* Available Light Ltd., a Burbank film...

* Available Light Ltd., a Burbank film special effects firm, has named Steve R. Moore as its on-set visual effects supervisor.

Moore is a veteran visual effects editor who has worked on such films as “Mortal Kombat” and “Ghostbusters II.” He is now working on “The Sixth Man,” an upcoming Touchstone Pictures and Mandeville Films motion picture, for which Available Light has been hired to create 50 special effects shots.

* James E. Hescox has been named chief operations officer at Wet Design, a Universal City firm that designs water-based entertainment for theme parks and resorts.

Hescox was formerly executive vice president of MCA Development/Universal City Walk. At Wet Design, he will oversee project management, manufacturing, purchasing and other departments.

The company also said that Leslie Wickman has been appointed director of technology development, a newly created position. Prior to joining Wet Design, Wickman worked on the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope projects at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space.

* Joseph S. Whittier has been named vice president of sales and distributor relations by International Remote Imaging Systems Inc.

Whittier was previously vice president of sales and marketing at StatSpin Technologies, a maker of centrifuges and instruments used in the health care industry that IRIS recently acquired.

IRIS is a Chatsworth-based maker of diagnostic equipment, including urinalysis machines.

* Three former executives at First Interstate Bank have been hired by Great Western Bank, the Chatsworth-based savings and loan.

Dan Morefield, 37, was named a senior vice president for small business at Great Western and will help set up the company’s small-business lending unit. At First Interstate, Morefield was a senior vice president and was responsible for developing its small-business lending strategy.

Great Western named Dennis Shirley, 37, as senior vice president for marketing and will accelerate Great Western’s customer database information to help guide the S&L;’s marketing strategies. Shirley had been senior vice president/marketing director for First Interstate Bank of California.

John Stephan, 41, was named senior vice president for retail sales and planning and will develop sales management practices and incentive programs and promotions for Great Western. Stephan had been with First Interstate for 20 years and had been a marketing and training manager and commercial loan officer.

* Mary Lou Martin has been promoted to general manager of senior services at Blue Cross of California/California Care Health Plans in Woodland Hills.

Martin, a vice president of sales and marketing for senior products since she joined the managed health-care company in 1994, will oversee sales, marketing, product development and operations for its senior programs in California.

* Denis Weber has joined Ventura County National Bank as vice president and business development officer. He has more than 30 years of banking experience in Southern California, including positions as bank manager, regional operations officer and human resources officer.

Weber, who serves on the Agoura Hills City Council, will be based in VCNB’s Oxnard headquarters.

* Attorney Dan Harris has joined Quality Mortgage Group of Oxnard as general counsel and loan consultant. In addition to overseeing the company’s daily legal affairs, Harris will be responsible for originating and funding private loans for individuals and businesses requiring immediate financial assistance.

Harris comes to Quality Mortgage Group from the Westlake Village law firm of Arnold, Back, Mathews, Wojkowski & Zirbel.

* Steven L. Kinney, president of the Greater Oxnard Economic Development Corp., has been elected to the board of directors of the California Assn. for Local Economic Development. CALED is a statewide organization of economic professionals from both the public and private sectors.

Kinney served as Oxnard’s first Redevelopment Agency director and then as director of economic development before leaving the city to form the EDC in 1994.

* Daniel Borunda of Moorpark has been named director of marketing for Holden Color of Newbury Park. He will handle new business development and strategic planning for the company, as well as develop a production division that will service the corporate and manufacturing industries.

Holden specializes in pre-press services for the advertising and publishing industry.

* Nicolette Munoz, member of the board of directors of the Free Clinic of Simi Valley and Citizens for a Safe & Scenic Simi Valley, has been named account supervisor at the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Los Angeles.

For the past three years, Munoz has been the account executive for Ogilvy’s entertainment clients, including Dollywood and Paramount Home Video.

* Diane O’Rourke has been named Employee of the Year for 1995 by American Commercial Bank. She has 19 years banking experience and has been at American Commercial’s Mills Road branch for nine years.

She was promoted in January to operations officer, and is responsible for staff, training, meetings and scheduling for the bank.

* Great Western Financial Corp., the Chatsworth-based parent of Great Western Bank, has named Jaynie Miller Studenmund, 41, as executive vice president and director of retail banking. She will be responsible for all the company’s branch operations in California and Florida.

Studenmund had previously been executive vice president and retail banking group manager at First Interstate Bank.

First Interstate was recently acquired by Wells Fargo.