Executive Spotlight
Terry Magee has joined Wavestream Corp. as executive vice president in its recently opened local satellite office. In this position, Magee will be responsible for business development, sales, marketing and product management for Wavestream, which designs and manufactures radio frequency amplifiers for satellite communications systems.
Magee served for 27 years in the U.S. Navy as an aviator. Subsequently, he served as president of Orincon Corp. International, overseeing significant sales and market growth until the acquisition of the company by Lockheed Martin Corp. He has since served in senior operational and strategic positions with Lockheed Martin.
Magee holds an M.B.A. from the Naval Postgraduate School and a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from State University of New York Brockport. He is active in several community organizations, including Operation Homefront, United Through Reading, Palomar College Foundation and Achievement Rewards for College Students.
Banking and Finance
Security Business Bank Chief Credit Officer and Executive Vice President Gail Jensen-Bigknife has been appointed to The Risk Management Association’s Community Bank Council. The Risk Management Association is a not-for-profit, member-driven professional group that promotes effective risk management practices a institutions. The Community Bank Council is one of a number of working committees that reports to the organization’s board of directors. Jensen-Bigknife is a co-founder of Security Business Bank and has decades of banking experience, including service with California First Bank, now Union Bank of California; San Diego National Bank, which she co-founded; Peninsula Bank of San Diego; and U.S. Bank.
Ashley Rapp has joined Petix & Botte Financial, formerly known as Tax & Financial Services Co., as client relations manager. For the part-time position, she is responsible for maintaining client relations, business development, database management, marketing collateral, Web site management, public relations and event coordination. Before joining the company, she was a marketing manager for Architects | Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker. Rapp has more than 10 years of experience in marketing professional services and six years of experience in the publishing industry.
Construction and Design
Ronald E. Weber and Dan Owens have been named special projects manager and director of construction/trade services at GMI, respectively. Both most recently worked for a large, national facility and maintenance services firm specializing in build-outs and maintenance for regional malls. Weber brings 29 years of experience in facilities, maintenance management and special projects administration, including 20 years of naval service. Owens will oversee all aspects and activities for the Construction/Trade Services Division. He has maintained a long history of leadership and management positions in the construction industry and has a lifetime of experience in tenant improvements and ongoing maintenance.
Veteran construction manager Rick Hill has joined Lackman Commercial Group as a commercial real estate agent. Hill has more than 20 years of construction and engineering firm ownership and leadership experience in California, with expertise in senior apartment development. Previously, he worked for River Builders and West Coast Construction, and was vice president of corporate properties for Interstate Bank. He brings significant knowledge of cost segregation, tenant improvement construction and site feasibility to the growing Lackman team in San Diego.
Government and Nonprofit
William Eigner, partner of Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP, has been elected to the San Diego Venture Group’s board of directors for a six-year term beginning Jan. 1. SDVG is a nonprofit organization designed to form, fund and build new ventures, in addition to providing a network forum for entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and advisers, in an effort to help San Diego become a significant entrepreneurial and venture center. Eigner’s practice emphasizes venture capital and the financing, governing, operating, buying, selling and merging of growing technology and other businesses. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Christopher D. Maston has been formally sworn into office as U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s new port director at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa passenger ports of entry. Maston has 24 years of experience in managing the processing of international travelers and trade. He began his federal career in 1985 as a border patrol agent in El Paso, Texas, and later became a U.S. Customs Service inspector at the Calexico port and served in progressively more responsible positions during the past two decades. Maston most recently served for two years as port director at the Miami International Airport, managing more than 1,300 employees at the largest international airport operating in the United States for air cargo and the second largest for international traveler processing.
The California Nations Indian Gaming Association, the state’s largest tribal gaming group, has hired Daniel J. Tucker as chairman and Steve Stallings as treasurer. Tucker is also the chairman of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and served as chairman of CNIGA between 1995 and 2001. Stallings is a tribal council member of the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians and director of the Native American Banking Services Group for Wells Fargo. Tucker and Stallings have been elected to two-year terms. In addition, Leon Benner has been re-elected as eastern representative and Cody Martinez, treasurer of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, has been elected as southern representative. The California Nations Indian Gaming Association is a nonprofit featuring federally recognized tribal governments dedicated to the protection of tribal sovereignty and the right of tribes to conduct gaming on their lands.
The Girl Scouts of the USA has elected San Diego Beauty Academy’s Lynelle Lynch to the San Diego-Imperial Council board of directors. Lynch serves on the boards of the California Association of Postsecondary Schools and five other industry organizations. As executive vice president of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, Lynch increased membership and dramatically improved the organization’s financial position. She created a value-added benefit program that 34 other chambers have adopted.
Law
Brandy Thompson Cody has joined Fisher & Phillips LLP as a partner in its San Diego office. An experienced labor and employment attorney, Cody focuses her practice on the representation of employers and management in all aspects of employment and law litigation. She has extensive experience representing clients in matters involving wrongful termination, sexual harassment, discrimination, contract claims, workplace violence, stock option disputes and wage and hour claims. Cody graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from UC San Diego.
A San Diego business litigation law firm, Brown Law Group has hired Adriana Cara as an attorney. Cara’s practice focuses on labor and employment law as well as advising management on federal and state employment law compliance. She specializes in the preparation of employee handbooks and employment-related contracts, including arbitration, severance and compensation agreements. Cara has practiced at Fine, Boggs & Perkins LLP; Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP; and Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, where she advised clients in connection with employee terminations and discipline, sexual harassment, retaliation, and Labor Code Section 132a claims. Cara earned her law degree from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles.
Crystal Scripps McKellar has joined Morrison & Foerster LLP as a senior associate in the litigation department. Previously, she was an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in New York. McKellar was named to the well-respected British publication Global Competition Review’s list of 100 Women in Antitrust 2009, alongside world leaders in competitive law and policy. She has experience in securities, antitrust and commercial litigation matters, and has participated in confidential internal investigations on behalf of public companies facing potential criminal and regulatory exposure. McKellar graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, received a master’s degree in history from Oxford University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Yale University.
Miscellaneous
Pamela Horsley has been named collections manager for the Entomology Department at the San Diego Natural History Museum. She was hired as part of a grant from the National Science Foundation titled “Improved Accessibility and Rapid Computerization of the San Diego Natural History Entomological Collections.” In her new position, she will be responsible for the daily management of a two-year project designed to create an online storage-location inventory to form a base line for future goals and improvements, reorganize the collection, rehouse the fluid preserved collection for better long-term storage and access, and develop an online type-specimen image database for the 211 primary types held in the department. She will also be involved in general collection management activities such as loan preparation, public inquiries and tours, purchasing, supervision of students and volunteers, and managing the use of the collection.
Sushi: A Center for the Urban Arts has welcomed two new members to the board of directors, Steven B. Johnson and Beth Miller. The two individuals will be joining the 12 other board members as they work to strengthen Sushi’s role as a vital career center for the urban arts. Johnson, San Diego Convention Center vice president, brings 17 years of professional leadership experience in marketing, and public and government affairs. He has been chairman of the board of directors of the Stepping Stone of San Diego and Grant Allocations Committee for the San Diego HIV Funding Collaborative. Miller, of Miller Design, brings 22 years of experience in commercial interiors and a broad knowledge and competency in problem solving, budgeting and communication. She has aided in interior design, construction management and documentation, pre-leasing and preliminary design for companies including Cox Communications Inc., GEM Engineering Inc., Mission Federal Credit Union and Texas Instruments Inc.
Real Estate
Ray Magnussen of Paragon Services has been selected by leaders from the eight metropolitan Building Owners and Managers Associations as vice president to help lead the statewide organization, Boma California, for 2010. Magnussen has been an active member of Boma San Diego and served as president of the organization in 2007 and previously served as vice president and member-at-large.
