People: Week of June 17, 2013

Banking and Finance 

[caption id="attachment_74964" align="alignleft" width="180"] Tina Laviolette[/caption]

Tina Laviolette joined Mechanics Bank’s new Napa office as financial services manager. A Napa native, she previously served as office manager in Mechanics Bank’s Pinole Vista office from late 2010 until early this year. Ms. Laviolette 's 14-year career began with World Savings prior to its merger with Wachovia. She helped lead its Corte Madera branch through the merger, then served as manager for the Wachovia Napa branch for seven years, in turn leading it through the merger with Wells Fargo. She recently was chosen for a board position at Cope Family Center. 

[caption id="attachment_74965" align="alignright" width="180"] Zack Honeycut[/caption]

Allen Wine Group, LLP, a wine industry business advisory service and CPA firm, hired Zack Honeycutt as accounting manager. Mr. Honeycutt comes to the Allen Wine Group from Moss Adams, LLP, where he spent four years in the Santa Rosa office as a senior auditor working primarily with wine industry clients. Prior to Moss Adams, he was the staff accountant for a Sonoma County-based restaurant chain. He is a graduate of the Sonoma State University accounting certificate program and holds a BA in English from California State University, East Bay.Entertainment

Laurence Lea has been named media and community relations coordinator at Sonoma Raceway. Prior to joining Sonoma Raceway, Mr. Lea worked on a number of political campaigns, including serving as campaign manager for the re-election of Rep. Mike Thompson and Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis. He also worked as an intern for Rep. George Miller, as well as within the California Legislature. He completed his undergraduate degree at Morehouse College in Atlanta. The Vallejo native is also president and founder of the Solano County Young Democrats.Health Care

Kaiser Permanente San Rafael Medical Center named Susan Cowderoy, RN, MS, CNS, its new stroke coordinator. She has spent most of her 25-year career in the area of critical care, but has worked in a variety of clinical capacities including oncology, spinal cord injury, recovery room, home health, and nursing management. Ms. Cowderoy has worked for Kaiser Permanente since 1997 and holds a BS in nursing from the University of San Francisco and an MS in nursing from University of California, San Francisco.Insurance

Life Sales, LLC, a national annuity and life insurance field marketing organization based in Novato, hired Gino Wang as its new vice president of sales, Lindsay Comins as national recruiting director, and Kevin King as marketing communications coordinator. Also, long-time compliance officer Steve Cervantes was promoted to designated supervisory principal for Questar Capital Corp. and Quester Asset Management. Mr. Wang will oversee the marketing directors and sales team at Life Sales. He previously held upper management positions at Combined Insurance, Farmers Insurance, Nationwide, and Automobile Club of Southern California. Ms. Comins is the third recruiter to the Life Sales team, bringing her experience from Transamerica. Mr. King comes to Life Sales via Legacy Marketing Group and Crittenden Research Inc., having worked in marketing support capacities, and will serve the company’s growing communications staff. Before joining Life Sales in 2011, Mr. Cervantes served as a FINRA senior compliance examiner, an international compliance officer with an NYSE member firm, a chief compliance officer, AML officer, and financial operations principal with a FINRA member firm.Wine

Howell Mountain Vineyards in Angwin appointed Bryan Kane its new winemaker. Over the last 10 years, Mr. Kane has worked out of several wineries like Copain and Nicholson Ranch, and is currently the winemaker for The Winery SF.With Howell Mountain Vineyards Mr. Kane will focus on zinfandel and cabernet sauvignon, the two varietals for which the region is best known. He was recently recognized as one of the "Next Generation Cult Winemakers" by Sommelier Journal.

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