Speciale Appointed Bank Vice President

* Kim K. Speciale has been named vice president and relationship manager for National Bank of Southern California’s Beach Cities regional office in Fountain Valley. She joins the bank from Bank of Westminster, where she was regional vice president and manager for the Huntington Beach office.

* Eric P. Jacobs has been appointed vice president of information services for First American Title Insurance Co. in Santa Ana. He had been assistant vice president of automated systems since 1993.

* James J. Peterson has been named president, chief operating officer and a member of the board of directors of Linfinity Microelectronics Inc. in Garden Grove, a subsidiary of SymmetriCom Inc. He succeeds Brad Whitney, who resigned to pursue other business interests. Peterson has been vice president of sales since joining the company in 1996. Before that, he was with Silicon Systems Inc. for 11 years, most recently as senior vice president of worldwide sales and corporate communications.

* Gregory L. Ruff has been named corporate vice president, marketing for General Automation in Irvine. He formerly had his own consulting firm, and before that was senior partner responsible for market strategy consulting at Regis McKenna Inc. and a senior manager of strategy consulting services at Booz-Allen and Hamilton. Also, Howard Silver was appointed corporate vice president, engineering, and Antoon Houben was named corporate vice president of General Automation’s Liberty Integration products and technology. Silver is rejoining General Automation, where he previously was vice president of system development and support from 1981 to 1983. Houben co-founded Liberty Integration Software in 1993, which was acquired by General Automation in late 1996.

* Del Orr has been named general manager for Universal Alloy Corp. in Anaheim. Orr was formerly president and chief executive of Executive Services, a Palm Springs distributor of industrial equipment, and president and chief executive of the Broderick Co., a Muncie, Ind., commercial forging company.

* Eric P. Weber has been appointed senior vice president in Imperial Bank’s Orange County regional office. He was previously vice president of the commercial banking group and of the institutional trust services at Wells Fargo Bank.

* Joy Kelly has been named vice president and manager at Bank of Yorba Linda. She will be based in the South County regional business banking center in Mission Viejo. Kelly has previously been with Security Pacific National Bank, Bank of America and National Bank of Southern California.

* Lupe Olivar Lennon has been appointed vice president, printing and binding for Thomas Bros. Maps in Irvine. She had been manufacturing manager. Lennon has been with the company since 1975.

* Perry Schonfeld has joined Layton Belling & Associates, a Newport Beach real estate investment and management company, as senior vice president, management services group. He was formerly associate director and senior portfolio manager for Cushman & Wakefield.

* Marilyn A. Soulsburg is the new head of the Internal Revenue Service’s Southern California District in Laguna Niguel. As district director, she will be responsible for tax matters in Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, plus the South Bay and Long Beach areas of Los Angeles County. Soulsburg began her IRS career in 1970 as a revenue officer in Los Angeles.

* Lisa Reece has joined URS Greiner Inc., a Santa Ana planning, engineering and architectural design, program and construction management firm, as manager of marketing services for the Southern California region. She will be responsible for managing the business development efforts of the Santa Ana, San Pedro, San Diego and San Bernardino offices. Reece has more than 10 years of marketing and business development experience in the engineering and construction industry.

* Kent Matranga has been named president of Bomel Construction Co., an Orange-based concrete contractor. He succeeds his father, Bob, who remains chief executive officer. Matranga has been executive vice president for the past nine years.

* W. Hardy Myers has been named president of Safety Components International Inc.’s North American automotive operations. He succeeds Paul L. Sullivan, who has become president of the company’s Asian Pacific operations and will oversee the start-up of those operations. Myers had been the company’s chief financial officer. Succeeding him in that position is Jeffrey J. Kaplan, who has more than 10 years experience as chief financial officer of other public companies. Kaplan has also been appointed executive vice president and director of the company. Myers resigned as a director. Safety Components International, based in Costa Mesa, is a manufacturer of automotive air bags and a supplier of ordnance and other related defense products.

* Patrick Dolan has been appointed president of Systems Management Specialists, a Santa Ana provider of computer services. Mike Winder, the company’s founder, will continue as chief executive and chairman of the board. Dolan, who will oversee the company’s business development and marketing efforts, has been chief operating officer since 1993.

* James R. Eckstaedt has joined State of the Art Inc., an Irvine accounting software company, as vice president of finance and chief financial officer. He succeeds Joe Armstrong, who is retiring. Eckstaedt was formerly senior vice president and chief financial officer at the Cerplex Group Inc. Before that, he was with Western Digital Corp. in a variety of management positions.

* Christy D. Joseph has been named a partner in the law firm of Snell & Wilmer. She practices in the Irvine office. Joseph will continue to concentrate on employment-related and business litigation.

* Philip E. Pietrowski as been named president, North America operations for the Cerplex Group Inc., a Tustin provider of high technology outsourcing services. He was formerly senior vice president, North America operations. In addition, Robert W. Hughes has been appointed interim vice president of finance and chief financial officer of Cerplex. Hughes was previously vice president and chief financial officer of Financial World magazine, and chief financial officer, international operations of MAI Systems Corp. Also, Ray Robidoux, former senior vice president, North America sales and marketing left the company to pursue other interests.

* Ralph Gabai has been appointed president and chief executive of MicroNet Technology, an Irvine data storage company. He succeeds Morris Taradalsky, who resigned but will work with the company in a consulting role for future products and technology. Gabai has previously held positions at Pertec Computer Corp., Micro Peripherals Inc. and other high-technology firms.