Larry Colson has been named vice president...

Larry Colson has been named vice president for human resources at CareAmerica, a Woodland Hills-based health plan, life insurance and workers’ compensation insurance company.

Previously, Colson ran his own consulting firm, Colson Associates. He also spent 16 years at Litton Data Systems and rose to vice president of human resources.

CareAmerica is a division of UniHealth, a nonprofit health care company in Burbank.

* Great Western Financial Corp. has named Ray W. Sims executive vice president for its real estate services division.

Sims will be responsible for Great Western’s retail and wholesale mortgage lending operations.

Previously, Sims was chief executive officer at Knutson Mortgage Corp. in Minneapolis.

Great Western Financial, based in Chatsworth, is the parent company of Great Western Bank, a savings and loan with $43.5 billion in assets.

* Semtech Corp. in Newbury Park, a manufacturer of semiconductor products, has hired Jean Claude Zambelli as vice president of sales and marketing.

He will be responsible for marketing of all product lines, including the company’s low-voltage protection devices and power management products.

Zambelli has more than 25 years experience in the semiconductor industry. Most recently, he was vice president of sales for Exar Corp.

* Elizabeth Johnsen has joined Pleasant Holidays in Westlake Village as director of national accounts.

In this new position for the travel company, she will have supervisory sales responsibility for its four largest national accounts--Automobile Assn. of America, American Express, Carlson Wagonlit and Uniglobe.

Prior to coming to Pleasant Holidays, Johnsen was western regional sales manager for Walt Disney Attractions.