IN BRIEF / PEOPLE

* Michael J. Simmons has been named chief executive of IPNet Solutions Inc., a business-to-business software developer based in Newport Beach. He is a former executive at Epicor and PowerCerv.

Simmons is replacing Don Willis, company founder and former CEO. Willis will remain on the board.

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Robert Salvaria has been named chief financial officer of RealEnergy, a Woodland Hills-based on-site energy company. He is a former director of corporate finance at Sempra Energy.

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Rick Finkelstein, president and chief operating officer of Universal Pictures, has had his contract renewed for five more years. Finkelstein oversees the division’s business operations worldwide.

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Elisabeth Charles has been promoted from vice president of marketing operations to senior vice president of global corporate marketing at Herbalife International Inc., a Los Angeles-based nutritional supplement marketer.

Before joining Herbalife eight months ago, she held several marketing positions with Taco Bell and Frito-Lay Inc.

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Dan Baker has been named president and partner of Absinthe Pictures, a Los Angeles-based entertainment marketing and production group. He is a former executive of Ifilm.

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John O’Sullivan has been named general manager of the newly formed Missile Defense Division of the Aerospace Corp. of El Segundo. He will oversee a team of federally funded and other research centers working with the new federal Missile Defense Agency.

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Judith M. Guido has been named chief marketing officer and vice president of Environmental Industries Inc., a Calabasas-based landscape services firm.

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Mike Catalano and Josef Farrar have been promoted to senior managing directors of Julien J. Studley Inc., a Los Angeles-based commercial real estate firm.

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Roxane Suurvarik and Ira Gershkoff have joined Tatum CIO Partners as partners in Los Angeles. Tatum is a national partnership of career chief information officers.

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Craig Berrett has joined Santa Monica-based Muselli Commercial Realtors as a senior vice president.

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Helene Tricarico has been named West Coast director of Women’s Wear Daily. She was formerly an executive with Jammfactory Inc.

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Natalee C. Greene has been promoted to African American segment manager of the emerging markets administration division of Union Bank of California in Los Angeles.

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Rich Contino has joined Encino-based advertising agency Inter/Media as manager of client services. He is a former executive at Santa Monica-based Mercury Media. Leili Nassiri, formerly of Initiative Media, has joined Inter/Media as associate planning director.

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Elizabeth Goldman has been promoted to executive vice president of PCS Property Management, a division of Los Angeles-based PCS Development Inc.

* David Grote has been named a partner and stockholder of commercial real estate firm the Klabin Co. of Los Angeles.

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Brad McCoy has joined First Federal Bank as executive vice president, community banking, responsible for the growth and retention of the Santa Monica-based bank’s middle market client base. McCoy is a former senior vice president at Wells Fargo’s banking group.

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Bob Kruger has been promoted to marketing manager of Los Angeles-based adhesive maker Vantico’s line of Araldite brand structural epoxy and other products.

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Marion Perkins has joined Western Security Surplus Insurance Brokers Inc. as vice president and manager of its Pasadena office.

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Gary Kowalski has been promoted to managing director of business consulting firm Parson Group’s Los Angeles office.

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Robert Shustak has joined Metropolitan West Financial as a principal and chief operating officer of the Los Angeles financial services holding company.