ING Exec to Be a Jefferies’ Vice Chairman

Jefferies & Co., a Los Angeles-based securities firm, said it hired Roy Furman from ING Barings to be a vice chairman. Furman became a vice chairman at ING Barings in 1997 when the unit of ING Groep acquired Furman Selz, the firm he founded. In June 1999, Furman resigned from his position as chief executive of Livent Inc., a Toronto-based theater company. Livent was acquired by SFX Entertainment Inc.

Vivendi Universal promoted Frederick Huntsberry to chief financial officer of its Universal Studios unit. Huntsberry was previously CFO of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios. He will be responsible for all worldwide financial activities for Universal Studios, including Universal’s theme park business. Huntsberry joined Universal in 1997 as vice president of business development for Universal Pay Television.

Zing Wireless said its chief sales and marketing officer, Jeffrey Hirsch, has been named chief executive. Prior to joining GoZing, Hirsch was executive vice president of Impact Marketing & Promotions. GoZing is a text-based wireless advertising and content network based in Encino.

GravityBox PC, a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of high-performance computers, has named four senior executives to its management team. David Houston will be president and chief executive. Phillip Chang, formerly senior vice president of Packard Bell, will be chief operations officer. Bullet Computers founder Kurt Graves will be chief technical officer. Jesse Lin, former vice president at ISystems, has been named vice president of engineering.

Christopher Rose has been named chief financial officer of Axcelerant Inc. in Irvine. He had been vice president of business development and interim chief financial officer at Flashcom Inc.