Ed Galigher Named President of Empire Communities

Veteran homebuilder Ed Galigher has joined the Empire Cos. and will be the president of its Pleasanton-based Empire Communities, a homebuilding business-unit. Empire Communities has operations in Southern California and Arizona. He will be responsible for all divisions of Empire Communities.

Galigher played for eight years in the National Football League, three years with the New York Jets and three years with the San Francisco 49ers. He retired from the NFL in 1979. His first position in the homebuilding industry was with KB Home in 1985, where he spent 11 years. In 1996, he joined Western Pacific Housing, which was later acquired by D.R. Horton.

Galigher started Western Pacific Housing in the Bay Area as its sole employee in April 1996. In 1998, he delivered 108 homes and engineered the acquisition of Porter Homes.

Themed Entertainment Association Elects Castro Valley's Thorburn

Castro Valley-based Steven J. Thorburn was among seven individuals recently elected to the international board of directors of the Themed Entertainment Association.

His themed entertainment experience began with the Disney MGM Studios Tours project where he was one of the primary acoustical engineers.

Thorburn has been involved in more than 150 other themed and leisure entertainment projects, including new projects and lands for Disney and Universal, specialty theaters, IMAX and other large format theaters, family entertainment centers and construction guidelines and feasibility studies for international projects.

Thorburn is a co-founder and a principal of San Francisco-based Thorburn Associates, an acoustical consulting and technology engineering firm with other offices in Los Angeles and Raleigh, No. N.C.

Kenneth Curtis and Mark Hartney Named Co-Chairs at Allen Matkins

Los Angeles-based Allen Matkins Leck Gamble & Mallory, a real estate law firm, named Partners Kenneth W. Curtis (Orange County) and Mark R. Hartney (Los Angeles) as co-chairs of the firm's Construction Law Practice Group.

Curtis is based in Orange County and Mark R. Hartney is based in Los Angeles.

Curtis is a litigation partner specializing in the areas of public and private works construction, business and real estate. He is a member of the Association of General Contractors of California, the State Bar of California and the Orange County Bar Association.

Hartney's practice concentrates on real estate litigation with an emphasis on contract claims, construction, land use and environmental litigation. Hartney is a member of the State Bar and the American Bar Association.

Kearny Real Estate Promotes Anne Price

Anne Price has been promoted to director of property management at Los Angeles-based Kearny Real Estate Co.

Price is responsible for Kearny's nearly 1.5 million-sq.-ft. office and industrial portfolio in California. She joined the firm's management group in October, principally to oversee the operations for Kearny's Heritage Corporate Center, a 720,000-sq.-ft., mixed-use business park in Santa Fe Springs.

Price is a licensed commercial real estate salesperson and has more than 20 years of business management experience with Insignia/ESG, b2bstores.com and Stater Brothers Markets.

William Sharon Promoted to VP at Smith Consulting Architects

William Sharon has been promoted to vice president at San Diego-based Smith Consulting Architects.

Sharon is charged with all phases of retail project design, from marketing and development of conceptual designs through design refinement. He has completed more than 2 million sq. ft. of retail design projects throughout San Diego County.

Sharon joined Smith Consulting Architects in 1996 as director of retail design. He also has led the firm's design team on various retail, office and industrial projects.

Most recently, Sharon has been charged with developing retail, office, industrial and tenant improvement projects in Riverside and Imperial counties. Recent notable projects include The Pavilion at La Quinta, Valley Independent Bank, D'Mundo Tile Showroom and Warehouse, and Desert Business Park.

Prior to joining Smith Consulting Architects, Sharon worked for several San Diego area architectural firms, including Don Edson Architects, Richard Yen & Associates and M.W. Steele Group Architects.

Robert Kelley Joins Keeton Construction as Project Manager

Robert Kelley has joined Temecula-based Keeton Construction Co. Inc. as project manager.

He previously served as project manager at Signal Hill-based CC&D Builders Inc. He also gained management experience as the Southern California district manager for Kentucky Fried Chicken, where he spent 17 years.

WATG Promotes Perry Brown to VP

Perry Brown has been elected to vice president of Newport Beach-based Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo.

Brown currently serves as managing director for WATG's Newport Beach and Orlando offices. He joined WATG in 1992, became a senior associate in 2000 and director of architecture in 2001.

Newland Communities Names Robert Bernstein VP/CIO

San Diego-based Newland Communities has named Robert Bernstein vice president and chief information officer. As a member of Newland's executive leadership team, he participates in the strategic planning process for the company and coordinates the strategic information systems plan with all appropriate company functions.

Bernstein previously was senior manager for Deloitte in Los Angeles, leading the firm's real estate consulting practice for the western region. He worked for Deloitte for 11 years. Before that, he held positions with Pacific Bell in San Francisco and with a real estate brokerage company in Los Angeles.

Bernstein received an MBA from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration in Rochester, N.Y., in 1993. He also is a certified public accountant.

Newland Communities is currently developing planned residential communities in 11 states.

SB Architects Adds 6 to Staff

San Francisco-based SB Architects has added six new employees.

Gil Garcia, a 27-year veteran of the architecture industry, joined the firm's senior staff as a project architect. He comes to SB Architects from his own firm, Garcia Teague Architecture & Interiors Inc., where he was president and principal architect for 13 years.

Conrado Dominguez re-joins SB Architects as a senior staff member in its construction administration department, after a several-year hiatus pursuing independent projects. He has 25 years of experience.

David Louie joins the firm as a senior designer. His large mixed-use projects include two new island resorts in the Caribbean. He has 10 years of experience.

Acting in project management and project architect capacities, Aaron Hoffmans brings to SB Architects a wealth of experience in the design and management of hotels, resorts and multi-family residential projects.

Jhenyu Wang is a LEED-accredited professional with nearly a decade of experience in both the United States and China.

Brent Van Gunten joins the firm as a job captain, working on the renovation of the historic Maryland Hotel in San Diego. He has five years of architectural experience and a background in commercial and high-end residential design.

Mark Blunck Named Communications Manager at Avila Design

Mark Blunck has joined Oakland-based Avila Design. He previously served as marketing coordinator with Alameda-based MBH Architects.