O.C. BUSINESS PLUS : ORANGE COUNTY NEWSMAKERS : Collaborative West Names Crook Its New Principal

William R. Crook has been named principal of Collaborative West, a San Clemente provider of professional services for landscape architecture, environmental design, planning and urban design. Crook joined the firm in 1990.

* Jim Gesner has been named district manager at Merit Property Management Inc. in Mission Viejo. Gesner joined Merit in 1998 as an account executive. Donna Picciano was appointed senior account executive. Picciano was previously account executive.

* John Martin has joined the Newport Beach office of Grubb & Ellis Co. as a vice president with the investment services group. He had been with CB Richard Ellis for seven years as an investment specialist.

* Steve Hurdle is the new general manager of sales for Aliso Viejo-based ZLand.com’s corporate sales office. Hurdle comes to ZLand.com from AcuPrint Inc., in Carlsbad, where he was director of sales and marketing. Louis Columbus has been appointed director of market research. Columbus had been senior manager with Gateway Computer in Irvine. Before that, he was senior manager, electronic initiatives at Ingram Micro in Santa Ana.

* Charles Hummer III has been appointed vice president of sales for Gatekeeper Systems LLC in Irvine. Hummer will work to establish and develop a nationwide network of manufacturers’ representatives for the company’s self-braking device for shopping carts. Hummer was previously western regional sales manager for Unarco Commercial Products and Rehrig International, both in the shopping cart industry.

* Melinda Masson has been elected to the board of governors for Chapman University in Orange. She is founder and chief executive of Merit Property Management Inc. in Mission Viejo.