Leaders Saluted for Roles in Community

“Hispanic Excellence” awards have been presented to eight prominent Southern Californians to recognize their success and contributions to the Latino community.

Northern Trust of California instituted the awards to promote a positive image of Latinos in California, said Northern Trust Vice President Jose D. Naranjo.

The honorees are Linda Alvarez, a KNBC-TV news anchor; Ernest M. Camacho, owner of Pacifica Services, a Pasadena-based civil engineering and defense electronics maintenance firm; William S. Davila, president of the Vons supermarket chain; Frank del Olmo, deputy editor of the editorial page of the Los Angeles Times; Monica Lozano Centanino, associate publisher of La Opinion and publisher of El Eco del Valle; Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, head of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese; Raul O. Martinez, president and chief executive of King Taco Restaurants, and Alex Meruelo, president of La Pizza Loca.

Teresa Quevedo has moved up at KMEX-TV to become co-anchor with Eduardo Quezada on the Noticentro 34 newscasts at 6 and 11 p.m. Quevedo, who joined KMEX as a reporter in June, 1991, previously was news director and anchor at KUVN-TV in Dallas, like KMEX one of the Univision network affiliates. She has replaced Colombian-born co-anchor Patricia Janiot at the L.A. station.

Roland Santos is now news director of KVEA, Channel 52. He was appointed by Augustine Martinez, the vice president and general manager of the Spanish-language station, which is part of the Telemundo network. Martinez and Santos were colleagues at Fox TV, where Santos was assistant news director. Prior to switching to KVEA, Martinez served as president of finance and administration at KTTV, Channel 11.

Edward J. Avila is now the permanent administrator of the city of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, after serving as its interim chief for six months. His predecessor, John Tuite, resigned under pressure related to the CRA’s role in promoting high-rise office development downtown over what critics said are the needs of low-income neighborhoods. Before assuming the top spot at the nation’s largest such agency, Avila, 48, headed the city’s Board of Public Works and was a deputy to Mayor Tom Bradley.

A catalyst for the presentation of “Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries,” Friends of the Arts of Mexico has appointed Hector Vasconcelos as its new president. He succeeded Miguel Angel Corzo, who resigned this year to become the director of the Getty Conservation Institute. Vasconcelos has served as an official of Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and the Arts.

Veteran educator Juan Francisco Lara has been named director of the Student Affirmative Action Outreach Program at UC Irvine. “One of our major goals this year will be to increase the number of pre-college and undergraduate students involved with UCI faculty,” he said. Engineering student Carlos A. Aguilar, of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, was one of 150 Latino students to win a total of $144,000 in scholarships from TELACU.

Enrique Hernandez Jr. has been elected to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Board of Directors. Hernandez is president of Inter-Con Security System and is affiliated with Childrens Hospital, Pomona College and the Young Presidents’ Organization. A San Marino resident, Hernandez is an attorney by training, having earned bachelor and law degrees from Harvard.