Prandium Board Adds Blough, Tran
Donald C. Blough and Khanh T. Tran have joined the board of directors of Prandium Inc., an Irvine operator of restaurant chains. Tran is executive vice president and chief financial officer at Pacific Life Insurance Co. in Newport Beach. Blough is president and chief executive of DB Financial Management Inc., an investment firm. Before forming his own company, Blough was corporate vice president and chief information officer for Jack in the Box Inc.
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Linda L. Saunders has been named vice president and national director of Santa Ana-based First American Corp.’s affiliated business ventures, a new operating unit. Saunders joined First American Title Insurance Co. in 1980, serving first as Dallas national accounts coordinator and later as Texas national accounts manager and vice president of special projects. She was later appointed vice president of national accounts and associate operations manager in 1998, and vice president and national manager for Lenders Advantage Nationwide Settlement Services in 1999.
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Newport Corp. in Irvine named William R. Abbott to the newly created position of vice president of finance and treasurer, and Delia S. Van Kampen as corporate controller, both effective immediately. Abbott was vice president and corporate controller for Newport. Before joining Newport in 1997, Abbott served as vice president and corporate controller for Sunclipse Inc. He also was a consultant for Pacific One Systems and director of financial planning for Coca-Cola Enterprises’ operating unit in Los Angeles. Van Kampen, who also joined the company in 1997, was formerly senior manager of financial planning and analysis. She held various positions at Cycare Systems, including manager of corporate accounting, division controller and financial analyst.
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W. William Gaboury has been named to the board of directors for the National Multi Housing Council, based in Washington, D.C. He is president of Shea Properties in Aliso Viejo.
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F. Peter Cuneo has joined the board of directors of Water Pik Technologies Inc. in Newport Beach. He is president, chief executive and a director of Marvel Enterprises Inc.
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Claudia Thair has been appointed director of business development for the training division of Strategic HR Services in Costa Mesa. She had been director of marketing and sales for Impaq, an organizational training and development consulting firm.
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Kristen Simmons has been named vice president, marketing for Mazda North American operations in Irvine. She was formerly director of marketing. Simmons joined the company in 1999 as group manager for brand strategy and communications. Before that, she held several marketing positions at Ford Motor Co., including corporate advertising manager. She also had been a division marketing manager at the Polk Co.
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Bruce Schiller has joined Lennox Hearth Products in Fullerton as vice president of operations. He was previously vice president of operations for York International and president of the Alliance Compressor Co.
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Craig Halverson has joined Opus West Corp. as director of real estate development for the Southern California office in Irvine. Previously, he was director of industrial property development with Catellus Development Corp.
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Steve Johnson has been elected to the board of directors of Keen Personal Media, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corp. in Irvine. Johnson is a founding partner and chief executive of Sage Hill Partners, a venture capital firm in Cambridge, Mass. Johnson was vice president of America Online’s Software and Technology Development division until mid-1999.
