Cogent Light Names President, COO

Dennis Davis has been named president and chief operating officer of Cogent Light Technologies Inc., a Santa Clarita-based maker of high-intensity single-fiber light sources for medical applications. He had been general manager. Privately held Cogent Light is backed by billionaire investor John Kluge’s Metromedia Co.

* Los Angeles-based Internet video retailer DVD Express Inc. has named Victoria Piper vice president and chief information officer. She spent the previous eight years at US Sales Corp., where she most recently was information systems director.

* Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. has promoted Joy Abbott to senior vice president of worldwide distribution services. She will be responsible for product rights, contract administration and other issues related to the Santa Monica-based entertainment firm’s film and television properties.

* Todd Anderson has been promoted to senior vice president at Cushman Realty Corp., a Los Angeles-based real estate brokerage. At Cushman since 1995, Anderson had a real estate transaction volume of $250 million last year.