NEIGHBORS

Newport Beach advertising agency Lawrence, Mayo & Ponder has announced

the promotions of Bill Dicks to senior art director and Matt McNelis to

junior copywriter. Dicks joined the agency in 1997 as an art director and

has created campaigns for Business Week, California Pizza Kitchen,

Experian, Fatburger and New Horizons Computer Learning Centers. McNelis

was an intern at the agency and worked on accounts for Fatburger, AIDS

Walk, HealthAllies.com and UCI Extension. McNelis will be responsible for

concept development and copy writing for television, print, radio, direct

mail and outdoor advertising. . . . Twyla Odume of Costa Mesa was one of

more than 270 high school juniors and seniors to participate in the 24th

annual Southern California Youth Leadership Conference at Pepperdine

University in June. Odume spent four days interacting with leaders to

explore such topics as crime and punishment, free enterprise, character,

responsibilities, politics and international affairs. . . . Caron Dean

Shore has been named Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo’s new worldwide director

of human resources and administration. Shore will work in the firm’s

Newport Beach office. Shore has more than 15 years of experience in human

resources and administration leadership. . . . Mark E. Lucescu was

elected vice president of investments by the board of directors of Marcus

& Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co., the nation’s largest

real estate investment firm with offices in Newport Beach. Vice president

of investments is the highest level of recognition the firm awards to its

sales agents for consistency and excellence in maintaining client

relationships. Lucescu was named the No. 1 retail broker in the company

in 2000 for the fourth time in six years. He had aggregate closings of

about $295 million in investment real estate. . . . Ira Hermann of

Northwestern Mutual’s Waltos General Agency in Newport Beach, ranked in

the top 20 in sales among more than 7,500 Northwestern Mutual Financial

Network representatives nationwide, was recognized at the 121st annual

meeting of the Assn. of Agents for sales achievements for the year ending

May 31. The Network consistently ranks as one of the best sales forces in

the industry by Sales and Marketing Management magazine. . . . Costa Mesa

residents were also recognized for their achievements at Northwestern

Mutual. Those receiving awards at the July 23rd conference were Travis

Van Den Berg, Tyler F. Terry, James W. Lauro, Curt Carlson, Linda Lea

Wallace, Jim V. Peters, Timothy J. Molnar and Glenn M. Howard. . . .

Katrina Kaufman of Newport Coast was among the dean’s list honorees at

Columbia University for spring 2001. To be on the list, students must

maintain a grade-point average of 3.33 or higher. Columbia offers more

than 6,000 courses and comprises 15 schools and more than 100 research

institutions. Current faculty include seven Nobel Prize winners and eight

recipients of the National Medal of Science.

* NEIGHBORS spotlights achievements in the community. Please direct

noteworthy information to Bryce Alderton via fax at (949) 646-4170, or

send e-mail too7 [email protected] .