John Laing Homes Names a New President

* L.J. Edgcomb has been named president of the Orange County division of John Laing Homes in Irvine. He succeeds Larry Webb, who continues as California division president. Edgcomb joined the company earlier this year as senior vice president of operations. Before that, he was Orange County division manager at Warmington Homes.

* Arthur B. Branstine has been appointed vice president, fluid handling products for Furon Co., a Laguna Niguel manufacturer of engineered polymer components. He was formerly president and chief operating officer of Westec Security Inc., responsible for U.S. and Canadian operations.

* Elizabeth Livesay Fry has joined the Orange County office of Berger, Kahn, Shafton, Moss, Figler, Simon & Gladstone. Fry previously practiced as an associate at Haight, Brown & Bonesteel in Santa Ana for the seven years.

* Gaddi Vasquez has joined the board of directors of the St. Joseph Hospital Foundation in Orange. He is division vice president in the public affairs department of the Southern California Edison Co. Vasquez was also a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors for nearly nine years.

* Joanne Argue has joined Golden West Financial in Costa Mesa as controller. She was formerly with Orix USA Corp. for 11 years and AT&T; Information Systems for five years.

* Peggy Goldwater Clay has been appointed director of major gifts for the Irvine Barclay Theatre, a newly created position. Clay is chairman of the board of Goldwater’s Foods of Arizona.

* Richard A. Del Carlo has been appointed project director of Burke Development, the development and real estate services subsidiary of Santa Ana-based Burke Real Estate Group. Before joining the company, he was project manager for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for five years.

* Randall Finchum has been named vice president of customer support and maintenance operations for Optum Software in Costa Mesa. He was previously with Toshiba America Electronic Components.

* Janell Carlson has joined Rieches Baird Advertising in Huntington Beach as an account service member. She was previously an account service manager at Wunderman Cato Johnson/Young & Rubicam in Irvine.

* Horace M. Hertz has been appointed chief financial officer for Javelin Systems Inc., an Irvine designer and manufacturer of touch-screen computers. Hertz, a certified public accountant, has spent the last two years as a financial management consultant assisting companies to raise capital through public offerings. He served 16 years as a partner in the Orange County office of Deloitte & Touche.

* Jenifer Cabo has been named account executive at Lawrence & Mayo Inc., a Newport Beach advertising and marketing agency. She was formerly with Prudential Real Estate and PacifiCare Health Systems.

* Peter Moersch has joined CB Commercial Real Estate Group Inc. in the Laguna Hills office as a senior associate in the retail specialty division. He was previously with Koll Retail Group.

* John H. Parrish has been named to the board of directors of the Discovery Fund for Eye Research in Glendale. He is president and chief executive and a member of the board of Valley Forge Pharmaceuticals Inc., an Irvine developer of therapeutic systems to prevent myopia. Parrish is also co-founder and co-chairman of the board of directors of Advanced Corneal Systems Inc. in Irvine.

* Stephen W. Pihl has been appointed first vice president and manager of Orange National Bank’s Stadium office. He joined the bank in 1990 as assistant vice president and in 1994 was named vice president and manager.

* Mack Biggs has joined the Telecommunications Systems division of Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. as vice president of national operations. Before joining the Irvine-based company, he was national accounts manager for Willtel, and vice president of customer service for Pactel Meridian systems.

* William Rice has joined General Automation Inc. in Irvine as executive vice president. He was formerly vice president of sales, Americas and Asia Pacific for Pick Systems, and before that, vice president of U.S. sales for AST Computer. Rice has also served in sales and management positions at Burroughs Corp. and IBM, and was with General Automation from 1978 to 1987, where he held executive management positions including vice president and general manager of its European operation.

* Jennifer Prohaska has joined Johnson Gray Advertising Inc. in Irvine as a media planner. She was previously print buyer for Western International Media in Atlanta.