Merisel Appoints Its CFO as President, Chief Executive
* Merisel Chief Financial Officer Timothy Jenson was appointed president and chief executive of the El Segundo-based software distributor. Jenson replaces turnaround specialist David Sadler, who was hired last July to help the struggling company. Sadler will continue with the company as a consultant.
Sadler restructured the company’s U.S. and Canadian operations and oversaw the downsizing of the U.S. distribution business. In December, the company said it would get out of the computer hardware distribution business and lay off 25% of its work force in an effort to stem continuing losses.
Jenson joined Merisel as treasurer in 1993 and became CFO in 1998. In January 2000, he assumed additional responsibilities as Merisel’s executive vice president, overseeing key operational functions.
Before joining Merisel, Jenson was vice president at Citicorp North America.
* Chris Kruszynski and Taylor Burch have been promoted to associates in the Los Angeles office of architectural firm Cunningham Group. Both work in the firm’s entertainment studios unit. Kruszynski joined the firm in 1996 and worked on a variety of projects, including Grand Casino Zurich, Switzerland, and the prototype for NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway. Burch’s projects include Warner
Bros. Movie World Madrid and WaterWorld at Universal Studios Hollywood. He joined the firm in 1988.
* Gretchen Humbert has joined Los Angeles-based Genex as chief financial officer. She was a client partner at Razorfish. Genex is an Internet development and consulting firm that also has offices in Atlanta and Denver. The company also promoted Joe Staffel to director of business development in its L.A. office. He was an account executive at Metamor IT Solution.
* Karen McTier has been promoted to executive vice president of domestic licensing for Warner Bros. consumer products. She joined the company in 1988 as director of licensing and was instrumental in launching the Batman licensing program with the first film in 1989.
