Fidelity National Financial of Irvine Picks New COO

* Patrick F. Stone has been appointed chief operating officer of Fidelity National Financial Inc., an Irvine title insurance underwriter. Stone has been president and chief operating officer of the company’s major underwriting subsidiaries since May 1995, and will retain these positions.

* Joseph J. Wallace has been named chief financial officer of STM Wireless Inc., an Irvine manufacturer of wireless communications products. He succeeds Preston Romm, who resigned at the end of 1996. Wallace was most recently controller of MAI Systems Corp, a provider of information system solutions for the hospitality and manufacturing industries. In addition, Ernest U. Gambaro has joined the board of directors, increasing the size of the board to six. Gambaro is vice president, general counsel and secretary of Infonet Services Corp.

* Nancy Hobbs has been named executive vice president and general manager of AirTouch Cellular, Southern California, in Irvine. She succeeds Brian Jones, who was appointed president of AirTouch’s domestic operations. Hobbs was previously vice president and general manager for the company’s San Diego market.

* Henry Huta has joined the board of directors of Cypress Financial Services Inc. in Cypress. Huta is chairman and chief executive of California Lifestyles Inc. and founder of Archfield Limited Inc., a business and financial consulting firm.

* Paul D. Johnston has been appointed vice president of development for PharmaPrint Inc., an Irvine developer and manufacturer of pharmaceutical versions of herbal medicines. He was formerly president of Pharmaceutical Development Consulting Services, a company he founded in April 1995. Before that, Johnston was vice president, product development division, for NeXstar Pharmaceuticals Inc.

* Terry Scott has joined Global Capital Markets Inc. in Irvine as a principal to establish a national staffing service group. He will concentrate on providing merger, acquisition and corporate finance services to staffing services companies. Scott will be based in the San Francisco Bay area.

* Dan Pittman will head the new Costa Mesa office of Bozell Sawyer Miller Group, a communications management firm. Pittman, who was named senior managing director, was most recently with Bozell Worldwide in Costa Mesa, the public relations unit.

* Paul Enghauser has been named senior vice president and general manager of the new West Coast office of Alliance Marketing Group. He is based in Laguna Niguel. Enghauser was formerly vice president of marketing and advertising for Century 21 Real Estate Corp. and Burger King.

* Arnold Kraus has joined Cruttenden Roth, an investment bank and brokerage, as managing director, private client services. He will oversee Cruttenden Roth’s three retail securities offices and act as branch manager of the Irvine location. Kraus was formerly executive vice president at Sutro & Co., overseeing 17 retail securities offices.

* Terence J. Keenaghan has been named director of sales and marketing for Kaynar in Fullerton, a division of Kaynar Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of products and components for aerospace and industrial product assembly. He was previously sales manager. Robert G. Allebaugh has joined the company as project manager. He had been an independent consultant to various manufacturing organizations.

* Donald P. Kennedy, chairman of First American Financial Corp., is the new chairman of the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts. He succeeds George L. Argyros, who completed a three-year term.

* Jeffrey L. Cannon has been named to the new position of vice president and general manager of Irvine-based Newport Corp.’s domestic precision motion systems division. Cannon joined Newport in 1995 as director of the Klinger systems group. He was later appointed general manager of the new precision motion systems division.

* Michael T. Lowe has been named managing partner of the Orange County office of the Booth, Mitchel & Strange law firm. Lowe has been with the firm more than 25 years.

* Kathleen Mitts has joined Perri Productions in Newport Beach as the video public relations company’s director of marketing and public relations. She was formerly with Disneyland, where she coordinated several press events within the park’s marketing division and was also a member of the entertainment division.

* Jeffrey G. Gold has joined CardioThoracic Systems Inc. in Laguna Hills as executive vice president. He is a former president of Cordis Endovascular Systems Inc.

* Jeffrey Gwin has been appointed manager of the new West Coast office of Kensington Realty Advisors, a Chicago-based real estate investment management firm. He will be based in Newport Beach. Gwin was previously vice president at Catellus Development.

* William E. Halle and John D. Hudson have been named partners in the law firm of Hewitt & McGuire in Irvine. Halle, who specializes in land use and business litigation, was formerly with Jones Day Reavis & Pogue. Hudson, whose practice involves corporate securities and general corporate law, was previously with O’Melveny & Myers.

* Linda Dusckett has been selected as director of new business development for Contract Carpet Corp. in Anaheim, a provider of floor covering services to home and apartment builders. Before joining the company, she was a senior executive at Impact Images Inc., a sales office design company.

* Joseph G. Gerace has been named chief operating officer of Waldron & Co., an investment banking and stock brokerage firm with offices in Irvine and San Francisco. He was formerly president and chief operating officer at Baraban Securities. Gerace has also been vice president, investments, at Kemper Securities and a broker at Merrill Lynch and E.F. Hutton.

* Joann Ruden has been appointed director of corporate relations for the Orange County Red Cross. She was formerly executive director of AIDS Walk Orange County. Before that, Ruden owned and managed Action Ltd., a consulting firm specializing in nonprofit and political fund-raising campaigns.

* Steven M. Yasbek has been appointed to the newly created position of chief information officer and director of internal auditing for Pacific Scientific Co., a Newport Beach designer and manufacturer of electrical and safety equipment. Previously, Yasbek led the implementation of a new management information system for Symbol Technologies Inc. He has also held financial positions at TRW Inc.’s electronic components group, including group controller.

* Craig Morris has been named vice president at the Costa Mesa branch of Johnson & Higgins, an insurance broker. Before joining the company, he was an account executive at Industrial Risk Insurer for six years.

* David R. Clare Jr. has been appointed vice president of direct sales by VitalCom Inc., a Tustin provider of computer networks that deliver patient-monitoring information. Before joining VitalCom, Clare was vice president and general manager of radiology at ADAC Laboratories in Houston.

* Claude Burgess has been appointed director of business development for Fluor Daniel’s PharmBio & Chemicals operating company. He will be based in Greenville, S.C. He has more than 13 years of business development, project and design experience, and most recently participated in Fluor Daniel’s marketing associates program, a yearlong effort focused on business development.