Designory Names President-CEO
Janet Thompson has been appointed president and chief executive of Designory Inc., a Long Beach-based marketing communications design firm that specializes in brand integration. Since 1995, Thompson had been vice president of the interactive golf division of Carlsbad-based Callaway Golf Co.
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Walt Disney Co.’s Eddie Sotto, one of the top creative executives in its division that designs theme parks and resorts, resigned to join closely held Internet company Digital Entertainment Network as executive vice president of creative affairs.
Sotto, a 13-year veteran at Walt Disney Imagineering, will join former Disney television division President David Neuman at Santa Monica-based Digital Entertainment, which offers Web programming targeting an under-25 audience.
At Disney, Sotto headed an internal “think tank,” where he helped develop restaurants, shops and shows for theme parks including Disneyland in Anaheim.
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Former Land Rover design chief Gerry McGovern has been hired as director of Lincoln design for Ford Motor Co., in a move intended to fix Ford’s domestic luxury brand firmly alongside Aston Martin, Jaguar and Volvo in its new Premier Automotive Group. McGovern, 42, also has worked as a designer at Chrysler Corp. in Britain and at Peugeot in France. He is a graduate of Royal College of Art in London. McGovern will divide his time between Ford’s main design center in Dearborn and its Lincoln Mercury design center in Southern California.
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Lowe Enterprises Inc., a Los Angeles-based real estate development, investment and management firm, named Robert J. Lowe Jr. senior vice president of Destination Development Corp., the firm’s hospitality and resort development subsidiary. Lowe joined the firm in 1992 and most recently served as director of Hotel Development Group. Along with managing hotel development and redevelopment activities, Lowe will now be responsible for the firm’s resort community development activities.
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Warner Bros.’ WB Network has named Michael Clements vice president of current programming of its Michigan J. Frog Productions unit and will be involved in all creative aspects of the network’s six nights of prime-time programming.
