E.A. Firestone Named Geomatrix President, Succeeding Mahmut Otus

Edward A. Firestone has been appointed president of Geomatrix Consultants Inc., a Newport Beach environmental, geotechnical and seismic engineering consulting company. He succeeds Mahmut Otus, who retired. Firestone was previously counsel for General Electric Co.’s Corporate Environmental Programs operation on the West Coast, with responsibility for environmental issues across the Western United States and Asia. He has also been general counsel of Intersil Inc., GE’s semiconductor subsidiary.

* The Costa Mesa law firm of Rutan & Tucker announced the following partners: F. Kevin Brazil, Jeffrey A. Goldfarb, L. Ski Harrison, Layne H. Melzer, Robert O. Owen, Matthew K. Ross, Adam N. Volkert and Jeffrey Wertheimer.

* Karen Trisko has been appointed vice president and executive director of the Southern California Training Council, a training cooperative in Irvine. She joined the council in 1991 as director of member services.

* Jim Sterns has joined Cruttenden Roth, an Irvine investment bank, as managing director of the Pacific Northwest office in Seattle. He was formerly managing director of the Seattle office of Dain Bosworth Inc.