new 3DS from Nintendo is magical or even incredibly cool. Not yet, anyway. As soon as we’re able, we’ll be sure to take it through its paces, and let you know what we think of it. So, Nintendo — any day now, thanks.

Kapugi joined Tribune Interactive in 2008 after a long career in radio programming. He previously served as vice president/programming for Clear Channel, as well as operations manager and program director for it and predecessor Jacor. Kapugi has been the senior VP/representation for Tribune Interactive since 2008. In his new role, he’ll oversee all aspects of operations for the company’s publishing, broadcasting and interactive websites. He replaces Nick Cory, who stays on to oversee back office functions of Tribune Interactive.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has appointed Rommel Pereira as director for central services.

Pereira will join the FSCS in September from the Metropolitan Housing Partnership where he is group chief operating officer and take responsibility for strategic planning, finance and payments.

Pereira has held a number of senior roles in financial services including working as chief operating officer of JP Morgan, chief financial officer at Chase Manhattan and head of financial systems at Reuters. 

FSCS chief executive Mark Neale said Pereira’s strong experience and extensive background in financial services would be a boost for the organisation. ‘Rommel has had hands on responsibility for the services he’ll be running here at the FSCS, and I am confident he will make a significant contribution to the division for which he will be responsible, and to the organisation,’ he said.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Las Vegas Sands (LVS)announced on Friday that the CEO of its Macau division is stepping down.

The casino operator said Steve Jacobs' employment with the company was terminated as of today, but did not provide a reason. Jacob will also resign as director.

Chief Operating Officer Michael Leven has been appointed acting chief executive officer as Sands Macau searches for a new leader.

Jacobs' departure shouldn't come as a surprise to investors, as speculation has arisen over disagreements between Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson and Jacobs.

This follows the departure of executive director Stephen Weaver earlier in the year, who resigned due to personal reasons.

"[We] think the stock will likely pull back on perceived continued management strife and the fact that most investors believe that Steve was doing a solid job in managing costs, growing mass [market] and direct VIP share, and working on redevelopment of sites 5 and 6," J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff wrote in a note.

Already shares of Las Vegas Sands are slipping 1.5% to $24.70 before the bell.

Las Vegas Sands is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings on July 28.

Summer Friday news from Condé Nast: Robert Sauerberg has been promoted to president from group president, consumer marketing. Chuck Townsend remains CEO but the appointment marks a split in responsibilities and a switch to Condé Nast’s newest “strategic course as a consumer-centric media and entertainment company.”

The announcement was timed to a regularly scheduled meeting of Condé Nast publishers, Sauerberg told paidContent in an interview. That’s why today was chosen but the timing is also tied to a sense that Condé Nast’s business has improved. “Sometimes when you’re in a good place and things are doing well, it’s a good time to try to figure out how you can double down and improve on our strength.”  Sauerberg said the strategic shift is the result of about six months of review by Townsend.

He also said it’s too soon to share how his new role and the shift to a more consumer-centric company will play out over the next few months. “We are now going to get organized to develop our content and our brands in a way that starts with the foundation of the magazine.”

That wasn’t the only change. Lou Cona moves up to CMO from EVP, Condé Nast Media Group, responsible for CNMG’s integration into a “seamless multi-media, multi-platform sales and marketing services facility.” (Seriously, that’s a direct quote from the release.) COO John Bellando adds CFO to his titles, overseeing finances for Condé Nast, Fairchild Fashion Group and Parade. The full release is below as is my recent video interview with Sauerberg. More from today’s interview to come.

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-more-changes-at-conde-nast-sauerberg-promoted-to-president/

LAKEWOOD RANCH - Community Bank of Manatee has named Kathryn "Katie" Pemble its new president and chief operating officer.

Her responsibilities will include working with William H. Sedgeman Jr., the bank's chief executive, on developing the bank's long-term strategic plans.

"Katie joins us at an exciting time as the bank just had a profitable second quarter, and with the support of its shareholders, stands with the highest capitalization in the bank's 14-year history," Sedgeman said.

Prior to joining the Manatee County bank, Pemble held the positions of chief operating officer, president and chief executive of Florida Bank, previously known as the Bank of St. Petersburg-in Tampa. Before joining Bank of St. Petersburg in 2004, Pemble was Pinellas County president for Bank of America. A native Floridian, she earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Florida.

Community Bank reported this week that it had $490,000 in profits during the second quarter and that it had brought in another $1.4 million in capital.

The Lakewood Ranch-based bank also has two offices in Bradenton and one each in south Tampa and Brandon.

Press points to recent tension with Adelson

Las Vegas Sands Corp. has fired its top executive in Macau.

Sands China Chief Executive Officer and President Steven Jacobs was removed from his position, Las Vegas Sands said Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Jacobs, who made a base salary of $1.3 million, was also removed as director of the subsidiary.

Las Vegas Sands Chief Operating Officer and President Michael Leven was named acting CEO and will work with Sands China's directors to find a permanent replacement for Jacobs.

Steve Weaver, former Las Vegas Sands president of Asian development, will serve as an adviser to Leven.

Las Vegas Sands did not give a reason for Jacobs' termination, though his departure should not come as a surprise to investors. There has been speculation in the Macau press about disagreements between Jacobs and Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson, J.P. Morgan gaming analyst Joseph Greff said in a note to investors.

The relationship between Jacobs and Adelson became tense over the past few months as Jacobs pushed for authority to operate Sands China without the parent company's involvement in day-to-day operations, according to the Wall Street Journal.

After Jacobs recently commented that Japan's first casino should open in 2014 or 2015, Adelson said he agreed with Jacobs' prediction, but noted that he is in charge of development, The Wall Street Journal said.

Jacobs joined Las Vegas Sands in March 2009 and was named Sands China CEO in August. He helped guide the subsidiary's $2.5 billion public offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange in November.

The subsidiary owns and operates the Sands Macau, The Venetian Macau and the Plaza Casino at Four Seasons Macau.

The region accounted for 82.6 percent of Las Vegas Sands' $3.5 billion in 2009 casino revenues and 75.3 percent of its $1.12 billion in cash flow last year.

Cash flow is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and rent.

The company's strong performance in Macau continued in the first quarter. Net revenue jumped 26.5 percent to $283.8 million and cash flow rose 38.5 percent to $69.8 million at the Sands Macau. The Venetian Macau saw revenue increase 13.6 percent to $549.7 million and cash flow increase 39.8 percent to $169.9 million. At the smaller Four Seasons Macau, revenues jumped 117.7 percent to $102.3 million and cash flow climbed 343.2 percent to $19.5 million.

While Jacobs' dismissal might not be a surprise to investors, Greff said the company's stock will likely take a hit.

"We think the stock will likely pull back on perceived continued management strife and the fact that most investors believe that Steve was doing a solid job in managing costs, growing mass and direct VIP share, and working on the redevelopment of sites 5 and 6," Greff said in the note.

Sands is preparing to restart construction on two projects in Macau, known as sites 5 and 6, which are scheduled to open in 2011.

Adelson said in a statement the "change to the management team would have no material impact on the company's operations in Macau or its ability to complete the Sheraton/Shangri-La/Traders, parcels 5 and 6, development currently under construction there."

Las Vegas Sands stock closed Friday at $25.54 per share on the New York Stock Exchange, up 47 cents, or 1.87 percent.

Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly @reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.

Jul 23, 2010 (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --

Orion Energy Systems Inc. ( OESX | PowerRating) said Friday that Michael J. Potts has been named president and chief operating officer.

Potts had been executive vice president since 2003 and has been a director of the company since 2001. Prior to joining Orion, Potts worked in a variety of management roles at Kohler Co., where he worked since 1988.

The appointment came two months after James R. Kackley ended a 10-month stint as president and COO, overseeing day-to-day control of the company. Kackley returned to his role as a member of the board in mid-May.

The appointment was announced in a filing with securities
regulators. Neal Verfuerth is Orion's chairman and chief executive.

Orion makes a variety of energy-efficient lighting systems.

SAN FRANCISCO—Silvia Oppenheim is founder and COO of Le Concierge SF, a private Concierge in San Francisco. She was at the Opera House with several of her friends on Friday evening, July 23, to see Shen Yun Performing Arts, the world's premier classical Chinese dance and music company.

She said of Shen Yun: "Oh, I was blown away. I think this is fantastic. I didn't know what really to expect. ... This is much more than I ever expected. I knew that the costumes were all hand-made, and all the silk was hand-dyed. But I didn't expect they would be this beautiful."

Ms. Oppenheim's friend, Chris Moreno, Director of Marketing for Laundry Locker, also enjoyed the show. "So far, very fun, very colorful, very energetic," he said during the intermission. He particularly enjoyed Wu Song Battles the Tiger, which he found fun to watch. He also enjoyed watching the synchronized dancing.

Ms. Oppenheim said that she didn't know much about Chinese culture prior to watching the show. "I was just trying to work with them. I learned so much about how spiritual the show is. That for me is touching. It's great.

"I think everything here has a meaning. This is very different with most of the shows that we see, like those Broadway shows. This show talks to us. Every hand gesture, the costumes, everything has a meaning behind it. The words, the dance, everything. And it changes you. It's different from just watching Lion King, or Beauty and the Beast."

Thinking of her friends, Silvia said "they shouldn't miss this for the world. They should be here. This should be experienced."

Shen Yun Performing Arts will perform at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House through Sunday, July 25, 2010. For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Silvia Oppenheim with Chris Moreno

Stephen H. Hamrick has resigned from his positions as President of Lightstone Value Plus Real Estate Investment Trust II, Inc. Effective July 16, 2010, Peyton Owen is President of the Company.

Peyton Owen is now President and Chief Operating Officer of Lightstone Value Plus Real Estate Investment Trust II and also serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of The Lightstone Group.

Hamrick had served as President of Lightstone Value Plus Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc. since September of 2007. No reason was given for his departure.
Prior to joining The Lightstone Group in July 2007, Owen served as President and CEO of Equity Office Properties LLC from February 2007 to June 2007, as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Equity Office Properties Trust from October 2003 to February 2007, and as Chief Operating Officer of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc's Americas Region from April 1999 to October 2003.

Prior to April 1999, Mr. Owen held positions as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Chief of Staff, and Leasing Director with LaSalle Partners, Inc., and as Regional Sales Director at Liebherr-America, Inc.

Owen earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Virginia and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Virginia's Darden School. Owen is also a director of certain subsidiaries of Extended Stay that filed for Chapter 11 protection with Extended Stay.

Prior to joining Lightstone Securities LLC in July of 2006, Hamrick had served five years as President of Carey Financial Corporation and Managing Director of W.P. Carey & Co. He is a member of the Committee on Securities for the American Stock Exchange and The Board of Trustees of The Saratoga Group of Funds.

In the 1990s, Hamrick developed an electronic trading business utilized by the institutional customers of Cantor Fitzgerald, including brokerage firms and banks, to trade privately held securities; spent two years as CEO of a full-service, investment brokerage business at Wall Street Investor Services, where he executed a turnaround strategy and the ultimate sale of that business; and served as Chairman of Duroplas Corporation, a development stage company building on proprietary technology that enables the production of thermoplastic compounds.

From 1988 until 1994, Mr. Hamrick headed up Private Investments at PaineWebber Incorporated and was a member of the firm's Management Council. From 1975 until joining PaineWebber, he was associated with E.F. Hutton & Company, holding positions ranging from Account Executive to National Director of Private Placements. Mr. Hamrick has served on the Listings Panel for NASDAQ, as Chairman of the Securities Industry Association's Direct Investment Committee and as Chairman of the Investment Program Association. He is a Certified Financial Planner and was graduated with degrees in English and Economics from Duke University in North Carolina.

BANGALORE: Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy expects S D Shibulal to get into the driving seat at Infosys Technologies once the current CEO SD Shibulal, COO, Infosys Technologies Kris Gopalakrishan completes his tenure in May 2012.

Murthy appeared extremely pleased with Shibulal's performance as chief operating officer of the company . "At this point of time, Shibulal is the COO and he has done an extraordinary job. I think members of the board, particularly independent members of the Board, are very happy with his performance,'' Murthy said.

"When the times comes, when he is recommended as the candidate by the nomination committee, I am pretty sure that the Board would look at his candidature with a certain sense of seriousness ,'' he said.

"Having said that, there are others members of the board, members of council, all of them are certainly up to the task and therefore, I suppose, the board will have to consider the next chief executive officer (CEO) from among them.

Veteran Tampa Bay Area Banker to Head Local Bank

BRADENTON, Fla., July 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Community Bank of Manatee today announced that Kathryn "Katie" Pemble has been named President and Chief Operating Officer.  In addition to being responsible for all bank operations, she will work with CEO and Chairman, William H. Sedgeman Jr., and the bank's board in developing the bank's long-term strategic plans.  Pemble, a 23-year banking veteran in the Tampa Bay area, also will become a member of Community Bank's board of directors.

"We are excited to welcome Katie to our organization," said Sedgeman.  "She is a proven leader whose extensive knowledge and banking experience in Florida will be instrumental in achieving our goal of being the best bank in the Tampa Bay area.  Katie joins us at an exciting time as the bank just had a profitable second quarter, and with the support of its shareholders, stands with the highest capitalization in the bank's 14 year history."

Prior to joining Community Bank of Manatee, Pemble was with Florida Bank -- previously named Bank of St. Petersburg -- in Tampa.  During her tenure there, she held the positions of chief operating officer, president and chief executive of the bank.  Most recently, she held the position of chief credit officer for the bank and holding company, Florida Bank Group, Inc. Before joining Bank of St. Petersburg in 2004, Pemble was Pinellas County president for Bank of America.  A native Floridian, Pemble graduated from the University of Florida with a BS in Finance.

Director Trevor Burgess added, "We are honored to have one of the most highly regarded women in Florida banking join our team.  Katie's experience, drive, dedication and knowledge of the Tampa Bay market make her the perfect President for Community Bank."

"I am thrilled about the opportunity to work with an organization with such strong roots in the community," Pemble said.  "I look forward to helping the bank grow and develop by meeting the financial needs of small businesses, individuals and families."

Among her numerous civic and community activities, Pemble is a member of the Florida Banker's Association, Leadership Florida, the American Heart Association Leadership Circle, and the Moffitt Merit Society.  She also serves as treasurer and finance committee chairman of Bayfront Health System, Inc. in St. Petersburg.

Community Bank is a local, independent bank serving the Tampa Bay region with five branches in Manatee and Hillsborough counties and $250 million in assets as of June 30, 2010.  Community Bank continues to specialize in solutions for individuals by offering the region's best checking account "Clover Gold," residential mortgages with local and expedient decision-making, and business solutions including Small Business Administration loans.  Community Bank is a preferred lender of the SBA and was recently ranked as the number one local community bank for SBA loans.

ABOUT COMMUNITY BANK OF MANATEE:

Community Bank continues to specialize in solutions for individuals by offering the regions best checking account, "Clover Gold," residential mortgages including "jumbo mortgages" with local, quick decision-making and business solutions including Small Business Administration loans. Community Bank was recently ranked as the number one local community bank for SBA loans.

Community Bank, is a local, independent bank serving the communities of Florida's central Gulf Coast with five branches in Manatee and Hillsborough counties:

2025 Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, Lakewood Ranch, FL - 941-750-0700
 
6000 State Road 70, East, Bradenton, FL - 941-756-0099

7202 Manatee Avenue West, Bradenton, FL- 941-761-3400
 
1001 West Cleveland Street, Tampa, FL - 813-258-8187

10109 U.S. Highway 301 South, Riverview, FL-813-672-0999

For more information, visit the bank's website at:  www.CommunityBankNow.com or contact the nearest office.

Yolto.com COO remarks. Saturday, July 24, 2010. fb activity. Yolto activity stream. that's it. Posted by Yolto.com at 6:38 AM. 0 comments: Post a Comment · Older Post Home. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Game Cards. Blog Archive ...

VIENNA, Va. -- Monte L. Pickens, executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Allied Defense Group (NYSE Amex: ADG) resigned effective July 23, 2010, at the request of the company, according to an SEC filing.

The company explained that Pickens was asked to resign because of reduced responsibilities and a need to conserve finances as the company nears its sale to Chemring Group Plc.

The company agreed to pay Pickens an amount equal to the severance he would have obtained had he remained with the company through the closing of the acquisition. His total compensation for 2009 was $305,725, $247,200 of which was base salary.

Colonel (Retired) Monte L. Pickens had twenty-four years of military experience and retired in 1992 as Executive to the Under Secretary of the Army. Previously, he was vice president of T. Marzetti Company.

The Vienna, Va.-based Allied Defense Group manufactures, sells and distributes ammunition and related products for the U.S. and foreign governments.

British-based Chemring Group PLC (LSE:CHG) plans to acquire substantially all of the assets of The Allied Defense Group for $59.6 million in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities.

Apple's earnings shatter expectations

After struggling with Antennagate this month, Apple had better news last week: Quarterly sales and profit came in far above analysts' estimates. It was the first quarter to include results from the iPad and the new iPhone, both of which stoked revenue. In fact, Apple sold 3.27 million iPads - nearly matching its sales of the Mac computer (the company's flagship product). Shoppers snapped up 8.4 million iPhones, maintaining its status as Apple's best-selling device. CEO Steve Jobs confronted criticism of the iPhone 4's antenna reception by saying Apple would give away free cases to fix the problem. In the current quarter, sales will be about $18 billion, the company says. That was a billion dollars higher than analysts' expectations.

Facebook's ownership dispute

Facebook is fighting a lawsuit from Paul Ceglia, a New York man who claims he has a contract entitling him to 84 percent of the company. Ceglia hired Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to do some computer coding for him in 2003, and he says that a "work-for-hire" agreement grants him ownership of the world's largest social-networking site. After Ceglia's lawyer produced the document for a federal judge last week, Facebook's lawyer said the company was "unsure" if Zuckerberg had signed it.

Wells Fargo expects to see less bad debt

Wells Fargo, the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, topped quarterly profit estimates on Wednesday - helped by a shrinking pool of bad debt. That means the San Francisco bank can earmark less money to cover loan losses. The company still faces challenges: Demand for business and consumer loans remains sluggish, and the financial overhaul passed by Congress imposes new costs. It's too early to gauge the impact of the new rules, though the cost for Wells Fargo may be less severe than for its peers, the bank said.

Lower prices eat into Safeway profit, reducing earnings guidance

Safeway is selling more, but at lower prices. That forced the Pleasanton supermarket chain to cut its annual profit forecast on Thursday. The company, which operates 1,712 stores in the United States and Canada, expects to earn as little as $1.50 per share this year, down from previous guidance of at least $1.65. Pressure on prices isn't expected to let up until the fourth quarter, says CEO Steve Burd.

Virgin America doubling fleet size

Virgin America is buying 40 Airbus SAS A320 jets - a purchase that doubles the size of its fleet. The new planes will be delivered from 2013 through 2016, with options for 20 more aircraft, the Burlingame company announced on Thursday. That lets the airline add about three cities to its routes annually over the next six years. By year end, Virgin will extend service to Cancun and San Jose del Cabo, Mexico.

Girl power at Comic-Con

The Comic-Con expo - once a stomping ground for men obsessed with comic books and sci-fi - is branching out. At this year's event, which got under way Thursday in San Diego, Mattel and Hasbro are spotlighting girls' toys, including Barbie and Polly Pocket. About 40 percent of this year's attendees will be female, the organizers say. "It's turned from a fanboy event to a family event," said Doug Wadleigh, a vice president at Mattel. "Parents are bringing their kids."

Will Redbox follow Netflix online?

Redbox, a service that rents movies via red kiosks, is stepping up competition with Netflix by developing an online strategy. The company, a division of Coinstar, intends to use the Internet to offer more movies, President Mitch Lowe says. The kiosks typically have about 200 of the most popular titles. In contrast, Los Gatos' Netflix offers more than 100,000 titles by mail and 20,000 films directly over the Internet. Redbox's kiosk strategy has already made it the fastest-growing U.S. video retailer. Netflix, meanwhile, disappointed analysts with its quarterly sales last week.

Does Google have too much cash?

Google had more than $30 billion in cash at the end of last quarter - more than it needs, according to one analyst. Clayton Moran, who follows the Mountain View company for Benchmark Co., suggested last week that Google start using the money to buy back shares. "We view this hoarding of cash as inefficient," Moran said. "It's a drag on earnings growth." Buying back stock would provide a windfall to investors and boost earnings per share. Google hasn't made a decision on whether to buy back stock, Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said this month. "It's a topic that's regularly debated."

SanDisk chief will retire

Eli Harari, SanDisk's 65-year-old CEO, said Thursday that he will retire at the end of the year. Chief Operating Officer Sanjay Mehrotra, who co-founded the company with Harari in 1988, will take over the top job. Harari pioneered the industry for flash-memory cards, now used by cameras, phones and other devices to store data. In recent years, the engineer-turned-executive has struggled with competition and volatile prices, making it difficult for SanDisk to maintain profit growth. The Milpitas company also warded off a hostile takeover from Samsung in 2008.

John P. Ferguson, who transformed Hackensack University Medical Center from a community hospital into a billion-dollar-a-year business, is going international with plans for a chain of specialty hospitals in the Mideast and China.

Ferguson, the former president forced into retirement last year, is the chairman, chief executive officer and president of a new venture that expects to open a hospital soon in the wealthy Arab emirate of Dubai. The company has also signed a joint venture with a private Chinese health care firm with hospitals in Beijing and Shanghai.

These could be the first of 20 hospitals that cater to affluent travelers and residents of nations where the health infrastructure is not on par with that of the developed world, said Dr. Brian Mehling, founder and chief medical officer of the company, called Blue Horizon International LLC.

Saudi Arabia, Oman and other Arab nations, as well as Asia — places with international business and banking centers — are likely sites for the hospital chain, he said.

"Over the next 10 years, we'll have a network of hospitals around the world," Mehling said.

Mehling, an orthopedic surgeon in Hackensack, said he expects to perform his first operation in Dubai this summer.

The hospitals would allow patients to get premium care without having to travel to the West. When a member of an Arab ruling family needs a hip replacement or cancer treatment, for example, he or she usually travels to England or the United States, accompanied by dozens of family members, Mehling said.

Luxury touches

On its website, Blue Horizon says it will "provide extremely luxurious and comfortable surroundings and services, equal to those offered at a five-star hotel/spa, with accommodations for the family members of patients." Ferguson introduced such fine touches and décor at Hackensack during his tenure.

Mehling said he wanted Ferguson in the company because he "has a lot of experience in the running and management of a medical facility. All those awards, Joint Commission accreditations — all these hospitals are trying to establish a reputation like that. Hackensack already has it."

Joining Ferguson and Mehling on the management team is Doreen Santora, who serves as chief operating officer. Santora, formerly senior vice president for operations at Hackensack, resigned along with two other vice presidents after Ferguson's departure last June.

Ferguson left Hackensack after a scandal involving the hospital's hiring of then-state Sen. Joseph Coniglio as a consultant. Coniglio was convicted last year on charges related to the steering of more than $1 million in state grants to the hospital. In the aftermath of the federal trial, Ferguson stepped down both as Hackensack's president and as chairman of the board of the Martha's Vineyard Hospital. He owns a second home on the Massachusetts island.

Ferguson did not respond to several messages The Record left at his office requesting an interview.

Mehling said he approached Ferguson when he was still in charge at Hackensack to see if the medical center would be interested in affiliating with or sponsoring a hospital in Dubai. "There was and is interest, but there is no plan for active participation of Hackensack Hospital at this time," Mehling said.

"After John and Doreen left" the hospital, Mehling recounted, "I said, 'Do you think you guys would still be interested in working with us on the project?' "

The business was based at Mehling's medical practice in Hackensack until a recent move to an office on West 14th Street in Manhattan.

Growing economies

China, Korea and Dubai, as well other Arab states, are attractive investment targets for U.S. health care institutions eager to tap into their expanding economies.

A joint venture with Nanshan Memorial Medical Institute, known as Blue Horizon China, will provide health care services, including stem cell therapy, to local and overseas patients in China, according to a press release on Nanshan's website. Both Ferguson and Mehling are on the institute's advisory board, the website said.

Members of that board have a particular interest in the future of stem cell therapy in China, and some "have strong influence on government policy on stem cell and other biomedical applications, especially in China," the press release said. They "share the common belief that stem cell research holds a bright future for all of mankind if it is promoted properly."

Nanshan's managing director, Daniel Lu, is quoted in the release as saying, "the health care market in China is enormous." As the economy grows, he adds, "more and more people, especially those in the high income brackets, are looking for top-notch medical services."

In the Mideast, the Dubai royal family is committed to investing $110 million in Blue Horizon, Mehling said.

Incentives in Dubai

The Dubai project includes the acquisition of a 35-bed hospital — the former American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery Hospital — which has potential for expansion, as well as an adjacent plot of land on which a new 60-bed hospital is planned, according to Mehling.

Dubai, the second largest of seven member states of the United Arab Emirates after Abu Dhabi, has created a "health care city" with special tax and investment rules to stimulate interest by the world's top medical institutions. Partners Harvard Medical International is building a medical school, a research facility and a 400-bed university-affiliated hospital. The Cleveland Clinic operates a heart center.

Ferguson, Mehling and Santora traveled to Dubai in January for Arab Health 2010, one of the largest health care conferences in the world, where they met with regional health leaders.

Mehling, who is affiliated with Hackensack as well as St. Joseph's Healthcare System and a Long Island hospital, said he conceived the idea for Blue Horizon during a 2006 vacation in Dubai. He's visited the emirate more than 20 times, he said. "He recognized the significant need for high-quality health care in the region and that American surgeons and medical doctors, who are widely regarded as the best in the world, could provide such care," the company's website says.

Doctor rotation

Blue Horizon plans to rotate American physician specialists through its hospitals for one to two weeks every two or three months, Mehling said. "Our business model is based on doctors that are very successful here," he said. As such, they probably won't want to give up their practices here to move to Dubai, as other institutions require.

"We'll provide the doctors who are leaders in their disciplines. They'll go in on a rotating basis to do surgery," he said. "There will be full-time medical doctors and surgeons [on staff in Dubai], so there will be cross-references to doctors. Most of them [the staff physicians] are U.S.-trained."

Dubai's health leaders are interested "in doctors at the level of Hackensack," he said.

A related non-profit foundation is also being incorporated, Mehling said, to fund the care of children, preferably victims of terrorism or war. Five percent of the hospital's beds will be set aside for these children.

John P. Ferguson
steered Hackensack
University Medical
Center until last year

So maybe we’re all ready to move on now that The Decision is almost two weeks old and we’ve begun the process of grieving. No? Well, if nothing else, maybe this latest bit of LeBron James news will offer a temporary distraction from all the vitriol.

According to CNBC’s Darren Rovell, American Signature furniture company, based in Columbus, Ohio, confirmed that it plans to launch a collection of items inspired by the most hated person in the state: LeBron James.

    “Our relationship with LeBron has not changed,” Jonathan Schottenstein, chief operating officer of American Signature, said in a statement provided to CNBC. “The youth collection by LeBron James focuses on his commitment and relationship with America’s youth. We are looking forward to this introduction in the Fall.”

Rovell adds: “James’ name doesn’t have much value [in Cleveland] any more and, at least for now, he isn’t thought of as highly in the other cities he didn’t go to. The company has 14 Value City locations within 100 miles of Chicago and six American Signature stores within a 100 miles of Manhattan. The company only has two of its stores within a 100-mile radius of Miami, where James has signed to play for the Miami Heat for the next six seasons.”

So if you’re looking for something to complement your bargain basement LeBron Fathead, might I suggest some Bron-Bron-inspired home furnishings.

AutoNation COO: GM Made a Good Move. AutoNation COO Mike Maroone on how GM's AmeriCredit deal impacts the company. All Videos: Latest Video RSS ...

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Jul 22, 2010 (M2 EQUITYBITES via COMTEX) --

InvestorForce, which provides solutions to institutional investment consultants and is majority owned by Internet Capital Group Inc (Nasdaq: ICGE | PowerRating), added an executive chairman, COO and CIO to its senior management team, the company revealed on Wednesday.

James Satloff joined the company as executive chairman in early May and, according to the company, has wide executive experience in financial services and technology. Earlier, he served as executive managing director for Standard & Poor's Investment Services business, in charge of S&P's portfolio of global institutional markets businesses and its expansion.

In May 2010 also, Steve Johnson joined as COO with experience in the institutional investment industry, developing products, software and operations. Most recently he was COO at Redstone Investment Management and has earlier led investment and software companies as well.

Most recently managing director at Albridge Solutions, which provides enterprise data management, portfolio accounting, wealth consolidation and performance reporting to the broker- dealer and investment advisor markets, Amit Basu joins InvestorForce as CIO. He has previously been VP of Product Deployment at BISYS and director of Technology Services for SunGard in North America and Asia Pacific.

Sam Martin will become president and CEO of supermaket chain A&P.

OfficeMax Inc.   7  OfficeMax Inc.  Office Supplies  Online Sales:$2,775,357,614 (IR estimate)  Growth:-10.0%  See More   today announced Sam Martin, executive vice president and chief operating officer, has resigned to become president and CEO of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., a supermarket chain, effective yesterday. He succeeds Ron Marshall, who has left A&P.

“We thank Sam for the many contributions he has made to OfficeMax during his tenure at the company,” says Sam Duncan, chairman and CEO of OfficeMax, No. 7 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. “He was an integral part of the successful turnaround of OfficeMax. We are confident in the company's ability to execute a smooth and orderly transition.”

Duncan will assume Martin’s responsibilities and the executives that reported to Martin will now report directly to Duncan. The office supplies retailer has begun searching for a new chief operating officer.

Christian Haub, A&P executive chairman, says "Sam is a proven, hands on operational expert in the food retail industry. He has an ideal mix of food industry management experience encompassing operations, merchandising and supply chain."

Sam Martin, 
former OfficeMax chief operating officer

A. Schulman Inc., a plastic and resin supplier, said Wednesday it named Gustavo Perez general manager and chief operating officer of the Americas, effective Aug. 1.

Perez is currently general manager of masterbatch for the company's North America operations.

He has also served as general manager of Mexico and associate general manager.

To replace him, A. Schulman named Roberto Lopez business unit leader of masterbach for the Americas.

Lopez was previously business unit leader of masterbatch for Mexico.

Shares fell 5 cents to $18.23 in late-day trading.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Sandwich cracker maker Lance Inc. and privately held pretzel maker Snyder's of Hanover said Thursday they plan to combine into a company with greater clout and distribution.

The share-for-share transaction would leave shareholders of both companies owning about 50 percent of the combined company, to be called Snyder's-Lance Inc.

"Combining our strengths in salty, cracker and cookie snacks creates the opportunity to be a focused specialty company with the scale to compete in high volume categories," Snyder's Chief Executive Officer Carl Lee Jr. said. "Snyder's national distribution, national advertising and market presence will be used to support our new broader portfolio of products."

The new company will be based in Charlotte, N.C., Lance's hometown, with additional executive offices in Hanover, Pa., where Snyder's is based.

Lance shareholders would receive a $3.75 special cash dividend at the close of the merger, which is set for fall if shareholders and regulators approve it.

The snack-food makers had combined revenue of about $1.6 billion in the year that ended June 26, with operating earnings of about $170 million, the companies said. Lance said Thursday that it expects net revenue between $930 million and $950 million for 2010.

The companies said they will be able to cut their annual costs more than $30 million once they combine.

Last fall, federal regulators reportedly turned back Snyder's attempt to buy out competitor Utz Quality Foods Inc., also privately held and based in Hanover, Pa.

Lee is to be the new company's president and chief operating officer, while Snyder Chairman Michael Warehime, a member of one of the company's founding family, would be its chairman. Lance CEO David Singer will become chief executive of Snyder's-Lance.

The combined company's 16-member board is to include eight current Lance directors, seven Snyder board members and one independent director to be elected by the new board after the merger closes.

Current Lance chairman W. J. Prezzano was described as serving as "lead independent director" of Snyder's-Lance. A spokeswoman could not immediately clarify whether that means Prezzano would become the new board's ninth director with ties to Lance.

Lance, founded in 1913, is best known for crackers sandwiched around a layer of peanut butter or cheese. It also produces Cape Cod potato chips, Archway cookies and Stella D'oro Italian baked goods.

Lance announced Thursday its second-quarter net income rose to $12.2 million, or 38 cents per share, from $9.5 million last year.

Shares soared more than 28 percent to $20.49 in afternoon trading.

CHICAGO (AP) - Tribune Interactive, part of the Tribune Co. media conglomerate, said Thursday it promoted Jeff Kapugi to chief operating officer, starting immediately.

Kapugi replaces Nick Cory. The company said Cory had been doing two jobs during the last six months, and that he will now focus all of his energy on reorganizing certain back-office functions.

Kapugi joined Tribune Interactive in 2008. He was most recently senior vice president of representation for the company.

Before Tribune Interactive, Kapugi worked at Clear Channel Radio.

Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers, is operating under bankruptcy protection. The company is privately held.

DAYTON, Ohio -- The Dayton Board of Education had hired a new chief operating officer.

James Harris, who will start on July 26, is from Evansville, Ind. He was the chief operating officer for Evansville-Vanderburg School Corp, which is the third largest district in Indiana.

In Dayton, Harris will oversee several departments, including facilities management, transportation and nutrition services.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority has appointed Brad Erickson to the newly-created position of chief operating officer, effective immediately.

Erickson will be focused on directing the operations of the support functions within the authority and assisting in the strategic development of the organisation going forward.

Jeremy Cox, chief executive of the Bermuda Monetary Authority, says: “We are delighted Brad has joined the authority as our chief operating officer. The authority has grown tremendously in just a short period as we equip ourselves appropriately to address the expectations of the international regulatory environment and the Bermuda market. The chief operating officer position facilitates even greater focus being placed on our own risk management, resourcing and corporate governance operations. ”

Erickson adds: “The authority, in common with financial regulators world-wide, is facing a period of intense change in response to a dynamic and consistently evolving regulatory environment. I am very pleased to be joining the organisation at this critical time in its development. I look forward to working with the chief executive, senior management team and staff of the Authority as we take the organisation from strength to strength.”

Erickson is a Chartered Accountant with 22 years’ experience in industry, the last 14 of which were gained in senior executive positions in the UK and North America.

His business experience and technical expertise, including as a chief financial officer, banker and business consultant, covers managing and leading finance departments in multinational organisations; capital markets; strategic planning practices and processes; developing and implementing performance management systems; risk management; and corporate governance.

In addition to finance, he has at various times throughout his career been directly responsible for IT, operations, facilities, risk management and administration functions.

(RTTNews) -  ManTech International Corp. (MANT:  News ) announced after the bell Monday that Lawrence B. Prior III resigned as President and COO of the company.

ManTech International gapped open sharply lower Tuesday and fell in early trade. The stock settled into a narrow range for the majority of the session and closed down by 3.32 at $37.43 on the highest volume in nearly 3 months. ManTech dropped below a 2-week range and set a new low for the year.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has promoted Dr. Steven Hansen to chief operating officer, effective today. In his new position, Hansen will oversee all ASPCA program areas, as well as a majority of the New York City-based organization’s infrastructure teams.

“Dr. Hansen is an accomplished executive with a strong record of achievements, both with the ASPCA and the animal welfare community at-large,” said ASPCA president & CEO Ed Sayres.

“During his 13 years of dedicated service to the ASPCA, Dr. Hansen has become an invaluable resource for the organization and has developed a profound understanding of the issues affecting companion animals in our world today. We look forward to his contributions in this new capacity.”

Hansen joined the ASPCA in 1997 as vice president of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center in Urbana, Ill., and most recently served as the ASPCA’s senior vice president of animal health services, a division dedicated to providing pet health and wellness information to pet owners.

Under his leadership, the Animal Poison Control Center and Information Technology teams launched in 2000 the AnTox database, a comprehensive animal toxicology database that features more than one million case studies. In addition, with his support, the ASPCA’s Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinics performed more than 30,000 surgeries in 2009, and the Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital served a record-breaking 15,000 pets in New York City, according to the ASPCA.

Some of the programs Hansen will oversee as chief operating officer include anti-cruelty initiatives, community outreach, capital projects, human resources, finance and information technology. He will also continue to supervise the animal health services programs.

“I’ve always been passionate about the ASPCA’s mission and look forward to serving in this new role,” Hansen said. “The ASPCA’s programs and services provide life-saving support to companion animals in New York City and across the United States, and I’m excited to be part of their future development.”

Prior to joining the ASPCA, Hansen was the director of veterinary research and support for Wellmark International. He also practiced clinical medicine in suburban Houston and Chicago.

Hansen is certified by the American Board of Toxicology (DABT) and the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology (DABVT), is a member of the National Academies of Practice, and holds an adjunct appointment at the University of Illinois’ College of Veterinary Medicine, according to the ASPCA. In addition, he serves on the Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods, and is treasurer of the Organizing Committee of the American College of Animal Welfare.

Dr. Steven Hansen

Dean Wilson, First Look Studios/Millennium Media Services chief operating officer, died July 20 in Los Angeles from complications following a heart attack. He was 52.

Wilson had more than 20 years of experience in the film industry.

Before joining First Look in 2007, he was head of new business development for Blockbuster Inc., overseeing the company's alternative movie distribution strategy. He joined Blockbuster in 1995 and held various positions, including executive VP and chief content officer, worldwide.

He was a co-founder of DEJ Productions, a film acquisition and distribution subsidiary of Blockbuster, established in 1999. First Look bought DEJ for $25 million in 2005, and in April 2007 named Wilson COO of First Look.

Wilson was involved with Team in Training and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and participated in marathons and fundraising events to support both organizations.

Donations in his memory may be made to the Orange County, California, chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS.org).

A memorial will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, July 29, at the Bel Air Bay Club, 16801 Pacific Coast Highway (between Sunset Blvd and Temescal Canyon Road), in Pacific Palisades.n.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Wilson’s name to the Orange County chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS.org).

TEMPE, Ariz., Jul 22, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Don Andrus, President and COO of VirTra Systems, Inc. (VTSI 0.05, +0.00, +1.96%) , today announced the completion of a third firearm simulator installation at the Institute of Technology, Citrus Heights campus located near Sacramento, California. The Institute of Technology is one of the country's premier institutions, which provides exceptional career education at multiple campuses throughout California.

This is the Institute of Technology's third use-of-force simulator order in 2010. The Institute of Technology continues to develop one of the world's premier training programs by adding another one of VirTra's multi-screen, ultra-realistic law enforcement use-of-force simulators to their already impressive Citrus Heights campus.

The Institute installed one of VirTra's world-class VirTra-300 LE simulators with an elevated deck and HD sound effects for complete auditory immersion. This fully immersive five-screen, ultra-realistic law enforcement use-of-force simulator, is equipped with recoil kits, return fire simulation (Threat-Fire(TM) II) devices, multiple tetherless firearm recoil kits, a full Taser package, firearm refill and recharge stations, M16 rifle kits with Smart Magazines and many other advanced options for optimal training.

Keever Jankovich, campus president at IOT -- Citrus Heights, offered, "Institute of Technology is excited to extend our relationship with VirTra Systems by ordering another VirTra-300 for our new Citrus Heights campus. VirTra's simulators, like our training programs, are top of the line. With this new purchase, we're ensuring that students of our Criminology and Emergency Response Management program have the best resources available to prepare them for a career in protecting their community."

"Institute of Technology is building one of the most advanced training programs in the world and being a part of that process is beyond gratifying; however, knowing that our technology is ultimately going to save the lives of well-trained personnel is why we do what we do," said Don Andrus, President and COO of VirTra Systems.

About Institute of Technology

Institute of Technology trains students for careers in the Business, Culinary, Legal, Medical, and Technical fields. The CERM Program Director brings 32 years of experience with the Fresno County Sheriff's Department and two decades of teaching experience to a criminology program that separates Institute of Technology from the competition. Course curricula are based on the needs of employers in central California. The school's four California campuses are located in Clovis, Modesto, Redding and Roseville. Institute of Technology is accredited to award diplomas and degrees by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC). Institute of Technology is managed by Brightstar Education Group.

About BrightStar Education

BrightStar Education Group operates for-profit postsecondary education schools that provide quality Medical, Business, Technical, Legal, Culinary and other vocational curricula to over 2,800 students. Headquartered just outside of Denver, CO, BrightStar Education Group is pursuing a consolidation of its postsecondary education offerings. Starting with the acquisition of Institute of Technology, a leading for-profit postsecondary education company, serving students at four campuses in northern and central California, BrightStar expanded into Oregon in 2010 with the acquisition of Valley Medical College in Salem, OR. For more information about BrightStar Education, visit www.brightstareducation.com

About VirTra Systems

The company produces the best-in-class firearm simulators for both law enforcement and military customers throughout the world. VirTra is the higher standard in simulation: from exceptional customer service to unparalleled technology like 360 degree HD training platforms and the Threat-Fire(TM) safe return fire system (patent pending). When training realism matters, military and law enforcement professionals consistently select VirTra's simulators.

Apple has promoted an executive in what could be some of its earliest steps towards handling CEO Steve Jobs' succession, a report claimed this evening. VP of Operations Jeff Williams is understood to have been promoted to Senior VP, just below chief operating officer Tim Cook, with the intention of taking Cook's role should he replace Jobs as company leader. AppleInsider understands that he would oversee product quality as well as help manage the supply chain, both of which have been considered Cook's strengths and which would hint at a large amount of trust in Williams' abilities.

Williams has supposedly been groomed for considerably longer in an attempt to keep him onboard for a future leadership role. He was granted 40,000 stock options as long ago as August 2005 and has been granted between 10,000 and 26,250 stock options every year since, all of which vest over the course of four years. If all of them were to vest at once as of Wednesday, Williams would make almost $27.3 million.

The new Senior VP was originally brought on to Apple from IBM and has drawn most of his attention for efforts in the handhelds that now make up the majority of Apple's business. As head of worldwide procurement, he was crucial to getting components for the early years of the iPod and later as VP proved important to the 2007 launch of the iPhone.

It's not known whether the promotion has been prompted by any particular events. However, Jobs has taken increasing steps in the wake of his cancer treatments to show that the company isn't solely dependent on his leadership and may be eager to put a more definite succession plan in place. Many of Apple's more recent presentations have had Jobs only on stage for a portion of the event, with Senior VPs ranging from Phil Schiller to Scott Forstall often presenting key segments.

Jobs' position is unique in the industry as it's believed that he still has a large amount of control over product designs relative to other companies. Google, Microsoft and other major competitors usually delegate many key decisions to executives with the CEO primarily offering larger strategy and oversight.

The WQED Board of Directors today unanimously approved the appointment of Deborah Acklin as president-elect and CEO of WQED Multimedia.

She replaces George Miles Jr., who is leaving the organization after leading it for more than 16 years.

Ms. Acklin joined WQED in 1996 and has been serving as executive vice president and chief operating officer.

The change takes effect at the end of WQED's fiscal year on Sept. 23.

Deborah Acklin

AKRON, Ohio, July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A. Schulman, Inc. (Nasdaq-GS: SHLM) announced today that it has named Gustavo Perez as General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of the Americas, effective August 1, 2010. In his new role, Perez will lead the Company's strategic business activities in North America and South America and all business unit heads and managing directors in those regions will report directly to him. He will continue to report to Joseph M. Gingo, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

"Gustavo's tenure at A. Schulman has been filled with success, from his leadership of our highly profitable operations in Mexico to his involvement in the recent turnaround of our operations in North America," said Gingo. "He is a well-respected leader and delivers exceptional results, as evidenced by the sustained profitability and efficiency of the organizations he has led. We are excited for Gustavo to expand his leadership role, as we look to grow our North American and Latin American businesses."

Since 2008, Perez has been General Manager, Masterbatch for the Company's North America operations. Previously, he was General Manager of Mexico and prior to that position, he was Associate General Manager since 2000. He joined A. Schulman in 1995 as a Finance Manager of the Mexican subsidiary. Prior to joining A. Schulman, he was an Audit Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He holds an MBA degree from the University of Quebec in Montreal and received his CPA from La Salle University, Mexico City.

The Company also announced that it has named Roberto Lopez to the position of Business Unit Leader of Masterbatch for the Americas. Lopez previously was Business Unit Leader of Masterbatch for Mexico.  Lopez is a 17-year veteran of A. Schulman's Mexican operations and has held a variety of sales positions in multiple business units.  He will report directly to Perez. 

About A. Schulman, Inc.

Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, A. Schulman is a leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resins.  These materials are used in a variety of consumer, industrial, automotive and packaging applications.  The Company employs about 2,900 people and has 37 manufacturing facilities in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.  On April 30, 2010, the Company completed its acquisition of ICO, Inc., a global manufacturer of specialty resins and concentrates for rotomolding and a provider of specialty polymer services.  A. Schulman reported revenues of $1.3 billion for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2009, and ICO reported revenues of $300 million for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2009.  Additional information about A. Schulman can be found at www.aschulman.com.

HOLLYWOOD, FL, Jul 21, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Genesis Electronics Group, Inc. (GEGI 0.06, -0.02, -20.51%) , announced today that is has appointed M. Thomas Makmann to the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Mr. Makmann is a 30+ year Computer, Storage and Internet veteran with extensive start-up and early stage company experience and has held numerous senior management positions in public and private companies. He served as: President & COO of nStor Technologies Inc. (AMEX), VP & GM of Archive Corporation (NASDQ), VP-Mobile Storage Products for Maxtor Corporation (NASDQ) and VP & GM of the Sytron Division of Rexon (AMX) and as President and CEO of several start ups. Mr. Makmann holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University.

Ed Dillon, CEO of Genesis stated, "Genesis is rapidly moving to the next phase of bringing its SunBlazer(TM) (cell phone charger which utilizes solar energy) to the market. The Company has been seeking to expand its operational management and is pleased to have Mr. Makmann join Genesis. He brings extensive background in the electronics industry and is experienced in bringing products from prototype to high volume production."

Raymond Purdon, Chairman of Genesis added, "We are excited about the potential for the Company and believe we are on a path to enhance share holder value. The SunBlazer(TM) is the first product utilizing our patented technology and we are planning additional solutions for similar complex high power consumption applications."

About Genesis Electronics, Inc. Genesis Electronics, Inc. is a developmental stage electronics company with a patented process for charging and re-charging a battery from solar energy and efficiently transferring that energy to the battery of an electronic device. We have developed this technology to produce solar chargers for multi-featured cell phones, such as the G-2000 designed for the iPhone(TM). The key to Genesis Electronics' technology is its patented "Enhanced Solar to Battery Electronic Technology" for a unique process that charges a battery from solar energy and efficiently transfers that energy to the battery of an electronic device that optimizes the conversion of light into electrical energy. This technology can be applied to virtually any portable or hand-held electronic device.

Genesis Electronics, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Genesis Electronics Group, Inc., a publicly traded corporation (symbol GEGI).

Brad Erickson has become the first chief operating officer of the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA).

The organisation said the new post would help it maintain a high level of efficiency while deploying its growing resources.

Jeremy Cox, CEO of the BMA, said: “The Authority has grown tremendously in just a short period.

“The COO position facilitates even greater focus being placed on our own risk management, resourcing and corporate governance operations. ”

Mr. Erickson said: “The Authority, in common with financial regulators worldwide, is facing a period of intense change in response to a dynamic and consistently evolving regulatory environment.

“I am very pleased to be joining the organisation at this critical time in its development.”

New COO of the Bermuda 
Monetary Authority Brad Erickson

Mumbai : PVR Pictures today, announced that Kamal Gianchandani has joined the group as President. He will be based out of Mumbai and will lead the entire operations of PVR Pictures. Kamal Gianchandani, 38, has spent his 15-year career in a range of general management, new media, film financing, co-production, distribution, licensing, syndication, film exhibition, multiplex operations positions.

Prior to his current responsibilities at PVR Pictures, he was with Reliance Big Pictures (2006–2010) as Chief Operating Officer, with end-to-end responsibility of the company’s theatrical distribution & licensing business. Under his stewardship, the company acquired & distributed some of the biggest Indian hits of recent times, including the phenomenal success of year 2009 - ‘3 Idiots’. He is also credited with setting up and managing company’s syndication arm successfully. In addition, as Chief Operating Officer - BIGFlix, his leadership was marked by successful inception and bolstering of the company’s online mail-order movie rental service; as also, a movie streaming portal i.e. Bigflix.com, which is now the world’s largest video portal for Indian movies & entertainment content .

Commenting on the announcement, Ajay Bijli, Chairman and Managing Director, PVR Limited said “I am delighted to have Kamal on board. In his role at PVR Pictures, Kamal will build on the existing capabilities and strengthen our Motion Picture business; his experience will be of tremendous value to our organization and in delivering on our business objectives”.

Kamal Gianchandani, President, PVR Pictures said, “PVR is an outstanding company, with a proud history of pioneering the multiplex revolution in India. It has got an incredible team and an enviable position in the film exhibition sector. It is a great honor to join its leadership team and have the opportunity to build on its success”.

Nutrastar International Inc. is a leading China-based nutraceutical company which produces and distributes its primary product – dry engineered Chinese Golden Grass (Cordyceps Militaris) along with organic and specialty foods in China.

Chinese Golden Grass, actually a type of mushroom, is one of the most highly regarded herbal nutrients in Chinese culture. The company believes it is the largest manufacturer of engineered Chinese Golden grass in China. According to the China Market Monitoring Center, Nutrastar International has a 19 percent market share for the product. For more information on the company and its products, visit the following website www.nutrastarintl.com.

The company announced today that Robert Tick has been appointed as its new chief financial officer. He brings a vast array of experience and expertise in accounting, financial reporting, capital raising and US-Chinese corporate relations to Nutrastar. His experience will prove useful as the company plans to increase its stock valuation, expand its shareholder base and move to another stock exchange.

Mr. Tick most recently was the CFO and corporate secretary for ANDA Networks, a telecom network equipment supplier operating in North America and China. He joined ANDA in 2003 as corporate controller and assistant secretary and was promoted to vice-president of finance in 2005 and chief financial officer in 2007.

Mr. Tick also held the position of corporate controller for Zambeel, an enterprise network attached storage company where he was responsible for managing financial and accounting duties. He is an actively licensed CPA in California and is fluent in both verbal and written Chinese.

Parnell Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (http://parnellpharm.com), a lead developer of products dedicated to restoring and maintaining mucosal integrity, has appointed John F. Parnell to President and Chief Operating Officer, and to the Board of Directors.

San Rafael,Calif. (PRWEB) July 20, 2010

Parnell Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (http://parnellpharm.com), a lead developer of products dedicated to restoring and maintaining mucosal integrity, has appointed John F. Parnell to President and Chief Operating Officer, and to the Board of Directors.

Since joining the company in 1985, Parnell, age 42, has served in various roles, including senior marketing positions, and most recently as director of operations, and vice-president. He succeeds Parnell Pharmaceuticals founder Dr. Francis Parnell who will continue as chairman and chief executive officer. John Parnell is a graduate of Boston University where he received a B.A. degree in International Relations.

Parnell Pharmaceuticals, founded in 1981, develops and markets natural refined products which are physician formulated and patient tested to improve the quality of life and to provide successful aging. The patented products are derived from the naturally occurring Yerba Santa plant, and include Mouth Kote(R) dry mouth spray, Pretz(R) nasal and sinus products and Feminease(R) vaginal moisturizer.

Yerba Santa is a plant indigenous to the foothills of the Pacific Northwest, and has been used as an herbal remedy by many Native American tribes for centuries.

For further information, contact Dr. Francis Parnell, Chairman and CEO Tel: 415-256-1800
Fax: 415-256-8099

Governor Phil Bredesen has appointed 135 men and women to serve on 60 state boards and commissions. Among these is Hendersonville Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Regina Bartlett, who is the newest member of the Tennessee Medical Laboratory Board.

“I commend all those appointed for their willingness to serve the state through its boards and commissions,” Bredesen said. “Tennesseans have always been recognized for dedicating their time and talents to serve their fellow citizens, and I appreciate these men and women for upholding this tradition. I am confident they will represent their respective boards with integrity and honor.”

Appointment terms vary based on statutory recommendations or term limits specified by geographic or other qualifications.

Bartlett began her career with HCA as a staff nurse more than 30 years ago. After serving in several nursing leadership capacities in the company’s Chattanooga-area facilities, she moved to middle Tennessee after being named Chief Nursing Officer at Hendersonville Medical Center in 1997. She was also Chief Operating Officer at Hendersonville before becoming Chief Operating Officer at Skyline Medical Center. Bartlett returned to Hendersonville Medical Center three years ago as Chief Executive Officer.

REMOS appoints Gretchen Jahn COO
Posted by Janice Wood · July 4, 2010

Gretchen Jahn has been appointed Chief Operating Officer for REMOS Aircraft. Jahn brings more than 30 years of entrepreneurial experience in manufacturing, IT and aviation leadership to her new position. She’s also been a pilot and aircraft owner for more than 20 years.

Jahn was most recently director of Knotridge, Limited and provided strategic consulting services to businesses in aviation and manufacturing industries. Prior to leading Knotridge, she was the general manager of Alpha Aviation Ltd of New Zealand and CEO of Mooney Airplane Co. During her tenure with Mooney, she managed to double the production rate, bring two new models to market and solidify the bond that Mooney owners had with the factory, REMOS officials note.

“It is my pleasure to have this opportunity to join a fabulous company like REMOS Aircraft,” commented Jahn. “It is our goal to demonstrate a level of commitment to our customers that will build confidence in the REMOS brand and will truly set us apart from every other Light Sport Aircraft being manufactured today.”

Jahn received her BA with honors from Lawrence University and her MA from the University of Colorado. She also obtained her Certificate in Integrated Resource Management (CIRM) from the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS). As an avid pilot for 20 years, she is a member of the 99s, the Colorado Pilots Association and on the board of the Air Race Classic, Inc., and competes in cross-country air racing.

TOMS RIVER, N.J., Jul 21, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- OceanFirst Financial Corp. (OCFC 11.62, -0.37, -3.09%) , the holding company for OceanFirst Bank, announced the advancement of its succession plan appointing Vito R. Nardelli, President of the Company and the Bank. In this position, Mr. Nardelli will oversee the operations of the organizations.

"Vito's wealth of experience and talent make him well-qualified to be our next President," said OceanFirst Chairman and CEO John R. Garbarino. "We are pleased to be able to take the next step in our succession plan, formulated shortly after Vito joined the Bank."

Mr. Nardelli was hired by the Bank as Executive Vice President/Chief Sales Officer in June 2004 and was named Chief Operating Officer in 2005. Mr. Nardelli has been employed in the banking industry for approximately 30 years. He began his career with Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. and held various executive level positions at Marine Midland Bank and Wachovia (formerly First Union). He most recently served as Director of Retail Banking for The Trust Company of New Jersey and, until 2003, as Division President of the Dime Savings Bank of New Jersey. Between 1991 and 1994, Mr. Nardelli served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

OceanFirst Financial Corp.'s subsidiary, OceanFirst Bank, founded in 1902, is a federally-chartered stock savings bank with $2.2 billion in assets and twenty-three branches located in Ocean, Monmouth and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey. The Bank is the largest and oldest community-based financial institution headquartered in Ocean County, New Jersey.

OceanFirst Financial Corp.'s press releases are available by visiting us at www.oceanfirst.com.

Julian Robertson, founder of hedge- fund firm Tiger Management LLC, named John Townsend as chief operating officer, a move that may lead the firm to expand its decade-old business of seeding hedge fund managers.

Townsend, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive, replaces Aaron Stern, who remains at Tiger as a senior adviser, the New York-based firm said today in a statement. Tiger also named Townsend and Alex Robertson, the youngest of Julian Robertson’s three sons, as managing directors.

Townsend, 54, says future plans for Tiger could involve marketing a fund of funds using some or all of the 40 hedge funds that Robertson has seeded since 2000. It also might involve raising capital from one or more outside investors so the firm could seed even more hedge funds.

“Everything is up for discussion and exploration,” Townsend said in telephone interview. “I think Julian very much decided it is worthwhile to think about various alternatives to build out the Tiger brand.”

Julian Robertson, 78, started Tiger in 1980, and built it into one of the world’s largest hedge-fund firms. By mid-1998, assets had soared to about $22 billion on the back of Robertson’s average annual returns of 32 percent.

Seeding Managers

Over the following 18 months, losses and investor withdrawals reduced assets to about $6 billion and in March 2000, Robertson, then 67, announced he would close Tiger to outside investors.

Robertson kept his office space and began using his own fortune to seed hedge fund managers, taking a share of their profits in exchange for his investment. He now has a stable of 40 independent hedge funds that collectively manage about $23 billion. The largest, Tiger Asia Management LLC, managed by Bill Hwang, and Tiger Global Management LLC, headed by Chase Coleman, now run $3 billion to $4 billion, Townsend said.

Townsend, a native of Lumberton, North Carolina, graduated from the University of North Carolina. He was a general partner and managing director at Goldman Sachs. He served as co-head of leveraged finance before leaving the firm in 2002 and currently serves as an adviser to Stone Point Capital LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Alex, who turns 31 this weekend, joined Tiger in 2008.

BENSON - Patrick Ledger, a former Cochise County Deputy County Attorney who was Corporate Counsel for Arizona's G&T Cooperatives and has most recently served as Chief Operating Officer of Southwest Transmission Cooperative, Inc. (SWTC), has been named to head Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (AEPCO), and headquartered in Benson, Arizona.

Ledger, 44, a graduate of Colorado College and the University of Arizona College of Law, replaces retiring Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Gary Grim effective July 1.

"I appreciate this opportunity to ensure we continue to generate reliable and affordable power for rural Arizonans not just today but to meet future demands as well," Ledger said.

AEPCO and SWTC together with Sierra Southwest Cooperative Services, Inc. collectively make up Arizona's G&T Cooperatives.

AEPCO owns and operates the 600 megawatt Apache Generating Station at Cochise, Arizona, east of Benson.

SWTC owns and maintains more than 600 miles of line and 25 substations that transmit wholesale power from the Apache Generating Station to six Member Distribution Cooperatives in southern Arizona, northwestern Arizona in Bullhead City and Mohave County, and Anza, California.

Combined, the Distribution Cooperatives that receive AEPCO's wholesale power serve more than 144,000 residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial customers.

"Our most significant challenges ahead are to ensure we continue to generate power reliably and efficiently and that we respond to the growing demand for energy in a prudent, cost effective and responsible way," Ledger said.

"I'm certain we can meet those challenges," Ledger said.

Donald W. Kimball, CEO of the three Arizona's G&T Cooperatives, said Ledger understands the issues of rural Americans served by the Cooperatives.

 

Patrick Ledger

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook suggested the iPad could cannibalize the PC market, but would likely have synergy with the rest of Apple’s product lineup. An outside research firm predicts an iPad refresh for April 2011.

Apple claims early demand for the iPad outstripped its predictions, and that the tablet PC could provide “synergy” with the rest of its product lineup, in contrast to past analyst claims that it could cannibalize demand for the company’s other products. That perspective emerged during Apple’s July 20 earnings call, which provided more hard data about iPad in its first three months of sales.

Apple sold 3.27 million iPads in the third fiscal quarter of 2010, helping fuel total revenues of $15.7 billion and a net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion. Both Mac and iPhone shipments increased during that period, although iPod sales continued their slow decline; Apple has long partially attributed the latter to cannibalization by the iPhone. 

“We went into the iPad thinking that planning of 1 million from our capacity was a very bold move,” Tim Cook, Apple chief operating officer, told an audience of media and analysts during the company’s July 20 earnings call. “A lot of industry analysts predicted that we would only sell somewhere around that number for the whole calendar year.”

When the iPad ended up selling more than 1 million units per month, Cook added, it forced the company to readjust. “We’re increasing capacity as quickly as we can,” he said. “There are a number of things that we have to increase in order to do that. But I am fairly confident that we will be able to increase the capacity.”

While some analysts have predicted that the iPad will eat into the market for iPods and Macs, Cook tried to give a positive spin to the tablet’s potential to cannibalize the rest of the company’s product line. 

“Mac share is still low and so there is still an enormous opportunity for the Mac to grow,” he said, “and certainly the more customers we can introduce to Apple through iPads and iPhones and iPods, there might be some synergy with the Mac there, and there might be synergy between the iPad and the iPhones and so on.”

The iPad, he suggested, could ultimately prove more devastating to Apple’s rivals.

“If it turns out that the iPad cannibalizes PCs that, I think, [that] is fantastic for us because there is a lot of PCs to cannibalize,” he added. “It’s still a big market.”

Analyst firm iSuppli published a July 20 research note predicting that Apple would ship 12.9 million iPads in 2010, followed by 36.5 million in 2011 and 50.4 million in 2012.

“The key to continuing success will be how quickly Apple responds to issues as they arise and whether the company can align suppliers to meet demand needs,” Rhonda Alexander, director of monitor research for iSuppli, wrote. “Apple’s acceleration of its component demand indicates that the company has raised its iPad production target for 2010.”

The iSuppli research note also predicts that Apple will refresh the iPad in April 2011, perhaps with an internal camera and additional screen sizes. The firm suggests that the iPad currently controls 84 percent of the tablet PC market, “and the device is expected to dominate through at least 2012.”

Tiger Management founder Julian Robertson is taking steps to ensure the legendary hedge fund stays in the family.

Robertson promoted his son, Alex, to managing partner, and added a second new managing partner, John Townsend, who also takes over as chief operating officer. Both are charged with working with Julian Robertson to manage the Tiger funds and oversee the many Tiger “cubs” the firm has seeded.

“The opportunity to partner with Julian and Alex Robertson as we build this extraordinary investment management business is extremely exciting, especially at such an interesting time in the evolution of the hedge fund industry,” Townsend said.

Townsend succeeds Aaron Stern, who will remain a senior adviser to Tiger, as COO. He is currently a senior adviser to Stone Point Capital and a member of the Riverstone Group, and has worked at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette and Goldman Sachs over the course of a three-decade career in finance.

Alex Robertson has worked for his father’s firm for almost two years, joining Tiger after receiving his MBA from Stanford University.

Akron-based A. Schulman Inc. (Nasdaq: SHLM) has named Gustavo Perez as general manager and chief operating officer of the Americas, effective Aug. 1.

In his new role with the supplier of plastic resins, Mr. Perez will lead the company's strategic business activities in North America and South America, and all business unit heads and managing directors in those regions will report directly to him.

“He is a well-respected leader and delivers exceptional results, as evidenced by the sustained profitability and efficiency of the organizations he has led,” said Joseph M. Gingo, chairman, president and CEO. “We are excited for Gustavo to expand his leadership role, as we look to grow our North American and Latin American businesses.”

Since 2008, Mr. Perez has been general manager of masterbatch for the company's North America operations. He joined A. Schulman in 1995 as a finance manager of the company's Mexican subsidiary.

The company also named Roberto Lopez to business unit leader of masterbatch for the Americas. Mr. Lopez previously was business unit leader of masterbatch for Mexico.

Gustavo Perez

Environics USA (EUSA), a leader in CBRN protection products, has promoted Timo Jaakkola to the position of Chief Operations Officer (COO) from his previous position of Chief Technical Officer (CTO).  In his new role Timo will report to Hannu Salmi, President of Environics OY (EOY), the parent company of EUSA based in Mikkeli, Finland.  In Timo's expanded role he continues to be responsible for technical issues but he also has responsibility for sales, marketing and operations for EUSA.  Timo was with EOY from 1997-2001 and again from 2003 until 2008.  Before coming to the USA, Timo was Director of Sales for EOY and he served as an officer in the CBRN Detachment of the European Union Battle Group for a year in 2007-2008.  Timo's wealth of knowledge about Environics and our products, coupled with his hands on knowledge of their usage in the field, makes him an extremely valuable asset to EUSA and our customers.

Environics can protect individuals to countries from CBRN and HazMat threats.  Our products include the handheld ChemPro100i TIC and CWA detector to complete country-wide CBRN detection networks.  Our fixed products protect the highest profile buildings in the US.    For more information please contact:

Christopher Wrenn
Sr. Director of Sales & Marketing
Environics USA
1308 Continental Drive, Suite J
Abingdon, MD 21009
Corporate phone:  410-612-1250
Corporate fax: 410-612-1251
chris.wrenn@EnvironicsUSA.com
To contact me directly call my cell:  610-659-4507
www.EnvironicsUSA.com

WINNIPEG Airports Authority is losing its chief operating officer, but will gain an important ally in its desire to strengthen its relationship with airlines that service the North.

Michael Rodyniuk, second-in-command at Winnipeg Airports Authority for the last six years, is leaving the airport to become vice-president and chief operating officer, aviation at Exchange Income Corp., the Winnipeg-based company that owns Calm Air, Perimeter Aviation and Keewatin Air.

A spokeswoman for the WAA said they just learned of Rodyniuk's departure in the last couple of days and the process of finding his replacement has not yet begun.

"Michael will be just a stone's throw away and will still be available to talk to us," said Christine Alongi, the WAA's spokeswoman. "We think it's great for him and for us because he'll be working with a key airport tenant."

In a recent speech to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce about why the "Golden Boy points north", WAA chairman Arthur Mauro spoke about how development in the North will be an important focus of growth for the airport.

All of the airlines Rodyniuk will now be responsible for primarily service northern Manitoba, northwest Ontario and Nunavut. The WAA has made it clear that one of its prime development goals in the near term is to expand its business with Northern Canada to become more of a hub for the growing resource industries in the North as well as the increasing passenger traffic in the region.

As for Exchange Income Corp., the company is sitting on a war chest of about $100 million after a couple of successful equity offerings this year and has made no secret of its intention to seek further acquisitions. In addition to its portfolio of regional airlines, Exchange Income owns a number of small metals manufacturing firms across Western Canada and one in the United States.

The company has said it intends to expand into a third, as yet unknown sector, but growth in the aviation industry is also that much more likely with the addition of Rodyniuk.

"It is a major coup for us to land someone like Michael," said Exchange Income CEO Mike Pyle. "It's fair to say we wouldn't be doing this if we didn't envision opportunities for growth in the aviation sector."

Pyle pointed out that all three of the airlines already have CEOs who run them and Rodyniuk's role would be to manage them on a corporate level.

And Rodyniuk has had plenty of experience in senior management of airlines. The 45-year-old Calgary native has spent time working in the head offices of some of the largest airlines in the world, including stints at the Chicago headquarters of United Airlines, Swiss Air's Zurich head office as well as a WestJet's Calgary offices.

He also believes it is an excellent time to make a move, now that most of the development work on the new terminal is just about finished as well as the land development on the airport campus with the construction of new buildings for Canada Post, the Greyhound Bus terminal Standard Aero and plans for hotel developments.

"That was a very big challenge and it is just about finished," Rodyniuk said. "I am excited about the new challenge and I know there are opportunities for growth at Exchange."

In a research report issued just last week, Trevor Johnson, an equity analyst with National Bank Financial, said in addition to generating average total return of more than 19 per cent annually since 2004, Exchange Income has proved doubters wrong about investing in conglomerates and he believes it has excellent growth potential.

"We are bullish on continued organic growth opportunities from the aviation portfolio," Johnson said.

He also noted that the company has sufficient capital to add a business that could generate an additional $20 million-to-$25 million in cash flow.

MIKE.DEAL@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Michael Rodyniuk is the 
new Chief Operating Officer of the Exchange Income Corp.

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SOMERSET, N.J., Jul 21, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Catalent Pharma Solutions, Inc. announced today the appointments of Melvin D. Booth and Arthur J. Higgins as Directors of Catalent. Mr. Booth's appointment is effective immediately, while Mr. Higgins will join the Board effective August 1, 2010.

Mr. Booth brings to Catalent distinguished and diverse experience with pharmaceuticals, biologics, and medical devices. Most recently he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Medimmune, Inc. from 1998 through his retirement in 2003, and as a Director from 1998 through 2005. Prior to that, Mr. Booth was President, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Human Genome Sciences, Inc. from 1995 to 1998. Mr. Booth also served in a variety of senior leadership positions for Syntex Inc., including leading both Syntex Laboratories, Inc. and Syntex Pharmaceuticals Pacific. He holds an undergraduate degree and an honorary Ph.D. in Science from the Northwest Missouri State University, and is a certified public accountant. He served as Lead Director for Millipore Corporation until its recent acquisition by Merck KGaA, and currently serves on the Board of Ventria BioScience, as Chairman of the Board for PRA International, Inc., and as a strategic advisor in life sciences for Genstar Capital. Mr. Booth will also join Catalent's Audit Committee.

Mr. Higgins brings to Catalent crucial industry knowledge gained during his well-regarded career. Mr. Higgins previously served as Chairman of the Bayer HealthCare Executive Committee from 2004 to 2010, and as Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer HealthCare AG from 2006 to 2010. Mr. Higgins started his career in 1978 with Bristol-Myers. He subsequently worked for Sandoz (1979 to 1984) and Fisons (1984 to 1987) before moving to Abbott Laboratories in the USA (1987 to 2001), where he held positions of increasing responsibility in the international and domestic divisions. He was appointed President of Abbott's Pharmaceutical Products Division from 1998 to 2001.

In 2001, Mr. Higgins joined Enzon Pharmaceuticals as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Higgins holds a B.S. degree in biochemistry from Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland. He currently serves on the Board of Zimmer, Inc., Eco Labs, and Resverlogix Corp, and is a member of Blackstone Healthcare Partners.

John Chiminski, Catalent's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are very pleased to have both Mel and Art join Catalent's Board of Directors. Their extensive pharmaceutical and biotechnology market experience will be a significant asset to Catalent as we accelerate our growth."

About Catalent

Headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, Catalent Pharma Solutions is a leading provider of advanced technologies, and development, manufacturing and packaging services for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and consumer healthcare companies in nearly 100 countries. Catalent applies its local market expertise and technical creativity to advance treatments, change markets and enhance patient outcomes. Catalent employs approximately 9,000 at 30 facilities worldwide and in fiscal 2009 generated more than $1.6 billion of annual revenue. For more information, visit www.catalent.com.

Company Appoints Industry Leaders as Zone Vice Presidents

SCOTTSDALE, AZ, Jul 21, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Rural/Metro Corporation (RURL  8.62, -0.28, -3.15%) , a leading provider of ambulance and private fire protection services, announced today that it has implemented a new regional zone structure in order to enhance its strategic and organic growth objectives. The company's four operating zones are organized geographically and replace its former operating regions.

Michael DiMino, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are very pleased to implement a national operating structure that supports our strategic and organic growth model and optimizes our opportunities for national and regional expansion. We have appointed long-time industry operating leaders to manage day-to-day operations, standardize best practices across the country, and enhance the long-term value of our business for investors, customers and employees.

"Rural/Metro is an excellent and experienced operating company with a long track record as an industry leader. Our mission is to take the organization to the next level and further differentiate ourselves through superior sales, service, technology and infrastructure systems," Mr. DiMino said.

The company's operating zones are organized geographically as follows:

--  East Zone - Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky,
    Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire,
    New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont,
    Virginia, Wisconsin, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

--  West Zone - Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana,
    Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington
    and Wyoming.

--  South Zone - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
    Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

--  Southwest Zone - Arizona, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

The following executives have been appointed operating zone vice presidents. Bryan Gibson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, will serve as acting vice president of the Southwest Zone.

--  Steve Blackburn, East Zone Vice President - Mr. Blackburn most
    recently served as Regional Division General Manager for the company's
    Mid-Atlantic region. Prior to that position, he was Division General
    Manager for the Company's Southern Ohio and Kentucky operations. From
    2005 to 2007, Mr. Blackburn also served as Vice President and National
    Technical Sales Manager for Strategix, LLC, an emergency medical and
    disaster equipment and supply manufacturer and distributor.
    Previously, Mr. Blackburn was Division General Manager for
    Rural/Metro's Central Ohio division. He holds a Master's of Business
    Administration from Franklin University and a Bachelor's Degree in
    Health Education from Ohio State University.

--  Phil Forgione, West Zone Vice President - Mr. Forgione has worked in
    the EMS industry for 19 years, and since 2005 has served as Regional
    Division General Manager for the company's West region and San Diego
    Medical Services Enterprise CEO. Prior to that position, he was
    General Manager for the Company's San Diego operations and COO of San
    Diego Medical Services Enterprise. Mr. Forgione has also served as
    National Director of Public Affairs, Director of Public Affairs for
    Eastern U.S. operations and Marketing Manager for the company's
    Central New York operations. He holds a Master's of Business
    Administration from Arizona State University and a Bachelor's Degree
    in business and journalism from Syracuse University in New York.

--  John Karolzak, South Zone Vice President - Mr. Karolzak is a 26-year
    veteran of the emergency services industry, serving since 2009 as
    Regional Chief Operating Officer for the company's South and Southwest
    operating regions. Prior to that position, he was Division General
    Manager for the company's Indiana, Kentucky and Southern Ohio
    operations. Mr. Karolzak began his career with Rural/Metro in 1984 as
    a firefighter in Tucson, AZ. He holds a Master's of Business
    Administration and a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from
    the University of Phoenix.

About Rural/Metro

Rural/Metro Corporation provides emergency and non-emergency ambulance services and private fire protection services in 20 states and approximately 400 communities throughout the United States. For more information, visit the Company's web site at www.ruralmetro.com.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority yesterday [July 19] announced the appointment of Mr. Brad Erickson to the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective immediately. The creation of the COO position supports the Authority’s focus on maintaining a high level of efficiency and effectively deploying its growing resources. As COO, Mr. Erickson will be focused on directing the operations of the support functions within the Authority and assisting in the strategic development of the organisation going forward.

Commenting on the appointment, Jeremy Cox, CEO of the Authority said, “We are delighted Brad has joined the Authority as our COO. The Authority has grown tremendously in just a short period as we equip ourselves appropriately to address the expectations of the international regulatory environment and the Bermuda market. The COO position facilitates even greater focus being placed on our own risk management, resourcing and corporate governance operations. ”

Mr. Erickson said, “The Authority, in common with financial regulators world-wide, is facing a period of intense change in response to a dynamic and consistently evolving regulatory environment. I am very pleased to be joining the organisation at this critical time in its development. I look forward to working with the CEO, senior management team and staff of the Authority as we take the organisation from strength to strength.”

Mr. Erickson is a Chartered Accountant with twenty-two years experience in industry, the last fourteen of which were gained in senior executive positions in the United Kingdom and North America. His business experience and technical expertise, including as a CFO, banker and business consultant, covers managing and leading finance departments in multinational organisations; capital markets; strategic planning practices and processes; developing and implementing performance management systems; risk management; and corporate governance. In addition to finance, he has at various times throughout his career been directly responsible for IT, operations, facilities, risk management and administration functions.

* BB&T Capital Markets cuts stock to hold from buy

* Wells Fargo cuts stock to market perform from outperform

* Shares down 9 pct

July 20 (Reuters) - At least two brokerages downgraded ManTech International Corp (MANT.O), citing the resignation of its President and Chief Operating Officer Larry Prior.

The defense technology company's shares fell 9 percent in morning trade.

"This departure raises a number of questions in our opinion," BB&T Capital Markets analyst Michael Lewis, who cut ManTech stock to "hold" from "buy", wrote in a note to clients.

ManTech Monday announced Prior's resignation and said Chief Executive Officer George Pedersen will assume the responsibilities of the president.

The company said its three operating group presidents will assume the chief operating officer's duties.

Analyst Lewis raised doubts on the reason behind Prior's departure as president just one year into office, and if there were any disagreement between Prior and the company.

"Following a string of new senior management announcements orchestrated by Prior, will the recently hired personnel stay with ManTech or follow Prior after non-solicitation agreements end?," the analyst wrote.

Wells Fargo, which downgraded shares of the company to "market perform" from "outperform", said it assumed "no meaningful surprise" on ManTech's results which is due July 28.

The brokerage lowered its valuation range on the stock to between $41 and $45 from between $54 and $59.

ST. LOUIS, July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The St. Louis office of Lockton, the world's largest privately owned independent insurance brokerage, today announced that Robert W. (Bob) Reiff has agreed to join Lockton as the office's Chief Operating Officer.

As COO, Reiff will be responsible for the overall operations of Lockton St. Louis, including leading service teams in Risk Management, Benefits Consulting, Retirement Services, and Compensation Consulting.

Reiff brings nearly 20 years of experience in the insurance industry to Lockton. His expertise includes direct sales, field service, marketing, distribution and market development, affinity programs, product development, training and development, and E-business.  He has extensive management experience and has worked with large companies in a variety of industries.

Prior to joining Lockton, Reiff spent the last six years with The Hartford as Senior Vice President in charge of distribution, field service, associations and products. At The Hartford his teams led the disability and life insurance industry in sales in 4 out of the last 5 years. Prior to that, Reiff was with Standard Insurance Company for 14 years, most recently as Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

"This is an exciting time for Lockton St. Louis as we execute this next phase in our growth plans and attracting someone with Bob's rare skills and national stature is ideal timing for us," said Kevin McDaniel, President & Chief Executive Officer of Lockton St. Louis. "Bob's track record of driving success through team execution is well known in our industry, so for both our people and clients we are thrilled to have Bob join us as we continue to expand our reach in the market."

Lockton has received Business Insurance magazine's Best Place to Work in Insurance Award in the large agents/brokers category. The award recognizes firms whose employees give them high marks in areas such as leadership, planning, corporate culture and communication, role satisfaction, work environment, relationship with supervisors, and training and development.

Reiff graduated from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing.

About Lockton

More than 3,800 professionals at Lockton provide more than 15,000 clients around the world with insurance, benefits, surety and risk management services, offering an uncommon level of client service. From its founding in 1966 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, Lockton has grown to become the largest privately held insurance broker in the world and 10th largest overall. You can learn more at www.lockton.com.

Hundreds of you already contacted Senators Scott Brown and John Kerry in support of federal funding to deliver education reform and save teacher jobs. But kids are counting on us to keep the pressure on until the Senate votes!

If you haven’t taken action yet – please take 30 seconds to send an email to Senators Brown and Kerry right now: www.stand.org/ma/actionalert!

Next, please call Senators Brown and Kerry at the switchboard for the U.S. Congress at 202-224-3121. Ask the switchboard operator to connect you - and once you are connected let the staff person know you are a Massachusetts resident asking the Senator to:

• Sign a letter by U.S. Senator Evan Bayh and 12 other Senators urging fellow members of Congress to support education reform, the Race to the Top Initiative, and help avert state and local teacher layoffs and education cuts.

• Vote YES for school reform, Race to the Top and up to $450 million for Massachusetts schools. This includes $250 million that Massachusetts could get if our state is a winner in the “Race to the Top” competition and $200 million that could avert teacher layoffs, mitigate education funding cuts across the state, expand high-quality charter schools and be invested in our teachers.

This is your chance to ask our Senators to support children and schools by prioritizing both education reform initiatives like Race to the Top AND funding needed to avert teacher layoffs and job cuts in education. Learn more here.

Standing with you for children,

Meg Ansara
Chief Operating Officer

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Sports has called for removal of all elderly people heading the country’s sports bodies, while criticising people like Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt for ruining the sport in the country.

Referring to 72-year-old Butt, the committee’s chairman Iqbal Muhammad Ali said: “Elderly people sitting in PCB have ruined the cricket. Six captains have been changed in just a year.”

“Persons over 65 years of age should not be part of any sports body,” The News quoted Ali, as saying.

During a meeting of the committee, he also demanded disbanding of the Pakistan Olympics Association’s (POA) executive committee due to its complete failure to handle issues. (ANI)

New staff, program and infrastructure investments position Southface to respond to rising local, regional and national interest in clean energy solutions

Southface is pleased to announce that Michael Halicki will join the organization next month as the organization’s first chief operating officer. Mr. Halicki, a respected public policy and communications strategist, comes to Southface from the Atlanta-based public affairs consulting firm Ahmann, Inc. where his roster of current and past clients includes the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Energy Foundation, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Institute of Technology, Livable Communities Coalition, Mothers & Others for Clean Air and the Transit Planning Board.

Prior to Ahmann, Mr. Halicki held senior leadership roles for two Georgia-based environmental nonprofits, the Clean Air Campaign and the Georgia Conservancy. He holds a graduate degree in nonprofit management from Georgia State’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and an undergraduate degree from Indiana University. Mr. Halicki is also a graduate of the Regional Leadership Institute, a leadership program designed to prepare metro Atlanta’s leaders for the specific challenges facing the region. In 2006, he was selected by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of 40 “Up and Comers” under the age of 40.

The chief operating officer, a newly created position at Southface, reports to the organization’s executive director, Dennis Creech. The position is charged with providing the executive director and the organization’s senior management team with best-in-class management practices and operational support as they pursue an ambitious new set of sustainability, green building, and energy-efficiency initiatives.

“Michael is an outstanding addition to the Southface management team,” said Dennis Creech, executive director of Southface. “With his broad range of work in energy and environmental issues, his extensive nonprofit management experience and reputation for completing tough assignments, Michael will make immediate contributions to Southface’s daily operations and business processes.”


Southface Gains Significant Momentum

Southface, the Southeast’s nonprofit leader in the promotion of sustainable homes, workplaces and communities, has experienced rapid growth over the past two years, driven both by stimulus funds and market forces. The organization’s base of support has grown by approximately one and a half million dollars and its staff has nearly doubled, totaling 70 full time and part time staff and an annual budget of approximately five million dollars. The Southface staff includes an impressive roster of building scientists, engineers, architects, construction industry professionals and educators all dedicated to Southface’s vision of a more energy-efficient and sustainable future.

To accommodate this growth and to respond to rising interest in clean energy solutions, recent promotions and additions have been made to Southface’s senior management team, which now includes:

    * Laura Capps, Director of Residential Green Building Services
    * Michael Halicki, Chief Operating Officer
    * Angie Hunter, Director of Development
    * Brandon Jones, Director of Commercial Building Services
    * Gray Kelly, Director of Sustainable Development and Communities
    * Judy Knight, Director of Marketing and Public Relations
    * Robert Reed, Director of Sustainable Communities Design
    * Dr. Sydney Roberts, Director of Southface Home Services

In addition, Southface has invested extensively in both classroom and online education programs to address the burgeoning demand for green building skills and knowledge. Certification-based training for green jobs in energy efficiency, a new website with a searchable online library and an Online Tour of the Southface Eco Office provide additional valuable learning resources.

Meeting the Needs of Policymakers and Construction Industry Professionals In response to increased demand from policymakers, design and construction professionals, and consumers, Southface has also:

    * Made available extensive building performance data from its award-winning LEED® Platinum Eco Office to the building research community for the purpose of studying next generation green building techniques and approaches.
    * Implemented a Southeast Weatherization and Energy Efficiency Training (SWEET) Center which in the last six months has trained more than 500 individuals for green jobs in home weatherization, green building and energy auditing.
    * Launched a Green and Healthy Schools initiative to assist Georgia schools to cut their energy and water costs and enhance their indoor air quality.

(Jul. 19) Fort Worth, Texas-based ECi Software Solutions announced Trevor Gruenewald has been appointed chief operating officer.

Gruenewald joined the ECi team in January 2009 as senior VP and general manager for DDMS and the Office Equipment divisions. His list of responsible business units grew to include Britannia, Team Design, OMD and La Crosse.

“His contributions to these organizations, and ECi as a whole, were quickly apparent in the first few months he was with us,” said Ron Books, president and CEO of ECi. “Trevor takes a very customer-focused approach. This customer-focused approach is consistent across all of ECi’s new executive team and has been adopted by all of ECi’s employees.”

ECi supplies business management and e-commerce systems software in industries including LBM and hardware.

(Source: Datamonitor)trackingSolar Frontier Americas, a subsidiary of Solar Frontier, has appointed Gregory Ashley as vice president and COO of its operations across the Americas.

Mr Ashley will oversee sales and marketing in North and South America and is responsible for commercializing the company's CIS thin-film solar photovoltaic technology.

He joins Solar Frontier Americas from Canadian Solar, where he recently held the position of president, US division, and was responsible for US sales and marketing and supporting the growth of emerging global markets.

Brooks Herring, executive officer of international business at Solar Frontier, said: "Greg brings nearly 30 years of experience in the energy sector and will be invaluable to Solar Frontier's emergence in the North American and South American markets. With his expertise in solar energy systems, smart grid development and energy efficiency, Greg was our top choice to help bring to market the most bankable PV technology yet available to customers across the continents."

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- PulteGroup Inc. (PHM  8.05, -0.25, -3.01%) said Monday that Chief Operating Officer Steven Petruska will retire in line with the elimination of the COO position. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Richard Dugas Jr. will oversee Pulte's homebuilding operations under the new organizational structure. The resignation is effective Aug. 14. Pulte said it is moving to "flatten" its structure following its merger with Centex.

NEW YORK, Jul 19, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Morgan Stanley Smith Barney today announced the appointment of Managing Director James J. Tracy as Chief Operating Officer of Distribution and Development, Wealth Management in the U.S. His responsibilities will include business development, professional development, talent management and national branch services.

Mr. Tracy will report to Andy Saperstein, Head of Wealth Management in the U.S., who said, "In a career spanning over 25 years, Jim Tracy has demonstrated outstanding leadership in all aspects of wealth management. He helped build the industry's leading investment advisory business and is committed to helping financial advisors achieve the highest levels of professional development. I look forward to working with him as we continue to build Morgan Stanley Smith Barney."

Mr. Tracy most recently served at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney as Head of the Consulting Group, which has industry leading market share in investment consulting and managed money services. Previously he led National Sales, Professional Development, Marketing and Recruiting for Citigroup's Global Wealth Management division, including the former Smith Barney. He began his career as a financial advisor, and has served as a Sales Manager, Branch Manager and Regional Director.

A graduate of Marietta College, Mr. Tracy is serving as 2010 Chairman of the Managed Money Institute, and is a frequent contributor to industry conferences as a speaker and writer.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, a global leader in wealth management, provides access to a wide range of products and services to individuals, businesses and institutions, including brokerage and investment advisory services, financial and wealth planning, credit and lending, cash management, annuities and insurance, retirement and trust services. For further information about Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, please visit www.morganstanleysmithbarney.com.

Morgan Stanley (MS 27.00, +0.20, +0.75%) is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 1,300 offices in 42 countries. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

Murgo Adds COO Responsibilities to his Role as CFO to Manage Increasing Levels of Growth and Operational Activity

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Virtify, Inc. today announced that it has promoted John P. Murgo to the role of chief operating officer (COO), in addition to his existing responsibilities as executive vice president/chief financial officer (CFO) for the company. In his expanded role, Murgo will be managing the integration of people and processes within sales, marketing, product implementation and customer support – to enable successful alignment of product delivery and support with growing customer demand.

"The compliance and process improvement challenges that are facing life sciences companies have presented tremendous market opportunities for Virtify, and our products help customers manage the complexity of these challenges in a cost-effective and efficient manner," said Satish Tadikonda, president and CEO of Virtify. "Given these dynamic market conditions, we are very confident that John's expertise in leading teams and operations will help take us to our next level of success."

Murgo has more than 15 years of experience as a successful senior executive in the software industry. Most recently, he served as executive vice president/CFO of Acronis, a provider of scalable storage management and disaster recovery software, where he contributed to Acronis' growth from approximately $20M to $120M in revenue in two and a half years. Prior to Acronis, Murgo was EVP/CFO of OpenService (now known as LogMatrix), a provider of compliance, security and network management solutions.  Murgo has also held a variety of executive management roles including CFO of Dirig Software, CEO of Process Software and CFO/COO of HPSC, a publicly-traded company on NASDAQ.  Murgo is an alumnus of Price Waterhouse Coopers, a graduate of Bentley University and also a CPA.  He currently serves on the board of directors of IMN and Tauntr.

"Virtify is in the midst of an exciting period of growth and expansion, including the recent release of our new clinical trial disclosure software product CTRR Enterprise 2.0, and several new products on the near-term horizon," said Murgo. "I look forward to leading Virtify's operations as we develop new solutions to help life sciences companies achieve and sustain compliance, enhance productivity and accelerate time-to-market of their products."

About Virtify

Virtify is the market leader in Enterprise Content Compliance (ECC) software solutions for life sciences. Organizations rely on Virtify solutions to accelerate time-to-market, mitigate risk, and reduce costs by managing and automating the complex regulatory compliance and content exchange requirements throughout the product life cycle. Virtify's easy-to-use ECC software suite is the industry's only solution to provide a secure, collaborative web-based environment for managing regulated content throughout the entire continuum – from pre-clinical through product registration to commercialization. The company plays a leadership role in the development of global regulatory standards and is an active participant in a variety of standards committees. Virtify's software products combined with comprehensive professional services and deep domain expertise enhance quality and compliance for some of the world's leading life sciences companies. Located on the Web at www.virtify.com

Rue La La, a leading private sale destination, announced the appointment of Jeffery Marshall as chief operating officer, effective July 6, 2010. Marshall will be directly responsible for all technology, fulfillment and operations. He will report to Ben Fischman, Rue La La's CEO, at the company's Boston-based headquarters.

Rue La La is an online shopping emporium, an inspiring destination for everything associated with personal style, and a partner to brands that want to reach their business goals in creative, effective new ways. At Rue La La, Members discover 48-hour boutiques featuring a curated selection of the best names and offerings in men's and women's fashion, home, travel and other experiences, jewelry, footwear, wine, and more. This hire is reflective of Rue La La's commitment to the continued refinement of its infrastructure to maximize its offering for both members and brands.

"Jeffery Marshall is a powerful addition to the Rue La La management team. His experience in building world-class infrastructure for retail and non-retail brands makes him uniquely poised to meet the demands of this dynamic business," said Fischman. "Jeffery is adaptive and creative. He is a dynamic leader who constantly challenges himself and his team to drive results. As Rue La La's chief operating officer, he will have the opportunity to marry his experience with the energy of the private sale business, yielding an immediate impact on Rue La La's business."

Marshall comes to Rue La La from Kohl's Department Stores, where he was the company's senior vice president and chief information officer. Under his leadership, Kohl's executed a transformation of its Information Services division, helping to drive collaboration and efficiency across its different business units. Marshall's team implemented numerous technology systems within Kohl's, including point of sale, merchandise planning and allocation markdown optimization, warehouse management and distribution, e-commerce transaction marketing, call center and fulfillment, credit account management, collection and human resources.

From 1996 to 2005, Marshall served in different executive roles with Men's Wearhouse, including senior vice president and chief information officer, president of the Corporate Apparel Division, vice president and chief information officer and vice president of Information and Technology. Prior to joining Men's Wearhouse, Marshall founded Icon Network Services, a network services consulting company. In his career, he also served as the executive vice president and COO of Johnson Controls' Network Services division and as a senior executive with United Telecom/Sprint, where he helped build United Telecom's deregulated data communications division.

He is the past chairman of the National Retail Federation's CIO Council and is a member of the SAS and Hewlett-Packard Customer Advisory Councils.

Texas-based ECi Software Solutions announced Trevor Gruenewald has been appointed chief operating officer.

Gruenewald joined the ECi team in January 2009 as senior VP and general manager for DDMS and the Office Equipment divisions. His list of responsible business units grew to include Britannia, Team Design, OMD and La Crosse.

“His contributions to these organizations, and ECi as a whole, were quickly apparent in the first few months he was with us,” said Ron Books, president and CEO of ECi. “Trevor takes a very customer-focused approach. This customer-focused approach is consistent across all of ECi’s new executive team and has been adopted by all of ECi’s employees.”

ECi supplies business management and e-commerce systems software in industries including LBM and hardware.

July 13, 2010 (FinancialWire) — Absolute Software Corp. (TSX: ABT) said that Rob Chase is moving from his position as chief financial officer of the company to take on the role of chief operating officer. Joining Absolute is Errol Olsen, who has been appointed CFO.

As COO, Chase will be…

PulteGroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Richard Dugas will take over responsibility for homebuilding operations after Chief Operating Officer Steven Petruska leaves the company Aug. 14.

The COO position is being eliminated, PulteGroup said today in a statement announcing Petruska, 51, would retire after 26 years with the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based builder. Pulte became the largest U.S. residential developer by sales when it bought Dallas-based Centex Corp. for $3.3 billion last year.

“With the Centex merger integration essentially complete, we are electing to flatten PulteGroup’s structure,” Dugas said in the statement.

New home sales fell after the deadline to qualify for a federal tax credit expired. Contracts had to be signed by April 30. U.S. new home sales dropped 33 percent to the lowest level on record in May, the Commerce Department said June 23.

PulteGroup said May 5 it closed 3,795 home sales in the first quarter of this year, down 30 percent from the 5,440 sales Pulte and Centex reported separately during the same period of 2009.

PulteGroup’s shares fell 12 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $7.93 at 4:01 p.m. New York time on the New York Stock Exchange.

“I have had an amazing journey with PulteGroup,” Petruska said in the statement. “Given that we are ahead of schedule with many of our merger activities and our key business initiatives are on track, this is the right time for me to retire.”

DENVER, Jul 19, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- TransMontaigne Partners L.P. (TLP  35.06, +0.24, +0.69%)  and TransMontaigne Inc. are pleased to announce that on July 12, 2010, Ronald A. (Randy) Majors joined TransMontaigne as Senior Vice President-Business Development. Randy will be responsible for the day to day commercial activities for TLP and the acquisition of terminals and other assets.

Prior to joining the Company, from December 2009 to February 2010, Mr. Majors served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Pipestream, a technology company focused on creating new materials and construction methods for the pipeline industry. Prior to Pipestream, from May 2006 to December 2009, Mr. Majors served as President and Chief Operating Officer of SemGroup Europe Holdings, LLC, and Executive Director of SemEuro Limited, both divisions of SemGroup LP. From January 1998 to April 2006, Mr. Majors worked for The Williams Companies in various business development capacities, and served as the Chairman of the Board of AB Mazeikiai Nafta, from September 2000 to October 2002, and Mr. Majors served as President of Williams International Company from May 2002 to May 2003. From June 1983 to December 1997, Mr. Majors was employed at Conoco, Inc. in various executive positions responsible for numerous commercial ventures, as well as exploration and development projects in Russia, Norway, Indonesia, Vietnam, Dubai, Nigeria, as well as the U.S.

Mr. Majors holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University and executive training experience from the Wharton School of Business.

TransMontaigne Partners L.P. and TransMontaigne Inc. are also pleased to announce that on July 12, 2010, Rob Fuller joined the Company and will assume the position of Chief Accounting Officer effective January 1, 2011. Deborah A. Davis, current Chief Accounting Officer, announced her intention to leave the Company to spend more time with her family and will transition Mr. Fuller into the position during the next six months.

Mr. Fuller brings a wealth of financial accounting experience to TransMontaigne having spent the last 13 years with KPMG in their New York Department of Professional Practice and the Denver office. Mr. Fuller has provided auditing services to a variety of entities throughout his 17-year career that includes large public companies, large federal and state governments, regulated enterprises and private entities. Mr. Fuller has a BA in Political Science from Fort Lewis College and a Master's in Accounting from the University of Colorado.

About TransMontaigne Partners L.P.

TransMontaigne Partners L.P. is a terminaling and transportation company based in Denver, Colorado with operations primarily in the United States along the Gulf Coast, in the Midwest, in Brownsville, Texas, along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and in the Southeast. We provide integrated terminaling, storage, transportation and related services for customers engaged in the distribution and marketing of light refined petroleum products, heavy refined petroleum products, crude oil, chemicals, fertilizers and other liquid products. Light refined products include gasolines, diesel fuels, heating oil and jet fuels; heavy refined products include residual fuel oils and asphalt. We do not purchase or market products that we handle or transport. News and additional information about TransMontaigne Partners L.P. is available on our website: www.transmontaignepartners.com.

GLENPOOL, Okla., Jul 19, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- US Highland, Inc. (UHLN  0.90, 0.00, 0.00%) a U.S. based designer and manufacturer of high performance, premium quality Motocross, Supermoto, Quad and Enduro motorcycles, announced today that the Company has appointed new Directors to its Board of Directors, and subsequently, new officers to its management team. The appointments are to replace the three members of the executive management team that were recently killed in a plane crash. The three individuals were Mats Malmberg, a member of the Board of Directors and President of the Company, Chase Bales, also a member of the Board of Directors and Chief Operating Officer, and Damian Riddoch, Chief Financial Officer.

Effective July 13, 2010, the two new members of the Company's Board of Directors are Christer Wagenius and J. Darin Long. They were both appointed to fill a vacancy on the Board of Directors, and will serve with the Board Chairman, Bengt Andersson, until successors are elected or until the next annual meeting of our shareholders. Christer Wagenius, age 69, is a partner in the business law firm of Advokatfirman Wagenius & Partners HB, in Helsingborg, Sweden. J. Darin Long, age 44, is the Director of Asia for Highland Group AB, VP of US Highland with direct responsibility for Sales and Marketing, Business Development and Investor Relations. Mr. Long is also an Executive Director of Millennial Research Corporation.

The new officer appointments include J. Darin Long, who will serve as Chief Operating Officer, Martin Lind, who will serve as Vice President of Operations and Michael La Lond, who will serve as Interim Chief Financial Officer. Martin Lind, age 36, has been the Director of Product Development and Research and Development at Highland Group AB, and US Highland, Inc., since 2008. He has also been the Director of Development and Lead Engineer at Highland Group AB since 2006. Michael La Lond, age 60, is the Director of Management Consulting at Southbridge Advisory Group, a management services and consulting firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"Even though it is hard to fill Mats, Chase and Damian's shoes, Darin and Martin have been involved with operations, marketing, and business development for our Company from the start, and are driving forces in the company and very knowledgeable of the industry. Michael brings significant public company and transition team experience in corporate accounting, and as a financial officer. They were all a natural choice," commented Dr. Steven A. Moell, Chief Executive Officer of US Highland, Inc. "We will continue to grow US Highland into one of the most successful powersports companies in the U.S.," continued Dr. Moell.

Bengt Andersson, Chairman of US Highland, stated that "It is hard to fill positions such as this, but we are fortunate that Mats and Chase had worked to keep Martin and Darin so well informed and broadly engaged at Highland. We have great confidence in our ability to execute on our business strategy."

About US Highland, Inc.

US Highland, Inc., is a US based designer and manufacturer of high performance, premium quality Motocross, Supermoto, Quad and Enduro motorcycles. The Company is also a leading development and engineering partner for leading OEM's around the world. For additional information concerning US Highland Inc., visit www.ushighland.com.

Executive vice president and chief operating officer of Cardinal Financial, a financial institution headquartered in McLean.

Her heart was set on being an equestrian until a family member's horseback-riding accident made Alice Frazier start to reconsider. She changed her major to accounting and eventually landed in the world of public accounting. After rising though the ranks to become an executive at different banks, she eventually got the call from Cardinal Financial.

In accounting, what was your strongest skill?

I was always very inquisitive going into the various businesses because I wanted to know how they worked, especially in the commercial banking world. I would always spend a lot of time understanding how businesses grew their revenue, what their biggest source of revenue was and so on. In all my different jobs I would dig in and learn as much as I could to get a very strong grasp of how the company works.

It's not uncommon, if my husband and I are driving down the road and see a business, for me to wonder what that business does. I would go home and Google them to see what they do. It's a general curiosity for how things work.

At one bank, you got promoted to chief financial officer in just a year. What do you think it was they saw in you?

I always had very strong work ethic and I always challenged the possibilities.

I remember we were trying to change the operating system of a company. People were saying the timeline was too short to do it. But I saw that the opportunity was there. I encouraged us to go forward. It doesn't mean that there wasn't a tremendous amount of effort. At the end of it, we were able to convert the system, bringing the company into a position where it was able to move forward and benefit its clients.

You have said team building is your strongest leadership quality. What have you found it takes to build a great team?

It requires a lot of communication and a lot of give and take. When I meet with folks, I always like to understand what I or the company can do for them to make them better.

The team has to know that you truly care about them as individuals and as a group. Sometimes when you've been working at a company, you forget why you came.

I recently called a meeting with the team and kicked it off by asking how long they had been there and why they joined the company. At first, you could almost see people wanting to roll their eyes, but as we went around the room, I got the sense that everyone wanted to join the company because they wanted to be a part of a great thing. From that, we've been able to build a great bank. Even though everyone got along and worked together, it reminded them that they were all there for the same thing.

What was the best career advice you have received?

In the world of sales, there can be a profound cycle of highs and lows. When I was insecure about moving into a sales role for the first time, the regional president told me to believe in myself -- not in an egotistical way, but believe that I can achieve things. It's about possibilities.

Hasbro Inc. (HAS) said it's comfortable with the current inventory levels of its retail customers, but that tight shipping capacity and shortages of shipping containers are concerns.

Chief Operating Officer David Hargreaves said during a conference call Monday that the toy ...

NEW YORK, Jul 19, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Carver Bancorp, Inc. ("Carver" or the "Company") (CARV  6.07, -0.66, -9.74%) , the holding company for Carver Federal Savings Bank, announced that Susan Tohbe, Partner of Peterson County LLC., Colbert Narcisse, CEO of Gold Bullion International, and Janet Rolle, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer of BET Networks, have been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors effective August 2, 2010.

"The Carver Board is pleased to announce the appointment of these three exceptional business leaders as we work to ensure that Carver remains a strong and trusted resource in the urban communities that we serve," said Robert Holland, Lead Independent Director of Carver. "Their collective experiences will be of tremendous value to our Board as we steer the Company through this very difficult period in our economy."

The appointments bring the total number of Directors at Carver Bancorp, Inc. and Carver Federal Savings Bank to nine. The Carver Board is currently determining which Committees each will serve.

Susan Tohbe is a partner with Peterson County LLC, a real estate investment and management company. Prior to joining Peterson in 2001, Ms. Tohbe was Chief Financial Officer of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. Previously, Ms. Tohbe was CFO at J.M. Huber Corporation, and Senior Vice President, World Banking Group of Bank of America. Ms. Tohbe performed senior financial duties as CFO of The Oakland Tribune, in the Treasury Department of Crown Zellerbach, and Assistant Treasurer at Norton Simon. Ms. Tohbe has served on the boards of the California Public Employees Retirement System ("CalPERS"), Mills College, San Francisco Ballet, and Catalyst. Ms. Tohbe holds an M.B.A and B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley

Colbert Narcisse is CEO of Gold Bullion International ("GBI"), a precious metals asset management company. Prior to joining GBI in 2009, Mr. Narcisse held several executive positions at Merrill Lynch including Chief Operating Officer of Americas Investment Banking and Chief Administrative Officer of Global Wealth Management. Previously, he was a Managing Director in Investment Banking focusing on financial institutions. Mr. Narcisse is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and the Economic Club of New York. He serves as an Audit Committee member for the New York City Housing Authority and on the board of Harlem RBI, an East Harlem based education non-profit organization. Mr. Narcisse holds an M.B.A from Harvard Business School and B.S. in Finance from New York University.

Janet Rolle is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of BET Networks. Before joining BET Networks in 2007, Ms. Rolle was Vice President and General Manager of AOL's affinity websites, AOL Black Voices and the 10 websites in AOL Women's & Lifestyle category. Ms. Rolle was previously Vice President, Programming Enterprises and Business Development at MTV Networks, responsible for growing revenue at VH1 and Country Music Television. Ms. Rolle began her career at Home Box Office ("HBO"), holding positions including Special Assistant to the Chairman, and Director of Marketing and New Media, for the video division of HBO. Ms. Rolle holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. from the State University of New York, Purchase.

About Carver Bancorp, Inc.

Carver Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company for Carver Federal Savings Bank, a federally chartered stock savings bank. Carver Federal Savings Bank, the largest African- and Caribbean-American run bank in the United States operates nine full-service branches in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.carverbank.com.

Toy maker Hasbro Inc.'s second-quarter profit rose 11 percent as a 7 percent drop in revenue was offset by an even bigger drop in costs. Here chief operating officer David Hargreaves discusses emerging markets.

QUESTION: International sales were pretty good especially considering the strength of Transformers last year, can you talk emerging markets versus Western Europe and where you were strong and where it wasn't as strong?

RESPONSE: "We've invested pretty heavily getting into Brazil and China, we've opened offices in Peru, Chile and some of the Eastern European Markets, we opened an office in Romania this year. So clearly we're getting higher growth rates in these markets, but they're still relatively small compared to Western Europe. ...

Mexico was one of the worst places last year because of the economy, because of the bird flu and a number of other reasons, and Mexico has bounced back pretty well."

Your company probably has a CEO, CFO, and CMO. But what it might need is a CKO, a chief killing officer

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      Do you need a hief killing officer?

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      Police chief beheaded in north Mexico

      The headless bodies of a police chief and another man presumed to be a police officer turned up in the trunk of a police car in north Mexico, local justice officials said on Friday.The bodies of the police chief of Agualeguas town, in Nuevo Leon state, and the apparent officer were found in the abandoned car on Friday, prosecutor Alejandro Garza told journalists."We assume that the crime is linked to organized crime, due to the savagery of the killing," Garza said.
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      US - TECHNOLOGY: Yahoo!'s chief financial officer leaves the company

      The new executive chief of Yahoo!, Carol Bartz, announced Thursday that she was shaking up the Internet pioneer's management structure, not long after it was announced that chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen was leaving the company.
    *
      Microsoft's chief financial officer to step down

      Microsoft's chief financial officer is departing at the end of the year. He'll be replaced by Peter Klein, who is currently the top finance officer for the division that produces Office.
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      Baidu said its Chief Technology Officer Yinan Li resigned for personal reasons, just ten days after the search engine's chief operating officer also resigned citing personal reasons.
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      Three women among six killed in Iraq attack

      Unknown attackers on Wednesday broke into a house and slit the throats of two women in a brutal Iraqi killing in which four other people including a teenage girl were gunned down, police said.The incident occurred in Mashada, 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Baghdad, and, although the motive was unclear, a police officer based in nearby Tarmiyah said the victims may have been the targets of an "honour killing.""Some of the men killed were members of the Sahwa (Awakening)," a militia founded by the US army, said the officer, who gave the toll on condition of anonymity.
    *
      Splinter IRA group claims police killing

      Continuity IRA, a breakaway republican group opposed to Sinn Féin, has claimed responsibility for Monday night's killing of a police officer which has rocked the province's power sharing administration
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      P&G set to replace Lafley as chief executive

      The board of the world's largest consumer goods company is meeting amid speculation that it will approve the naming of Robert McDonald, the company's chief operating officer, as its new chief
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      Apple gives chief operating officer $5M bonus

      SEATTLE (AP) -- Apple Inc. is giving its chief operating officer a $5 million bonus for "outstanding performance" running the company while CEO Steve Jobs was on medical leave....
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      Apple gives chief operating officer $5M bonus (AP)

      Apple Inc. is giving its chief operating officer a $5 million bonus for "outstanding performance" running the company while CEO Steve Jobs was on medical leave.

Summary: MACAU – Viva Macau has appointed Con Korfiatis as the new chief executive.He takes over Andrew Pyne, who resigned earlier this month.As Viva Macau’s incumbent chief operating officer and chief financial officer, he … Tags: ghd iv styler ghd iv ghd iv chief macau officer mk4 ghd has viva helped mk4 ghd MACAU – Viva Macau has appointed Con Korfiatis as the new chief executive.He takes over Andrew Pyne, who resigned earlier this month.As Viva Macau’s incumbent chief operating officer and chief financial officer, he brings with him, 17 years of senior management experience.Korfiatis has helped to set up Qantas’ Singapore based budget airline, Jetstar Asia and was their first chief executive there from late 2004 until early 2005.

Valerie Grey, who until recently was director of state operations for the Paterson Administration, is going to the state Education Department as Chief Operating Officer, starting Aug. 23.

She’ll earn $176,000 in the new job.

Here are the details from SED:

    The Board of Regents today approved the appointment of Valerie Grey to serve as the State Education Department’s (SED) Chief Operating Officer. The appointment becomes effective on August 23rd.

    Most recently, Ms. Grey served as Governor Paterson’s Director of State Operations, where she oversaw the day-to-day operations of the State.  In that capacity, she planned, directed, and coordinated the operations of 80 Executive state agencies.

    State Education Commissioner David M. Steiner said, “I am delighted that Valerie will be joining us at the Education Department. Especially during these challenging fiscal times, it is critical that we have someone like Valerie – who comes to us with years of public sector administrative experience – helping to manage the operations of the Department. She is a strategic thinker with a proven track record of successfully overseeing large organizations.”

    As SED’s Chief Operating Officer, reporting to the Commissioner, Ms. Grey will be the Department’s senior manager for operations and will work closely with all members of the senior management team, including the Deputy Commissioner for Operations and Management Services.  One of her first priorities will be to align SED operations and budgets in order to advance the Regents reform agenda and produce defined educational outcomes.  She will help to strengthen SED program offices’ ability to carry out their work and to create new approaches to achieving their goals in an environment of limited resources, streamline internal processes, and work with SED staff to implement strategies that measurably increase SED efficiency.

    Prior to her service as Director of State Operations, Ms. Grey was the First Deputy Secretary to the Governor and was instrumental in the development of the Office of Taxpayer Accountability. She also served as the Assistant Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services, where she played a key role in the development of the state’s health and human services policies. Ms. Grey’s other public sector experience included service in the Department of Health, the Office of the State Comptroller, and the New York State Assembly.

    Ms. Grey holds an A.A.S. in Accounting from Schenectady County Community College; a B.A. in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany; and an M.A. in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — J. Gary Shansby, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Tequila Partida ─ the world’s top-rated tequila ─ announced today the appointment of Kevin Moodie as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, US effective immediately. “Since we launched Partida six years ago we have been on course with our sales projections and growth,” said Mr. Shansby. “With Kevin driving the sales team and with me being able to focus more on the marketing and managing the total company, I’m confident we’re now ready to take Partida to the next level in terms of our market position in the ultra premium tequila category and annual case sales.”

Kevin Moodie was formerly president of Scottish & Newcastle Importers. He took Newcastle Brown Ale from 300,000 cases in 1991 to over seven million cases by 2008, growing the premium ale brand from an obscure, cult product to the number one imported ale in the US. Kevin left when the parent company was acquired by Heineken N.V. and Carlsberg Breweries A/S, and the US subsidiary shut down. “Kevin has a proven track record of taking a premium brand from boutique status to a major national stage,” continued Mr. Shansby. “Partida is on the cusp of this very same transition and with Kevin’s experience, industry knowledge, management skill, and relationships he is the perfect executive to strengthen our company and organization to insure profitable, accelerated growth.”

“I’m looking forward to the challenge of driving Partida’s growth during this important stage of the brand’s development,” said Kevin. “Partida is a superior product, wins all taste tests and is loved by America’s best bartenders. We’re ready to convert that equity into case sales on a larger scale without sacrificing what Partida stands for as a brand.”

About Tequila Partida

Tequila Partida (www.partidatequila.com) is an authentic, all-natural, estate-grown ultra-premium Tequila, made from 100% blue agave in the Tequila Valley, the heart of Mexico’s historic Tequila region. From cultivation and harvest to cooking, distillation and aging, Tequila Partida maintains exceptional standards of quality and consistency. F. Paul Pacult, the leading spirits authority in America, recently rated Tequila Partida Reposado as the best tequila in the world, and one of the top five spirits in the world. Tequila Partida produces four distinctive Tequilas: Blanco (not aged), Reposado (aged six months), Añejo (aged 18 months) and Elegante (aged 36 — 40 months). Tequila Partida is now distributed in Australia, Mexico and the United Kingdom, as well as Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Washington, DC and Washington.

Tenneco Inc. (NYSE: TEN) today announced that Hari Nair has been named to the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective immediately. In this role, Nair will be responsible for Tenneco’s operations globally, reporting to Gregg Sherrill, Tenneco chairman and CEO.

Nair, 50, has been serving as the company’s president, International Group, since March 2007, responsible for the company’s operations in Europe, South America, India and Asia- Pacific. He was named to Tenneco’s Board of Directors in March 2009.

“Tenneco is creating the Chief Operating Officer position as part of our continuing effort to better serve customers by increasing global coordination and driving synergies across all our businesses,” Sherrill said. “Hari has extensive global experience and has done a great job integrating our International Group operations, which accounted for 55 percent of Tenneco’s revenues in 2009. He is the right leader to meet our goal of integrating our operations by bringing together all our regions, supply chain management and manufacturing into one global organization.”

The company also announced the promotion of Josep Fornos, 57, to the newly created position of senior vice president, Europe, South America and India. Fornos, who has been vice president and general manager, European original equipment (OE) emission control, since March 2007, will now have responsibility for the company’s OE and aftermarket business operations in these regions. Fornos will report to Nair and be based in Tenneco’s European headquarters in Brussels.

Also reporting to Nair will be:

    * Neal Yanos, executive vice president, North America;
    * Michael Charlton, senior vice president, global supply chain management and manufacturing;
    * Patrick Guo, vice president and managing director, China;
    * Jeff Jarrell, vice president and managing director, Japan;
    * Laurence Bukoh, general manager, ASEAN and Korea; and,
    * Mike Shnier, managing director, Australia and New Zealand.

With the exception of Fornos, the current scope of responsibilities for each of Nair’s direct reports will remain unchanged.

Enrique Orta, 38, will replace Fornos as vice president and general manager, European OE emission control. Orta, who had been executive director, operations, European emission control, since February, 2008, will report to Fornos and be based at the company’s European emissions control headquarters in Edenkoben, Germany.

Other than the structural changes and appointments announced today, there are no further changes in existing reporting relationships to Gregg Sherrill.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Hari Nair – Before his most recent assignment as president, International Group, Nair served as executive vice president and managing director for Tenneco’s business in Europe, South America and India. In this position, he led a turnaround of the company’s European business significantly improving operational performance. Nair was previously managing director and general manager for Tenneco South America and for Tenneco Asia, where he established many of the company’s operations. Nair joined Tenneco Automotive in 1987 as manager of business planning, focusing on the company's early international expansion projects. He has a degree in engineering from Bradley University and an MBA in finance and international business from the University of Notre Dame.

Josep Fornos – Fornos joined Tenneco in 2000 as vice president and general manager, original equipment ride control, Europe, where he strengthened the company’s competitiveness in the ride control segment by focusing on advanced technology and improving Tenneco’s manufacturing footprint in Eastern Europe. He was promoted to his most recent position as vice president and general manager, European original equipment emission control in 2007. Prior to joining Tenneco in 2000, Fornos spent a year at Lear Corporation as general manager of the company’s seating and wire and harness business in France, following Lear’s acquisition of United Technologies Automotive. Fornos spent 16 years with United Technologies Automotive, holding several management positions in production, engineering and quality control in Spain, and later having Europe-wide responsibility for engineering and quality control. Fornos has a degree in electrical engineering from Polytechnic University, Barcelona, and an MBA from the IESE, Barcelona.

Enrique Orta – In his most recent role as executive director, operations, European emission control, Orta has been responsible for directing all manufacturing activities at the company’s emission control plants in Europe, including South Africa. He joined Tenneco in August 1995 as financial controller and HR manager at the company’s newly acquired Valencia, Spain emission control plant. He has held various positions in the operations group since 1999, including Valencia plant manager and regional director of Tenneco’s South Europe operations. In 2005, Orta was named program director for the company’s European emission control business, which he held until being promoted to his most recent position in February 2008. Orta has a degree in economics and business administration from the University of Valencia, and a MBA from Cambridge University.

Tenneco is a $4.6 billion global manufacturing company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois and approximately 21,000 employees worldwide. Tenneco is one of the world’s largest designers, manufacturers and marketers of emission control and ride control products and systems for the automotive original equipment market and the aftermarket. Tenneco markets its products principally under the Monroe®, Walker®, Gillet™ and Clevite®Elastomer brand names.

Scott Hamilton
Aviation Industry Expert

Posted: 10:04 am PDT July 18, 2010Updated: 10:09 am PDT July 18, 2010

FARNBOROUGH, England -- The ever-ebullient John Leahy, COO-Customers, Airbus, predicted he will end the Farnborough Air Show with double the orders from the first-half of the year.

Speaking to an international group of journalists Saturday in advance of the show, Leahy said he bet EADS CEO Louis Gallous that Airbus will end the show with double the 131 orders booked through June 30. Airbus received the orders from 15 customers, but Leahy did not predict how many customers will announce orders at the show.

Boeing has already tamped down expectations about order announcements. Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s VP of Martketing, told reporters Thursday in a teleconference not to expect many orders. He said Boeing announces orders throughout the year rather than holding them for air shows.

“We believe we will have significant orders to announce from leasing companies over the next week,” Leahy said.

Steve Udvar-Hazy, former CEO of mega-lessor International Lease Finance Corp., just announced he has funded his new company, Air Lease Corp., and one of the orders Leahy alluded to is expected to come from Hazy. A month ago, market sources said Hazy had a letter of intent with Airbus for 20 firm and 20 options for the A320, but this was then—what is true now may be different now that Hazy has $3.3 billion to play with.

FARNBOROUGH 2010
Seattle aviation industry consultant 
Scott Hamilton is attending the Farnborough 
International Airshow 2010 and filing reports
 for KIRO 7 and kirotv.com.

President and CEO Pappas Christopher James purchased 88,134 additional shares (@$4.95)reported on 07/15/2010 in addition to his 27,998 shares purchased on 06/29/10.

Chief Operating Officer (PAPPAS HARRIS J) has also been on a buying spree since announcing their win of Fuddruckers. 07/15/2010 88,134shares purhcased @ 4.95 and 27,998 shares @3.84 on 06/29/10.

“It is a funny thing about life: If you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it.” – Somerset Maugham

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Associations

Andy Yant, owner of P.E.S.T. Inc., was elected president-designate of the Tennessee Pest Control Association.

Loraine Segovia Paz was awarded as the Women in Business Advocate of the Year from the Small Business Administration. She owns Hispanic Paper Publishing Group and La Noticia newspaper.

Gil Veda was presented with the Arts & Entrepreneurship Advocate of the Year award from the Small Business Administration. He owns Publishers International and World Art Network.

Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce received the Minority Small Business Champion of the Year award from the Small Business Administration.

Education

The Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tenn., selected Raymond S. Broadhead as head of school. He has more than 35 years of experience in independent education.

Financial services

InsBank has promoted Jason Stout to assistant vice president/information systems manager. Stout joined the IT team at InsBank in 2009 and previously served as IT officer.

Bryant "Buck" W. Freeman joined the Brentwood office of Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain PC. Buck has a bachelor's degree from Western Carolina University and earned an MBA from Tennessee Tech University.

Government

Mel Bass will serve as legislative director in U.S. Congressman Jim Cooper's Washington office. Bass was director of federal affairs for Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

The Government Finance Officers Association gave the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting to the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority.

The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority named Monty Burgess as executive vice president and chief operating officer. Burgess was formerly senior vice president and chief operating officer.

Health care

Jill Austin was named assistant vice chancellor for strategic marketing and chief marketing officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She had been chief marketing officer.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Robert Ossoff, M.D., was elected president-elect of the American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society.

Wayne J. Riley, M.D., M.B.A., joined the Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. board as a director. Riley is president and CEO of Meharry Medical College.

Sten Vermund, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health, received the Alumni Lifetime Achievement award from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Zachary Warren, Ph.D., has been named director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD) and of autism clinical services for Vanderbilt Pediatrics' Division of Developmental Medicine.

The Greater Nashville Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced:

Tina Hamilton has been promoted to chief development officer. Hamilton had been development director.

Stacey Parker-Nelson has been named director of education. Parker-Nelson had been a resource navigator for Windsor Medicare Extra.

Kaleigh Cantrell Black has been named development associate. Black had worked in the medical field.

Keith Belton has joined Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center as the development director. He was director of corporate and foundation relations at Fisk University.

Harsh K. Trivedi, M.D., has become the executive medical director and chief of staff at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital. He is the consulting editor of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America.

Avni Cirpili, R.N., M.S.N., has become the chief nursing officer at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital. Cirpili had been on the staff at Ohio State University's Harding Hospital.

The Nashville Health Care Council announced the Leadership Health Care officers and five new directors for 2010-11.

Melissa Waddey, chief operating officer, Summit Medical Center, HCA/TriStar Health System, serves as chairman for 2010-11 and Chris Bangerter, chief compliance officer, LifePoint Hospitals, will be vice chair.

Board members include:

Frazer Buntin, president and CEO, Silvercare Solutions

Kipp Kranbuhl, director, Gladstone Capital

Maggie Spalding, vice president, Alliant Healthcare Solutions

Beth Workman, chief accounting officer, DSI Renal

Re-elected members include:

Bo Bartholomew, president and chief executive officer, PharmMD

Jim Kinser, director, provider networks, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee

Angela Humphreys, member, Bass, Berry & Sims law firm

Mark Wainner, vice president, AmSurg

Music

Colonel Ray Henson was named national marketing director for the Christian Country Music Association. Henson had worked for Blockbuster/Viacom Entertainment.

Jordyn Thomas was promoted to senior director of A&R for Provident Music Group.

Nonprofits

The Rotary Club of Nashville announced its 2010-11 board as follows:

President. Margaret O. Dolan, Ingram Industries Inc.

Vice President/President-elect, Lewis Lavine, Center for Nonprofit Management

Treasurer, Mark Lincoln, Jacques Ventures Inc.

Sergeant-at-arms, Ronald Roberts, Dye Van Mol Lawrence Inc.

Nashville Rotary Service Trust Allocation Chairman, Holly Meidl, Marsh USA

Immediate Past President, Stephen H. Horrell, Horrell Properties

Other members of the board:

Margaret Behm, Dodson, Parker, Behm & Caparella PC

Theresa Carl, LEAD Academy

Judy Cline, Caterpillar Financial Services Corp.

Susan Huggins, Direct Link Inc.

Suzanne Iler, YMCA

Dana McLendon, Capitol Advisors of Tennessee LLC

Janet Miller, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

Phil Pfeffer, Treemont Capital

Keith Simmons, Bass, Berry & Sims

Boyd Smith, Wilson Smith Commercial Real Estate

Laquita Stribling, Randstad USA

Charles Sueing, Sueing Insurance Agency

Bert Mathews, president of The Mathews Co., was named chairman of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber named its 2010-11 board as follows:

Vice Chairman — Kenny Blackburn, vice president, external affairs, AT&T

Secretary — Tom Negri, general manager, Loews Vanderbilt Hotel

President — Ralph Schulz, president, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

Immediate Past Chairman — Ron Samuels, president and CEO, Avenue Bank

General Counsel — John Tishler, partner and chairman, Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis PLLC

Services

The Data Warehousing Institute recognized Centerstone Research Institute as a 2010 Best Practices Award Winner in the government and nonprofit category.

Joe Rich was appointed as the director of distribution and logistics at Vista-Pro Automotive, LLC. Rich was general manager for Magna International.

McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations hired Elliot Steinbaum as an associate. Steinbaum graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in sociology and communications studies.

Melody J. Smiley joined the board of Franklin Synergy Bank and the bank's parent company, Franklin Financial Network. She is the founder of Smiley CPAs.

David Dahlroos was promoted to vice president of Avenue Bank.

Technology

Multi-Task Solutions hired Annie Gaffron as communications director. She attended the University of Kentucky and received a bachelor's degree in corporate communications.

This month's rollout of table games in Pennsylvania casinos is expected to be a boon for the state's tax coffers.

It's also turning into a financial windfall for Nevada-based table game providers and gambling equipment vendors.

Pennsylvania is one of three Eastern states -- along with West Virginia and Delaware -- that enacted legislative changes, allowing their once slot machine-only casinos to offer customers blackjack, craps, roulette and other table games.

In exchange for gambling expansion, casino operators pay their respective states additional fees and increased gaming taxes. The money is expected to help states dig their way out of huge budget deficits.

Wall Street estimated the three states could combine for some 1,100 tables by year's end.

The Keystone State, which accounts for about two-thirds of the new table games, is the big prize. Las Vegas gaming companies have their sights trained on the market.

"Pennsylvania was always a fantastic jurisdiction for us prior to table games being approved," Shuffle Master Gaming Chief Operating Officer David Lopez said.

The company had more than 100 electronic table games, classified as slot machines, in use at the state's nine casinos. Shuffle Master is replacing some of those electronic tables with live Let It Ride, Three Card Poker and Ultimate Texas Hold 'em tables staffed by dealers.

Electronic card shufflers and chip counters are also being used in Pennsylvania casinos.

"Now it's an even better market," Lopez said.

The nine Pennsylvania casinos began operating more than 660 table games last week. The figure will go above 700 later this year when the SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia opens with 42 table games.

Pennsylvania casinos had operated just slot machines since gambling was legalized in 2004.

The table-games bill, which Gov. Ed Rendell signed into law in early January, allows casinos to add up to 250 table games, although none of the state's casinos will reach that figure initially.

"On balance, it will be good for the people of Pennsylvania," Rendell told The Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this month.

The two largest table games locations opened today. Harrah's Chester, a racetrack casino operated by Harrah's Entertainment, has 115 table games, while Sands Bethlehem, which is owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp., has 89 games.

"Pennsylvania is kind of the mother lode," Gaming Partners International Chief Executive Officer Greg Gronau said.

The company, formerly known as Paulson Gaming, provides casinos with table game felt layouts, gaming tables, playing cards, chips, dice and other gambling products.

Last year, gaming vendors competed to place the equipment surrounding 145 table games inside Aria, CityCenter's centerpiece hotel-casino, which opened in December.

The number of table games in Pennsylvania equals nearly five Arias.

"From a volume perspective, we haven't seen an opportunity like this in quite some time," Gronau said.

Gaming Partners International told investors that orders shipped to Pennsylvania for the quarter ended June 30 yielded revenues of $4.5 million. The company expects to report additional revenues from Pennsylvania in the quarter that ends Sept. 30.

Shuffle Master, which is supplying Pennsylvania casinos with gaming equipment across its entire product line, hasn't told investors exactly how much the company expects to achieve from sales and leases.

"We've told Wall Street from the very beginning that Pennsylvania would be accretive for us," Lopez said. "We're still very comfortable in making that statement. It's going to be a very strong market."

The Las Vegas-based company's prospects have impressed Wall Street.

Morgan Joseph gaming analyst Justin Sebastiano said specialty table games, such as the titles Shuttle Master owns and distributes, could comprise one-third of the table game market in the East.

"We think Shuffle Master should be able to grab the lion's share of the specialty table games and shuffler placements, as well as earn incremental income from the placement of add-on bonus products," Sebastiano told investors.

The declining economy reduced the capital expenditure budgets of casino operators, which limited spending on new gaming equipment over the past few years. Table game companies and slot-machine providers lost revenues and were forced to cut costs during the slump.

Pennsylvania and other new table game markets gave large and small equipment providers new opportunities.

VisuaLimits, a Las Vegas-based company that produces a table game management system, earned a contract for the tables at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs racino and the Parx Casino in Bensalem.

VisuaLimits Chief Operating Officer Ryan McClellan said Pennsylvania allows the company, which also has contracts with casinos on the Strip and with an American Indian casino in Southern California, to have an East Coast case study.

"It is a true startup market, but it also allows us to get our product out there for other casino operators to see," McClellan said of the system, which incorporates technology with table game signs, providing casinos with marketing opportunities.

The system lets casino operators better track table game pit operations with real-time game status reporting and automated dealer monitoring.

Because the table game regulations are new in Pennsylvania, McClellan said vendors needed to work closely with casino regulators during the rollout to follow the state's rules.

"We can see that Pennsylvania is a market that will continue to grow and change quickly," McClellan said.

Las Vegas Sands President Michael Leven said table games allowed the company to boost the return on investment prospects for Sands Bethlehem, which opened more than 15 months ago.

The company restarted construction on a 300-room hotel addition and expanded its casino staff by almost 400 employees to make way for an expected boost in customer traffic. Leven said interest in casino's retail mall by potential vendors may also spike.

Leven said table games allow Sands Bethlehem to attract a larger audience from communities in northern New Jersey and New York City, which is about 100 miles east of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.

"There are no guarantees, but table games change your market dynamics and attracts a different kind of player," Leven said. "We've been profitable with slot machine play, but a successful table game operation has the ability to generate a better return and increase our cash flow."

Johnson Publishing Co. announced Monday that president and chief operating officer Anne Sempowski Ward, who had been on maternity leave, has stepped down.

The announcement comes six weeks after former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers joined the black publishing giant and two weeks after Amy DuBois Barnett, deputy editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar magazine and former editor of Honey, was named editor-in-chief of Ebony magazine.

Richard Prince wrote Monday in his online column Journal-isms that Wendy Parks, a company spokeswoman, said Rogers was working as a consultant to Johnson Publishing on a short-term contract, “assisting with various aspects of corporate strategy as it relates to our core brands Ebony, Jet and Fashion Fair.”

Parks told Journal-isms that Roger was not under consideration to replace Ward.

Ward became COO of Johnson Publishing in 2008 after previously serving as president and COO of Fashion Fair Cosmetics. She was the first executive outside of the publishing family to serve in those roles in both the publishing and cosmetic divisions.

Before joining Johnson Publishing, Ward worked as assistant vice president of African-American marketing for the Coca-Cola Co. and spent more than a decade at Procter & Gamble, helping to launch African-American marketing campaigns.

“During Anne’s tenure, we underwent significant restructuring and reorganization of the company,” Linda Johnson Rice said in a statement announcing Ward’s resignation. “Her contributions have helped to position the company for the future.”

In the statement, Ward said she and her husband, Kevin, were launching a business consulting firm and that “With the birth of our son in May, this is the ideal time for me to chart a new course.”

Johnson Publishing President and Chief Operating Officer 
Anne Sempowski Ward had been on maternity leave.

Sony Corp. said this week that Phil Molyneux has been named president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics, the San Diego-based business unit that oversees TV, computer, camera and other gadget sales for Sony in North America.

Molyneux, who previously worked in Europe, replaces Stan Glasgow. Sony said Glasgow has been named to a newly created position of senior adviser for entrepreneurship and innovation for Sony Corp. of America. Glasgow had been president of Sony Electronics since 2006.

Molyneux will relocate to San Diego. Since 2007, he worked as managing director for Sony in Central and South Europe. He oversaw business management and development in 20 countries that make up the region.

Molyneux is a 23-year Sony veteran.

The Coast Guard battles an ever-changing, oily enemy _ 'The Blob' _ on screens and the coast

Inside a sprawling command post in southern Louisiana, The Blob is everywhere.

It stains the many maps tacked to white walls. Computer monitors beam satellite images of it floating in the Gulf of Mexico, a magenta mass that looks more like an island than the colossal oil slick that it is. It sometimes changes shape on these screens, or breaks off into bits and pieces, but The Blob itself never vanishes.

Coast Guard Capt. Roger Laferriere oversees this command center, coordinating the unprecedented cleanup of oil off of the Louisiana coast. There are other posts like it in Mobile, Ala., and Miami, but none has more manpower, equipment — or more of The Blob, as Laferriere and his staff have christened their enemy — than this base inside what once was a BP training facility for offshore oil production.

On any given day, some 40,000 people are working all along the Gulf Coast to track where the oil is headed, lay protective boom, skim what they can and clean shorelines; nearly half of them are under what is known as the Houma Incident Command Post.

Some are analysts who sit in darkened rooms at the BP warehouse, feeding satellite data into computerized maps that show where the oil is moving, what marshes have already been boomed and what areas skimmers are toiling.

Others — many of them shrimpers and fishermen turned cleanup contractors — work out of quaint docks converted into "forward operating bases," hitting the water after sunup to do the hands-on tasks necessary to contain and clear the oil. There's displaced boom to be repositioned. Torn boom to be picked up, brought to shore and repaired. Absorbent boom soaked through on one side that must be turned or swapped out.

The spilling may have stopped at least for now, but their work goes on. Before a new cap fitted onto the busted wellhead corked the leak this past week, anywhere from 92 million to 184 million gallons of oil had gushed into the sea. Somehow, it's got to be cleaned up.

Leading that effort for the Louisiana coastline is Laferriere, a man of boundless energy and confidence who holds a degree in environmental science and has worked any number of oil spills big and small — from Exxon Valdez to the post-Hurricane Katrina spills that dumped more than 8 million gallons.

Securing the leak does little to change his mission over the next weeks and months. "Even given that," he says, "we've still got a lot of oil on the water. We're going to continue to push forward until all the oil is removed and the people of Louisiana can get back to their way of life. We're going to be here until the end."

Laferriere's job is to not only coordinate efforts on the ground, but to meet with parish presidents, city councilmen and mayors, to answer their many questions, and to fend off criticism that not enough has been done to stop and capture the crude.

"Not enough" is something he's heard a lot since arriving in Louisiana on May 22, almost a month to the day after the Deepwater Horizon explosion. It may be a complaint that there's not enough boom, or not enough skimmers, or not enough boots on the ground to pitch in.

And so he's made it his job to explain to anyone who will listen just how this all works — which methods clean the most oil fastest and the many obstacles out there to getting the job done. One day it could be a thundercloud that shuts down work. The next, high waves that prevent vessels from skimming. Or a full moon that makes sea states even more challenging.

Coast Guard Capt. Meredith Austin is Laferriere's No. 2 and runs the daily operations of the command center.

"Normally when you do an oil spill response, you have a release of oil ... but at some point in the near term, the source stops and then you know: This is what I'm fighting. You've got to skim as much as you can and burn as much as you can, do protective booming and clean up what's on the beach. This one, you're doing that every day but you don't know when it's going to end" once and for all, she says. "We get up every day and say, `Who's the enemy today? What does the blob of oil look like today? Let's go attack it.'"

The surface slick from the oil covered 2,700 square miles on Thursday — down sharply from its peak on June 14 but still an area slightly larger than Delaware, says Hans Graber, who has been tracking its movements via satellite imagery from the University of Miami's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing. Although the heart of the slick has fluctuated with weather and the amount of oil coming out of the seafloor, Graber says 44,000 square miles of the Gulf have seen significant amounts of oil pass through.

Even if the cap holds and no more oil spills, Coast Guard officials say cleaning what's left of the oil offshore could take anywhere from several weeks to several months. Long-term restoration of soiled marshes and other affected areas could take years, depending on the extent of damage.

Barring bad weather, which itself can be a regular occurrence, the command post routine rarely changes: Mornings start with spotter flights to get a sense of where the oil is on any given day. While much of it remains amassed near the wellhead, other so-called streamers and ribbons have broken off and made their way into inlets such as Barataria Bay, forcing crews to constantly monitor the moving oil and shift resources as necessary.

Data integration teams update computerized maps to depict where the slick has spread and to help operations managers in Houma communicate with nine forward operating bases scattered across the coastal parishes to determine where skimmers and boom-tenders should focus their efforts. Weather forecasters keep an eye on storms and tides, to help decide whether it's an optimal day to burn some of the oil closest to the explosion site or use chemical dispersants to break it up.

It's a complicated effort that can be set off course merely by big waves or high winds. To understand how and why, consider the three primary ways the oil is removed from the water's surface.

The first is skimming, and the Coast Guard has deployed a combination of vessels all across the Gulf Coast to help with the task. Closer to the source of the spill itself are some 19 to 23 Weir skimmers, which draw oil up through suction pumps and into tanks. Smaller skimmers, including ones that use drums to absorb the oil and others equipped with squeegee-like devices, work in shallow waters closer to shore. In all, nearly 600 skimmers are deployed in the response, although national incident commander Thad Allen said this week that the Coast Guard was on pace to almost double that number. Some of the vessels can remove up to 8,000 barrels — or some 336,000 gallons of oil and water mix — a day.

The challenge is this: While some of the spilled oil is a thick, black mass, much of it is sheen, and sheen is too thin for skimmers to be able to collect. Even near the source of the spill, the oil is only about a tenth of a millimeter thick, Laferriere says, meaning vessels equipped with booms must first surround the oil and tow it into a thicker pool that can be sucked up.

If the tides kick up because of a full moon or bad weather, the booms can't properly tow the oil and skimming is useless.

"Six feet of water, we can't skim," Laferriere says, likening the effort to trying to capture oil being sloshed like water in a washing machine.

A second cleanup method — burning the oil — is unsustainable if waves reach just 2 feet high, again because the oil must be towed into a thicker pile in order to catch fire. Even the slightest wave action can keep too much water splashing onto the oil, making it unlikely to ignite.

The more controversial use of chemical dispersants, which are dropped from crop-duster type aircraft and help break up the oil so it can biodegrade, can potentially disperse hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil at a time, the Coast Guard estimates. But if winds reach 20 knots, those operations are ceased because gusts could carry the chemicals away from their intended target.

Some combination of these three techniques have been used to purge the oil from the Gulf since the spill began on April 20. More than 30 million gallons of oily water have been removed from the surface, and another 10 million-plus gallons have been burned. More than 1.8 million gallons of dispersants have been dropped, and the Coast Guard estimates that with every gallon of chemicals used, up to 20 gallons of oil may be disseminated.

Laferriere is explaining all of this one recent day at the Houma command post, as he paces a cavernous room dubbed the fish bowl. The walls hold maps of the Louisiana coast, all showing The Blob colored red. Under a label that reads "Weather Forecast," graphics are hung depicting tide patterns, winds, and tropical storm warnings and watches. Other maps show scheduled overflights to drop dispersants.

Operational planning happens here, where dozens of men and women — some Coast Guard employees, other BP workers, other contract specialists (such as mapping experts from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) come together each day to develop a strategy that is passed to field branches in places such as Cocodrie, La. The fishing village two hours south of New Orleans has been transformed from a fisherman's paradise into a warehouse for oil removal equipment, like much of the Louisiana coast.

At the CoCo Marina, the dock is blanketed with row after row of orange hard boom and softer absorbent boom, some awaiting repair or cleaning, other pieces ready to be ferried to oil-tinged marshes and bays. Anchors that hold the protective barriers into place are piled near dozens of blue buoy balls.

Luke LeBlanc is 43 and used to spend days shrimping the many bays in and around Cocodrie. His job now is to help clean those waters. He's up every morning at 4 and over to the CoCo Marina, where he signs in and gets his orders for the day. Then he heads out in an airboat to check boom and, if necessary, help stretch and anchor it to protect the canals.

"It's the same thing pretty much every day," he says. "Sometimes it's shifted. Sometimes it's busted. Sometimes it's on the bank. Sometimes the anchor's gone, and you've got to go find it. It's been a nonstop battle just maintaining. And then sometimes you maintain and the oil moves to a different area and you've got to start all over again."

"Heartbreaking," he calls his daily trips down canals now lined with barges stacked high with all the tools needed to face down an environmental catastrophe.

"There are certain days you go out there and you want to just put your head down and cry, but you can't. You've got to deal with it and get it cleaned up. As much as you want to point the finger and blame and get mad and relieve some frustration, that's not solving the problem."

Despite that, much finger-pointing has ensued, especially from local Louisiana politicians frustrated with what they saw early on as a lethargic response on behalf of the government and BP.

At one point, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser and others questioned why more equipment seemed to be sitting on docks rather than in the water. But even Nungesser, who just last month told a congressional panel, "I have spent more time fighting the officials of BP and the Coast Guard than fighting the oil," says the cleanup effort has improved.

"In the last two weeks we have made unbelievable progress," Nungesser says.

But the most significant step forward may be the 75-ton metal cap now in place at the bottom of the ocean.

"It's somewhat a sense of relief knowing, hopefully, that every bit of oil we pick up from here on out will be a little less that's going to be out there, as opposed to picking up less than was being spilled and losing ground on a daily basis," Nungesser says. "It's a great feeling."

--------

Associated Press writers Cain Burdeau, Matthew Brown and Kevin McGill contributed to this story.

FILE - In this June 12, 2010 file photo, BP Chief Operating Officer 
Doug Suttles talks about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill while 
visiting with employees and workers in the command center 
at the Houma Joint Information Center, Saturday, June 12, 2010, 
in Houma, La. Cleaning the oil far beyond the time the leak is capped 
will become the job of the U.S. Coast Guard and BP. The center in 
Houma, La., coordinates the different teams cleaning water 
from the land and sea. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Jay Goldstone Says Hiring During Freeze Was Necessary

SAN DIEGO -- The city of San Diego told the public last year it had to stop hiring workers in order to save money, but the 10News I-Team learned the city filled more than 100 jobs since they declared the hiring freeze.

Jay Goldstone, San Diego's chief operating officer, is trying to save the city $179 million -- something his boss, Mayor Jerry Sanders, has been talking about since 2009.

"A deficit this size is so significant we can no longer shield the public from its impacts," Sanders said last year.

At first, the impact left police positions vacant. It still leaves some fire trucks with no one to run them.

In September 2009, Goldstone tried to stop the bleeding by imposing "a complete and absolute hiring freeze."

While it is still in effect today, the I-Team found hiring has not been frozen.

"There are over 100 people who have been hired since September 2009," said I-Team reported Mitch Blacher.

"That's right," replied Goldstone.

Some of those hires included nine positions in the City Attorney's Office with an average pay of around $60,000 a year. Other positions included clerical assistants, lab technicians and a marine biologist.

The city filled 50 vacant police positions, hired 32 lifeguards, 42 interns and 5 golf starters for city-owned golf courses.

"Do you need a golf starter?" asked Blacher.

"Yes, you absolutely do," said Goldstone.

"What about a student intern or a management intern?" asked Blacher.

"Well, we still try to promote some relationships with universities," Goldstone responded.

Goldstone said some positions, like golf starters, pay for themselves through user fees.

The I-Team learned the city was able to hire people during a hiring freeze because the freeze is being called a "soft freeze" -- which means essential positions can be hired.

The state of California has taken a different approach by invoking a "hard freeze" -- which means nobody can be hired.

When the state's hard freeze began in July 2009, there were nearly 244,000 employees. Now, there are fewer than 239,000, which means the state has cut 5,398 positions.

In San Diego, more than 500 positions were cut since the soft freeze went into effect.

"Is it working?" Blacher asked.

"I believe so," Goldstone said.

Goldstone has final approval on all city hires, and he said hiring more than 100 people was necessary, while eliminating more than 500 positions was smart business.

WesternOne Equity Income Fund has named Geoff Shorten chief operating officer, the Vancouver, B.C., Canada-based rental company said this week.

Shorten joined WesternOne in February 2008 in conjunction with WesternOne’s acquisition of Deerfoot Equipment Rentals, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Shorten, prior to the acquisition, was one of two owners of Deerfoot, operating as a Volvo Rents franchisee. After the acquisition, Shorten remained with WesternOne as president, Alberta Platform.

In June 2008, Shorten expanded the WEQ Deerfoot Equipment Rentals’ Calgary operations into Lethbridge, Alberta, and was instrumental in completing its recent acquisitions, including SureFire Propane Ltd. and Davis Heater Surface, an equipment rental, construction heat and propane distribution business with locations in Edmonton and Calgary that was acquired by WesternOne in October 2008, and On*Site Equipment, an aerial and material-handling equipment rentals business based in Calgary. On*Site had branches in Lethbridge, Red Deer and Edmonton.

More recently, Shorten took over responsibilities for corporate IT, strategy and human resources.

“During his tenure with the company, Geoff has provided tremendous leadership and the operating companies under his responsibility have delivered strong sales and earnings despite the recent downturn,” said WesternOne CEO Darren Latoski. “The broadened responsibilities will allow Geoff to continue with efforts to integrate and align the operations of the company, and in turn improve the overall financial performance and enhance shareholder value, as we look to expand our presence in the equipment rental and fuel distribution industries in Western Canada.”

WesternOne Equity Income Fund seeks to acquire equipment, fuel distribution and infrastructure-related businesses located primarily in the western Canadian province of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. WesternOne is No. 73 on the RER 100.

ATLANTA (July 16, 2010) – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today the following executive appointments. Brief biographies are provided below:

State Board of Education 

Joey M. Loudermilk, 57, Ellerslie, Third Congressional District – Loudermilk is general counsel, corporate secretary, and executive vice president of Aflac, Inc. He is a Harris County commissioner, and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia. He serves both on the board of Goodwill Industries and the board of directors of the Columbus Regional Medical Foundation. He is past president of the Rotary Club of Columbus and has written a weekly column for the Harris County Journal for the last seven years. Loudermilk earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University and a law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law. He and his wife, Ramona, have six children and seven grandchildren.

Georgia Ports Authority

Trey Childress, 33, Atlanta, Ex-Officio Member – Childress serves as the Chief Operating Officer for the State of Georgia. Prior to being named as COO, he served as the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning & Budget. Childress previously served as Senior Advisor and Director of Policy for the Office of the Governor. He began his career in state government working with the former Information Technology Policy Council, the newly formed Georgia Technology Authority and the Office of Planning & Budget. Childress earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

James R. Lientz, 66, Atlanta – Lientz is a partner at SafeHarbor Consulting. He served as Georgia’s first Chief Operating Officer and is past president of the mid-south division of Bank of America. He served as chair of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and as chair of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Lientz earned a bachelor’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a master’s from Georgia State University, and completed the Advanced Management program at Harvard Business School. He and his wife, Peggy, have three children and nine grandchildren.

David A. Perdue, Jr., 60, Sea Island – Perdue is a director with Alliant Energy, Jo-Ann Stores, and Liquidity Services. He is also a director with Gro-Eco, a private “green” venture company. He serves on the board of trustees of the Georgia Tech Foundation, the Georgia Tech Advisory Board, and the Board of Visitors of the Owen School of Business at Vanderbilt University. He is past president and chief executive officer of Reebok, and past chairman and chief executive officer of Pillowtex and Dollar General. Perdue earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He and his wife, Bonnie, have two children.

Joseph W. Rogers, Jr., 63, Atlanta -- Rogers is chairman and chief executive officer of Waffle House, Inc. He serves on the board of directors of the Georgia Tech Foundation and Grady Memorial Hospital, and is co-chair of the Commission for a New Georgia. He is past chairman of the board of trustees of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Rogers earned a bachelor’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a master’s degree from Harvard University. He is married to Fran Rogers.

Microsoft COO's comparison of the iPhone 4 to Windows Vista doesn't fly

Microsoft COO Kevin Turner attempted to apply a dose of salt to Apple's wounds yesterday in regard to the iPhone 4's antenna issues. Hopefully he saved some of that salt -- he might need it for a forthcoming serving of crow.

If you missed it, Turner assured attendees at the Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, "[Y]ou're going to be able to use the Windows Phone 7 and not have to worry about how you're holding it to make a phone call. It looks like iPhone 4 might be [Apple's] Vista."

[ Also on InfoWorld.com: iPhone 4: Apple does the right thing unconvincingly | Find out how to say yes to (almost) any smartphone in InfoWorld's special report. | Keep up on key mobile developments and insights with the Mobile Edge blog and Mobilize newsletter. ]

Oh, where to begin with this poorly chosen analogy? Let's get the obvious out of the way: The iPhone 4's problem is a pretty minor hardware flaw, one that hasn't hindered demand or usage in any significant way. It will almost certainly be fixed in the very near future, perhaps by newly hired antenna engineers. Further, there's an easy repair right now, albeit not an ideal one, in the form of a free case (or, if you prefer, duct tape). Death-grip issues aside, the iPhone 4 platform has received plenty of high marks and orders for the device keep flowing.

By contrast, Vista was a disaster (though not without its share of fans) that was years in the making. Users were simply uninspired by its features, its UI, and so forth. There's no patch for that depth of poor design. Microsoft shelved it and rolled out a whole new operating system.

More important, though, it may be a bit premature for Microsoft to get cocky when the topic is mobile computing. The company has already failed -- or to use Steve Ballmer's words, "screwed up" -- on the smartphone front with Windows Mobile. Perhaps Turner could have said, "It looks like the iPhone 4 might be Apple's Windows Mobile."

According to InfoWorld mobile guru Galen Gruman, the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 isn't a new so much as a disastrous collection of outdated technologies. Perhaps in the near future, we'll see Steve Jobs calling Windows Phone 7 Microsoft's Vista. Or Microsoft's Windows Mobile. Or maybe even Microsoft's Window Me.

This article, "Windows Phone 7: Microsoft's mobile Vista?," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog.

Jul 17, 2010 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) --

HomeAway, an online vacation rental marketplace, announced the appointment of two executives to its global team.

According to company officials, Brent Bellm, who served as CEO of PayPal Europe and most recently as head of global product at PayPal, joins HomeAway as chief operating officer (COO), succeeding COO Andrew Harris, who passed away in early June. Bellm is responsible for heading the daily operations of HomeAway's online vacation rental marketplaces in the United States, Europe and Brazil, as well as its HomeAwayRealEstate.com and BedandBreakfast.com websites.

In addition, HomeAway noted that it has tapped Tom Hale as Chief Product Officer, a newly created position at the company. In this role, Hale will be responsible for all aspects of product and technology on a global basis. During his career, Hale has been involved in bringing to market many products including Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Connect. Prior to HomeAway, he served as the CPO at Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world, Second Life. Hale is known for his passion for product development and enhancing the user experience, and is an avid traveler and vacation rental owner himself.

"HomeAway is fortunate to be able to attract these two talented and seasoned professionals to our business," says Brian Sharples, CEO of HomeAway. "Their skills complement one another, and we expect that together their experience, smarts, and passion will raise our game significantly - giving us and our customers an even brighter future."

HomeAway is involved in online vacation properties, representing more than 480,000 paid vacation rental home listings throughout 120 countries.

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--Sky Deutschland AG (SKYD.XE) Friday appointed Chase Carey, Chief Operating Officer at its majority shareholder News Corp. (NWS), as its supervisory board chairman, replacing Markus Tellenbach.

Carey, 56 years old, is also News Corp.'s Deputy Chairman and President. He replaces Tellenbach, President and CEO of Polish television broadcaster TVN (TVN.WA), who ...

Springfield, Mo.—Noble Communications, a Springfield, Mo.-based marketing communications agency that also has an office in Chicago, announced the appointment of Keith Acuff as CEO. Acuff was previously COO and CFO. He succeeds agency founder Bob Noble, who remains chairman.

Rue La La, the Boston-based members-only website dedicated to upscale shopping , has named Jeffery Marshall as its chief operating officer. Already working in his new role, Marshall will work under Rue La La CEO Ben Fischman in Boston.

Marshall joins the online shopping site with a background split between retail and networking. He served as senior vice president and chief information officer of Kohl’s Department Stores and as chief information officer at Men’s Wearhouse. Prior to that, Marshall founded network service consulting firm Icon Network Services and held earlier roles as executive vice president and chief operating officer at Johnson Controls’ Network Services division. A former chairman of the National Retail Federation’s CIO Council, Marshall is on the customer advisory councils of SAS Institute Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

Founded in 2008 by Ben Fischman, Rue La La’s website RueLaLa.com was launched by Retail Convergence Inc., which was acquired by GSI Commerce Inc. in October 2009 for $350 million.

Turning Actions into Results - Internet Marketing Firm’s Doug Pace Recognized to Have Top Business Leadership

PRLog (Press Release) – Jul 16, 2010 – Executive Vice President and COO Doug Pace of Bayshore Solutions has been chosen for inclusion in the popular Gulf Coast Business Review’s 2010, 40 Under 40 issue. The Gulf Coast Business Review bestows 40 Under 40 recognition every year to top business leaders, including entrepreneurs and corporate executives who turn actions into results.

Executive Vice President and COO Doug Pace notes, “It is quite an honor to be recognized as an emerging leader in the Bay Area.  Bayshore Solutions has provided an exciting and fulfilling environment to work in.” 

Mr. Pace oversees leads the high-performance delivery of client service and operational functions at the Tampa Internet marketing firm Bayshore Solutions. Under Mr. Pace’s guidance the company has become one of a few nationally recognized technology consulting firms in the State of Florida.  The Tampa Internet marketing firm has ranked in the INC 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in the United States and is named as an Advertising Age Magazine’s Top U.S. Interactive Agency for 8 consecutive years.

Tampa Web development firm President and CEO Kevin Hourigan and CTO Steve Hasselbach were previously recognized in the Gulf Coast Business Review’s 40 Under 40 list in 2003 and 2009.

Over the last seven years Bayshore Solutions has won multiple ADDY, Web Marketing, Summit Marketing, and Horizon Marketing awards for outstanding Web design and development. A 2010 U.S. Chamber of Commerce Blue Ribbon Small Business, the Internet marketing Tampa firm was selected as The Greater Tampa Chamber’s Business of the Year and finalist for the United States Chamber Business of the Year. Along with many accolades the Tampa Web Hosting firm is proud to be a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and Global Partner of the Year in 2004.

Sarasota, Fla. - Allegra Network LLC, one of the world's largest marketing, print and graphic communications franchises, recently announced that Steve White has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer. White was previously Allegra Network Executive Vice President and Signs Now President. White will direct and manage field operations for Allegra Network's print and sign divisions and will continue to oversee development efforts for both divisions. White will be relocating from Florida to the new Allegra headquarters in Plymouth, Mich., this fall.
 
Carl Gerhardt, Allegra Network President and CEO commented, "We will be moving into our new corporate headquarters building this fall, marking a major turning point in our company's history.  We are pleased to have Steve's continued leadership during this important transition and will rely on his leadership for continued growth of our Allegra and Signs Now brands."

White has nearly 25 years in the franchise industry and has been with Allegra Network since 1994. During his tenure, he has overseen marketing, operations and franchise services. He was appointed Signs Now President in May of 2006 and has worked to build greater synergy between brands following the acquisition of Signs Now in 2005. His prior experiences include more than five years at Domino's Pizza in its Ann Arbor, Mich., headquarters and six years in the United States Army.

Apple has posted a video of its press conference from earlier today.

At the press conference, Steve Jobs took the stage to announce free iPhone 4 cases would be given to anyone who buys an iPhone 4 before Sept. 30. In addition, any iPhone 4 buyer who grabbed the phone in its first 30 days of release is eligible for a full refund if they so choose.

Jobs, COO Tim Cook and Bob Mansfield sat for a Q&A following the conference, and fielded questions pertaining to the iPhone 4, Jobs’ health and the future of the iPhone.

Firstsource Solutions, has appointed Shalabh Jain as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Asia Business Unit. He will report in to Chandra Iyer, Executive Vice President & Head Asia Business Unit.

Commenting on the appointment, Chandra Iyer said, "We are delighted to welcome onboard a person of Shalabh's experience. He brings strong business and operations' skills to the table along with a passionate commitment to quality. Our Asia business is on a strong growth path, with corporates across India looking for business impacting BPO partners. Shalabh's experience in the sector will bring added value to our team."

Prior to joining Firstsource, Shalabh was Head, India Business at Mphasis. He has over 20 years experience and has earlier served in leadership roles in various organisations like Wipro, Compaq/HP, Wipro GE Medical Systems, and IBM Daksh. Shalabh is a Mechanical Engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur post which he did MBA Finance from Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad.

U.S. Highland Inc., the maker of Motocross performance motorcycles, named parent company AB Highland Group’s Director of Asia Operations Darin Long as chief operating officer among moves to replace three executives who died in a plane crash July 10.

Martin Lind was appointed vice president of operations, and Michael La Lond became interim finance chief, U.S. Highland said yesterday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The men will replace President Mats Malmberg, 41; Chief Operating Officer Chase Bales, 51; and Chief Financial Officer Damian Riddoch, 37, who died when their twin-engine Cessna smashed into a wooded area in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Long and Christer Wagenius were named to the company’s board by Chairman Bengt Andersson, who was the sole remaining director after the crash, U.S. Highland said.

La Lond, 60, is a director at Southbridge Advisory Group, a Tulsa consulting firm, and Lind, 36, was Mounds, Oklahoma-based U.S. Highland’s research and development director. Wagenius, 69, is a partner at a Swedish law firm. Long, 44, also has been a director of Millennial Research Corp. since 2008.

U.S. Highland will issue a statement on the leadership changes today, Long, who is serving as the company’s spokesman, said in a telephone interview.

A report on the cause of the crash may be available late next week, Keith Holloway, a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman, has said.

The men were returning from Detroit when an emergency landing at Tulsa’s airport was requested. Bales, who shared ownership of the plane, was in the pilot’s seat during the crash and routinely flew on business trips, Long said July 13.

The executives had been with U.S. Highland, which employs 35 people, since it was created in March 2009. Malmberg founded the parent company 14 years earlier in his native Sweden.

U.S. Highland was unchanged at $1.25 as of 10:52 a.m. in over-the-counter trading.

By KAREN ROBINSON-JACOBS / The Dallas Morning News
krobinson@dallasnews.com

Romano's Macaroni Grill replaced both its chief executive and chief operating officer, the former Brinker International Inc. chain announced Thursday.

Norman Abdallah is the new chief executive and Carey Carrington is the new chief financial officer. The release said the two are "highly experienced executives with a combined 30 years of senior leadership experience in the restaurant industry." However, it gave no details about their backgrounds.

Abdallah replaces Brad Blum, a former Burger King chief executive who was tapped to head Dallas-based Macaroni Grill in December 2008. That was when Brinker completed its sale of an 80 percent stake in the chain to private equity firm Golden Gate Capital.

Carrington replaces Bob Mock. Blum and Mock "left the company to pursue other interests," the release said. They could not be reached for comment.

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Gannett Co.'s (GCI  13.48, +0.02, +0.15%) Friday-morning stock-price decline of as much as 11% stems from concern about the company's statement that its publishing revenue was down by a low-to-mid single digit percentage in the second-quarter, a greater drop than was anticipated, an analyst said during the company's conference call Friday morning. Gannett Chief Operating Officer Gracia Martore explained that the decline was about 3.8% on a constant-currency basis, taking into account the company's UK Newsquest operations. "[That is] the number we were focused on when we were looking at speaking about our numbers," Martore said. "And so we feel good that we came in at the better end of the range that we talked about [in June]."

ECi Software Solutions (ECi), a leader in industry-specific information technology solutions, announced today that Trevor Gruenewald has been appointed Chief Operating Officer.  Mr. Gruenewald joined the ECi team in January 2009 as Senior Vice President and General Manager for DDMS and the Office Equipment divisions.  His list of responsible business units grew to include Britannia, Team Design, OMD and La Crosse.

“His contributions to these organizations, and ECi as a whole, were quickly apparent in the first few months he was with us,” says Ron Books, President and CEO of ECi. “Trevor takes a very customer-focused approach. This customer-focused approach is consistent across all of ECi’s new Executive Team and has been adopted by all of ECi’s employees.”

Mr. Gruenewald has also been responsible for a number of broader operational areas across the company:  cross vertical solutions (ecommerce, mobile, etc.), training and implementation, documentation and development/QA. As COO, Mr. Gruenewald will continue to expand his responsibilities across all business units and several corporate functional areas.

“Trevor’s contribution to the team, our partners, and customers has had a profound impact on the entire ECi organization,” Books continues.  “In this new role, there is no doubt that we will see even greater results.”

Mr. Gruenewald came to ECi from Avaya where he was the Vice President for the North American Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) business. Previously, he held various sales, channels and operational leadership roles within Avaya, Lucent and AT&T, and has over 20 years experience in technology and technology services with those companies. Mr. Gruenewald holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Management and Finance from Purdue University where he was also an Academic All American for the baseball team.

Organization: Chimes International, Ltd. Category: Administrative, Executive, Fund raising, and 4 more… USE LOGO – DELETE THIS LINE!! Chief Development Officer Chimes, a 60-year old internationally recognized not-for-profit organization that serves and supports over 14,000 people with disabilities, offers an excellent career opportunity for a creative-thinking, proven development professional.

The IPA hosted an Oil & Gas Industry conference call on Thursday, July 15, 2010.  Panelists included Lee Fuller, Senior Vice President – Government Relations for the Independent Petroleum Association of America; Kenny Lang, President and Chief Operating Officer of Ridgewood Energy; Brett Loflin, Director of Regulatory Compliance for Atlas Energy Resources; and Mike Stophlet, Chief Operations Officer for U.S. Energy Development Corporation.  The call was moderated by Van Standke, 2nd Vice President of Lincoln Financial Network.

Click on the link below to hear what our panelists shared in a lively discussion of:

1)  Gulf of Mexico and offshore drilling
2)  Shale drilling and fracking regulation
3)  Pending tax legislation
4)  Responses to news accounts to provide financial advisors and clients more balanced information concerning environmental matters

An Oil and Gas Question and Answer document will be posted to the website in the coming weeks on www.ipa.com.

Hurricane Grill & Wings, a chicken wing chain, has appointed Mark Snyder as chief operating officer, Lisa Wynn Taylor as vice president of marketing, and Angie Kenyon as senior real estate consultant.

Mr Snyder’s responsibilities include managing all Hurricane Grill & Wings operations, strategic menu planning, purchasing, and overseeing field business consultants, owned and operated portfolio stores.

Ms Wynn Taylor will oversee marketing, advertising and public relations for the brand. Ms Kenyon’s responsibilities include market planning, site selection, store design and construction.

Prior joining the company, Mr Snyder was a member of the management team at Carlson Companies for 28 years. Recently, he served as the vice president of operations for TGI Friday’s, managing the West Division, which included 100 corporate stores and 125 franchised units with 18 ownership groups.

Ms Lisa Wynn Taylor brings over 20 years of branding, marketing and social media experience to the Hurricane Grill & Wings team.

Ms Kenyon brings over 15 years of restaurant industry experience, and prior to joining the Hurricane Grill & Wings team, she served as the director of development for industry giants, such as Starbucks Coffee, Dunkin’ Brands and Burger King.

Martin O’Dowd, president of Hurricane Grill & Wings, said: “Industry leaders Mark Snyder, Lisa Wynn Taylor and Angie Kenyon will each play a key role on our management team as the Company continues to expand nationwide with the award winning Hurricane Grill & Wings brand.”

Hurricane Grill & Wings currently operates 32 locations across the country, including Arizona, Florida, Ohio and New York, with additional restaurants planned throughout the US.

DUBAI, Jul 16, 2010 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) --

Barclay's Shared Services, a wholly-owned Indian subsidiary Barclays Bank Plc, on Tuesday said it has appointed Sameer Chadha as its Chief Executive Officer.

Chadha, currently the company's Chief Operating Officer, would be replacing Paul Riley, who has shifted to another position within the group, Barclays Shared Services (BSS) said in a statement.

"Chadha has been with the company since its initial phases and is ideally positioned to continue the good work and build on the foundation created by Paul and take BSS to the next level of growth," Barclay's Global Operations Officer (Global Retail Banking
) Jim Milby said.

Chadha had earlier worked with Lehman Brothers.

BSS, which is involved in providing operations support and services to Barclays' group firms, has been present in India for three years and currently has offices in Noida and Chennai.

CONTACT:
Bill Shepard
Chief Operating Officer Business Forum, Inc.
(408) 292-1593 phone
(408) 521-2180 fax
bshepard@COOForum.org
http://www.COOForum.org

Saratoga, California, March 3, 2008 -- Last month at the COO Forum, six Northern California meetings were held in San Jose, San Francisco, San Ramon, San Carlos, Monterey, and Marin. During these meetings, Members explored the challenges of leadership and decision-making in a recession. The meetings were attended by 46 COOs and Second-in-Command Executives across a spectrum of company sizes and industries. This article documents consensus thinking of the Members and guests at the COO Forum during these February 2008 meetings.

The Members drew no conclusion on whether the economy is or is not in a recession, knowing that the usual definition of two quarters of negative growth can only be determined after a recession has been in effect for six months. The Members also acknowledge that in a recession, not all regions, industries, and companies will experience the same brunt. While the overall opinion of the COOs is that if a company is being run 100% effectively, there are few, if any, changes necessary. Recognizing the truth that many companies will not hold up to the 100% standard, the Members identified best practices for being a COO of a company heading into recessionary times.

Scenario Contingency Planning
The initial best practice for COOs and their companies is to create a ‘no surprises’ approach to short-term scenario and contingency planning. The belief of COO Forum Members is that a divergent spectrum of ‘what if’ approaches must be explored in conjunction with multiple options and outcomes. As one COO indicated “We have created several different plans that only the Board and C-level knows about. We don’t want to scare our employees or stockholders, but we must be able to move with agility and efficiency if a recession begins to impact our operations.”

Maintain a Tight, Balanced Financial and Operational Approach While this is a seen as a best practice everyday, the COOs felt that higher emphasis on tight and balanced operational and financial decision-making was crucial in recessionary times. The discussions focused on the axiom ‘cash is king,’ recognizing that in recessionary times prudent use of cash may avoid liquidity challenges. As one COO indicated, “If we don’t have enough cash, we won’t make the best decisions.” The Members felt that revenue and margin pressures would occur and were concerned with demands to sacrifice margin, which was viewed as a slippery slope to watch closely. Other discussion emphasized tight expense control; thoughtful deployment of capital and longer term outlays; strong inventory level management; forceful collections; scrutinizing customer credit limits; and negotiation of better terms from suppliers, service providers, and contractors.

Look to Shedding Unprofitable Assets and Activities
The COOs felt that companies often hang on to unprofitable efforts due to the robust nature of their entire business. In a time of projected slowdown, extricating marginal and losing efforts may prove to be most sound. Area of suggestion from the COO Forum meeting included the following: plants, offices, equipment, product lines, suppliers, customers, divisions, businesses, and business processes.

Deal with Unnecessary Headcount
“Now is the time start the process of shedding low performing and unneeded employees and contractors before it’s too late,” indicated one COO. When those around the table reflected on lessons learned from prior recessions, getting the head count number right early on would have had a huge positive impact on a company’s success in riding out the recession.

Dial-up Communications
With all the media noise, COO Forum Members see employees becoming nervous. Employees sense the job losses and companies in trouble all around them and worry about their company. The prevailing COO message from the meetings was that increasing communication is the best practice. Employees want to know that leadership understands the economic realities and has plans to succeed in the potentially more challenging time. Employees want to hear from leadership more frequently. “If we don’t answer the employee communications need, the water cooler talk will answer it for us” said one COO. “What we say to our people is far more helpful to us and our company’s morale than leaving it to the grapevine.”

Hold Back Some of the CEOs Exuberance
COOs have the highest regard for their CEOs and appreciate the CEOs important responsibility to inspire, create a bold vision, and lead the company into the future. However, there is a belief that recessionary times call for the CEO to adopt a less optimistic and more down-to-earth charter for the company. The role of the Second-in-Command is one of appropriate tactics to deliver results. Bringing their CEO closer to the factual realities of the economic times becomes a COO mandate.

Exploit the Upside Opportunities
As with all downturns, there is an increase in turmoil and change which always presents opportunities for strong companies to become even stronger. The COOs indicated many ideas including: new acquisitions; attracting new customers from weak competitors; availability of great new employees; opportunities to open new markets; a great time to launch new products; and improving relationships and effectiveness within the supply chain. “We are a very solid company and I know that we’ll benefit from the shake-out of our weaker competitors,” said one COO.

About the COO Forum: The COO Forum was founded in 2004 in the Greater San Francisco Bay/Silicon Valley Area by Bill Shepard, Executive Director. The association has become the professional development home for Chief Operating Officers and Second-in-Command Executives. The association recognizes the significant role the COO plays as the senior leader responsible for taking their company’s vision and delivering results. As a result of the COO Forum’s continued success and growth in Northern California since its inception in 2004, the COO Forum 2008 initiative is to include COOs and Second-in-Command Executives globally. COO Forum and Chief Operating Officer Business Forum are registered trademarks of the Chief Operating Officer Business Forum, Inc.