LOS ANGELES COUNTY - News from June 4, 1986

James R. Ukropina, 48, has been elected president of Pacific Lighting Corp., succeeding Joseph R. Rensch, who had been president for 14 years.

Rensch, still recovering from a stroke that he suffered last December, becomes vice chairman of Pacific Lighting, the company said in a statement released Tuesday.

Ukropina, who was executive vice president and general counsel for Santa Fe International Corp. before joining Los Angeles-based Pacific Lighting in the same capacity in 1984, will oversee the company’s newly acquired Thrifty Corp. retailing operation and its oil and gas exploration and production business.

Ukropina received an MBA from Stanford and a law degree from USC. He was a member of the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers for 15 years.

Replacing Ukropina as general counsel is Leslie E. LoBaugh Jr., who joined Pacific Lighting as a staff attorney in 1975 and became associate general counsel last year.