ORANGE COUNTY

Edward L. Marinaro has been appointed to the new position of chief operating officer at Western Digital Corp. in Irvine.

Marinaro, 48, has leaped from vice president of marketing to senior vice president to executive vice president in the two years he has been with the company.

Before joining Western Digital, Marinaro served as president of Memorex Mini Disk Drive Corp. in Santa Clara from 1973 to 1980. He then joined Comdat Inc. in Fremont and served as its president and chief executive officer. From 1982 to 1984 he was president and chief executive officer of Momentum Computer Systems International in San Jose.