Fernando Awards Names New President

A top transportation official is the new president of Fernando Awards Inc.

Irwin G. Rosenberg, director of community and public relations for Laidlaw Transit Services in North Hollywood, was named president at the group’s annual organization meeting Friday.

Fernando Awards Inc. is a 40-year-old philanthropic organization that annually recognizes individuals who have done extensive work in volunteerism in the Valley.

“I consider the Fernando Award the Academy Award of the San Fernando Valley in the area of volunteerism and I’m very honored to be selected by my peers and fellow board members to serve in this capacity,” said Rosenberg.

Rosenberg, 38, served as the organization’s vice president in 1997.

As president, Rosenberg’s first duty is to organize a Feb. 27 dinner at the Sheraton Universal honoring last year’s recipient of the award, Flip Smith, owner of Flip’s Tire Center in Van Nuys.

Rosenberg, who will serve a two-year term, succeeds Jeffrey L. Glassman, who was named vice president of Fernando Awards Inc.

“We basically flipped positions,” said Glassman, an attorney at the law firm of Riordan & McKinzie in Los Angeles.

Also during the luncheon, three others were named to the board of directors. They are Bud Brown, public relations director for Hamer Toyota in Mission Hills; Brad Rosenheim, president of the Woodland Hills Business Improvement Assn., and Nancy Schmidt, vice president of American Pacific State Bank.

Brown received the Fernando Award in 1995 and Schmidt was the recipient in 1996.