* Dick Clark Productions Inc. announced that...

* Dick Clark Productions Inc. announced that Charles Candelas has been named vice president of operations for the company’s Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Grill restaurant chain.

Candelas, formerly director of operations for the Olive Garden restaurant chain, will oversee marketing, merchandising and training operations. The Dick Clark restaurant chain has three locations, including establishments in Kansas, Ohio and Indiana. The company also has a dance club in Reno, Nev.

Dick Clark Productions is a television production company based in Burbank.

* Kathy Van Ness has been named president of a new swimwear division of Authentic Fitness, a Van Nuys-based marketer of apparel and accessories for swimming and skiing, the company announced.

Van Ness will head a division that includes the Speedo, Anne Cole, Cole of California, Catalina and Oscar de la Renta brands. Van Ness joined Authentic Fitness in November, 1993, as president of a smaller swimwear division.