Eshelman to Head New Ogilvy Office in Los Angeles
* Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide has formed a practice area in entertainment to be based in Los Angeles and has named BWR Public Relations managing director Henry Eshelman as its head. Cindy Guagenti will run the talent unit and Paulette Kam will oversee the consumer and lifestyles products unit. Ogilvy acquired BWR in 1999.
* Jennifer Simpson has been appointed president of Los Angeles-based Type A Films, the production company of actress Reese Witherspoon.
* Neil G. Socquet has been named senior vice president of acquisitions of SunAmerica Affordable Housing Partners Inc. in Los Angeles.
* Yvonne Napoleon has been promoted to branch manager of Pac-West Telecomm’s Brea and Burbank sales offices. Napoleon has 13 years of telecom experience, including positions at Qwest Communications, Pacific Bell and Teligent.
* Katherine J. Schipper has joined Comerica Bank-California’s Beverly Hills real estate office as a vice president. She is a former executive with Citycorp Real Estate.
* PricewaterhouseCoopers has appointed Scott Spector as executive director of business development for the firm’s entertainment and media practice in Los Angeles. He is a former chairman and chief executive of Venture, a business-to-business broadband satellite provider.
* Architecture and design firm Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership has promoted Antoinette Buckley and Julie Root to associate partners.
* Engineering and planning firm Willdan of Anaheim has promoted Davie L. Hunt to senior vice president and regional manager of its Orange County office.
* Los Angeles real estate brokerage Colliers Seeley International Inc. has named Linda Hagelis and Bill Hagelis as vice presidents of its retail group. The couple were brokers at NAI Capital Commercial.
* Fountain View Inc., a Burbank-based operator of long-term-care facilities, has appointed John H. Harrison as its chief financial officer. He comes from Evergreen Healthcare Management.
* M. Jeannie Volger has been appointed vice president of sales for consumer electronics at Norcent Technology Inc., a maker of DVDs and high-definition televisions in San Dimas. She was a sales executive at Iomega.
* Christopher J. Kersting has become the new president of the Specialty Equipment Market Assn., succeeding Charles R. Blum, who served as chief of staff of the Diamond Bar-based automotive aftermarket trade group for 22 years. Kersting, 40, is an attorney who represented numerous automotive-related firms in Washington before joining SEMA full time in 1996. He has served as executive vice president of the 4,500-member trade group for the last two years as part of a planned transition. Blum, who is retiring, will become SEMA’s president emeritus and serve in an advisory capacity.
