North Bay Business Journal

Banking and finance

Todd Lindemann

Redwood Credit Union named Todd Lindemann as its new senior vice president of innovation and strategy. As a member of RCU’s Senior Leadership Team, Mr. Lindemann is responsible for strategic planning, project administration and other key initiatives. He has more than 20 years of credit union experience, and served most recently as assistant vice president of electronic and card services technology at Mountain America Credit Union in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr. Lindemann is a member of the CUNA Technology Council. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from University of Wisconsin.

Exchange Bank announced that Lynda Adams has been appointed manager of both the Coddingtown and College branches. Ms. Adams most recently was the St. Francis branch manager. She has 38 years of banking and lending experience. She has served as a board member/director for The Children’s Cancer Community for the past five years. She is also a volunteer and supporter of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life events in Sonoma County.

Dana O'Halloran

Dana O’Halloran has been promoted to branch manager of Exchange Bank’s Stony Point branch. She has been with Exchange Bank for 22 years and was most recently the manager at the Cotati branch. She serves on the board of directors for Mentor Me Petaluma.

Laura Buhrer

Laura Buhrer has been named manager of Exchange Bank’s Windsor branch. She has been with the bank for four years and previously held the position of manager of the Larkfield branch.

Community organizations

Brenda Roberts

Brenda Roberts, owner of Baker Street Downtown on First Street, was named president of the Napa Downtown Association board of directors. Ms. Roberts is in her fourth year on the board. Also elected to the board was Sara Brooks, general manager of the Napa River Inn and the Napa Mill, who will serve as president-elect and Cheryl Richburg, owner of Napa Valley Traditions, was named secretary/treasurer. She first served on the board in the 1990s and was president in 1997. New members were also named to the board: Celeste Carducci, owner of Uncorked at Oxbow and the McClelland-Priest House, Steve Distler, owner of Carpe Diem, and Tom Finch, owner of Filippi’s Pizza Grotto. All three were elected for a two-year term.

Marketing

Kristi Burrows

Influx Strategic Consulting, a division of Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, hired Kristi Burrows as director of business strategy for its business innovation side of the practice. Ms. Burrows was formerly director of consumer insight, strategy and execution at Best Buy. During her nine years at Best Buy, Ms. Burrows focused on innovation, marketing, customer research and strategy development.

Media

Assemblymember Jared Huffman named Dana King of Sausalito as his 2012 Woman of the Year for the 6th Assembly District. Ms. King is an Emmy Award winning Bay Area newscaster. She is chair of the nonprofit MarinKids.

Retail

Gretchen Nelson

Gretchen Nelson has been hired as assistant manager at FFT Antiques, a retail store in south Sebastopol whose profits benefit Food For Thought, Sonoma County AIDS Food Bank. She also heads up marketing and public relations for the store. Previously, Ms. Nelson was the owner of Black Cat Quilts in San Francisco.

Senior living

Senior Access has appointed San Rafael City Councilmember Damon Connolly to its board of directors. Mr. Connolly was first elected to the San Rafael City Council in 2007 and reelected in 2011. He is the current chair of Marin Energy Authority, which provides Marin County residents with electricity using more renewable energy content at affordable prices. He also serves as a board member of the YMCA of Marin. Previously, Mr. Connolly served as a Supervising Deputy Attorney General for the State of California, prosecuting the energy companies that overcharged our state during its energy crisis. He also served as a member of the Dixie School District Board of Trustees.

Life Sciences

Jamie Wibbenmeyer has joined Biocison with more than 10 years of marketing and business development experience in the life science tool industry. Her latest position was in business development at Bio-Rad Laboratories, where she led the team in the acquisition of QuantaLife. Other roles at Bio-Rad included product management and marketing. Prior to Bio-Rad she was the director of sales and marketing at Xeotron, a DNA chip company, that was acquired by Invitrogen. She has a Ph.D. in biochemistry. In her now role, she will focus on product development and developing strategic partnerships.