Golden State Foods Picks Executive VP
Michael L. Waitukaitis has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer of Golden State Foods in Irvine. He joined the company in 1998 to head corporate development. Before that, Waitukaitis was chief financial officer of Wetterau Associates LLC, an investment partnership.
* Abbott L. Brown has joined the board of directors of Oakley Inc. in Foothill Ranch. He is chairman and chief executive of Ridgestone Corp., a private equity firm. Before joining Ridgestone, Brown was a co-founder, executive and board member of Global Crossing Ltd.; managing director and chief financial officer of Pacific Capital Group; and executive vice president, chief financial officer and board member at Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corp.
* Edwin Hoffman has been named vice president, North American support services for MTI Technology Corp. in Anaheim. He previously managed customer support and reseller training for Fore, Digital Corp., Cabletron Systems and Alcatel Data Networks.
* Mike Barmettler is the new vice president and general counsel of BuyNow in Aliso Viejo. He previously served as assistant general counsel for EPS Solutions Corp. in Chicago and has held positions in the Business and Technology group of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP and in the Corporate Transactions group of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. In addition, Bill O’Connell was named vice president of marketing. Before joining the company, O’Connell was vice president, marketing for First Data Corp.’s Direct Banking unit. He has also held senior management positions with Scoop Inc., First Interstate Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.
* Allison Geller has been named senior vice president, branch administration for Sunwest Bank in Tustin. Before joining the bank, she was with City National Bank in Los Angeles, Independence One Bank of California in Los Angeles and Michigan National Bank.
* Susan Foley has joined the board of directors of Atairgin Technologies Inc. in Irvine. She is a partner in the investment firm of Harris Bretall Sullivan & Smith Inc. in San Francisco.
* Marie K. Connell has joined PacifiCare Health Systems as senior manager, public relations in the corporate public affairs department in Santa Ana. She was previously responsible for media relations at Pacific Life Insurance Co. in Newport Beach.
* John Herr has been promoted to senior vice president of sales and marketing from vice president for Buy.com in Aliso Viejo. Before joining the company, Herr held several positions at Ziff Davis Inc., including executive vice president of marketing. In addition, Michael Walkey, who joined Buy.com in December, was promoted from vice president of product management to senior vice president. Walkey was formerly president of BLT Electronics.
* Valinda Cranfill has been appointed volunteer manager of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Orange County affiliate. She had been with Rexsons Trucking, where her duties included office management, customer relations and account management.
* Mark Levy has joined Efinity Inc. in Aliso Viejo as director of product marketing. He had been a principal with Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath, management consultants to technology-based businesses.
* Robert Acosta has been named vice president of sales and marketing for Priority Pay Inc. in Newport Beach. Before joining the company, he was vice president of sales at HNC Insurance Solutions. Acosta has also been vice president of sales and marketing at CompReview and held executive positions at Intracorp, a division of Cigna Insurance.
