North Bay Business Journal

NOVATO — Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company today named Andrew Torrance as its new president and chief executive officer.

He is Fireman’s Fund’s fifth executive since 2007.

NAPA — A rapidly expanding company that aims to make it easier to build websites and attract visitors to them itself is finding it easier than expected to entice prospective employees to work at its south Napa headquarters.

NAPA — Commercial real estate broker Burt Polson, who has operated ACRES Real Estate Services in the city for two decades, is joining Strong & Hayden Commercial Real Estate, the brokerage announced today.

PETALUMA — The first North Bay Manufacturing Trade Fair and Jobs Expo, held on Feb. 20 at the Sequoia Business Center, attracted more than 340 attendees, including 100 high school students and dozens of candidates looking for jobs.

Michelle Crosbie has joined Burr Pilger Mayer in Santa Rosa, following more than ten years of experience in public accounting that most recently included Santa Rosa-based Dal Poggetto & Co.

HEALDSBURG — The board of directors of the North Sonoma County Healthcare District today announced the appointment of George Protos as interim chief executive officer. He will begin the role on Jan. 1.

NAPA — The brains behind two fast-growing Napa-founded Internet companies is back with a third — Attracta — and the 2-year-old company now is looking to attract 120 hires to Napa Valley next year to handle a customer base that is projected to double.

PETALUMA — Raydiance wants to significantly increase production of its high-precision lasers in the next year and is expanding its manufacturing workforce to match a recent move to a larger headquarters and $20 million in new capital that has made both possible.

Santa Rosa law firm Spaulding McCullough & Tansil, LLP, brought on two new attorneys, Richard Hicks and Jocelyn Yeh Lin.

Overall expectations for company growth in the second half of 2012 remain positive are lower than for the beginning of the year, according to statistics available for the San Francisco Bay Area and Sonoma County.

Sonoma County employers expect to hire at a moderate pace in the third quarter.

Bay Area Council’s spring 2012 business confidence index slipped to 61 — still positive — out of 100 from 66 in winter.

Share your thoughts: Does your company plan to expand, shrink or stay the same in the second half of 2012?

My company just lost a long-time senior manager. She was a very effective, successful, and well regarded leader. A member of her team has taken the management role on an interim basis. He’s a very capable “company man” but not necessarily the strong leader our company needs for this strategic leadership role. How can we make sure we find the right fit?

SANTA ROSA — VinoPro is sprouting new salespeople almost as fast as the spring shoots supplying grapes to the company’s growing cellar of clients.

Sonoma County employers expect to hire at a moderate pace in the third quarter, with 13 percent of companies saying they expected to boost staffing levels between July and September, according to a survey by international staffing firm Manpower Group.

SANTA ROSA — The board of directors of TriVascular, Inc. appointed Christopher G. Chavez as chairman, CEO and president, effective immediately. Mr. Chavez takes over from TriVascular co-founder Michael V. Chobotov, Ph.D., who was appointed chief technology officer and will continue to serve on the company’s board.

NORTH BAY — Employers in Sonoma County are more confident about the prospect of hiring in the second quarter compared to last year, with 13 percent saying they expected to increase staffing levels, according to a quarterly survey by ManpowerGroup, an international staffing firm with a Santa Rosa location. And overall in the North Bay, employers are generally more confident about the economy than they have been, suggesting that a slow but steady economic recovery is wending its way through region, employment experts said.

New tax incentives for hiring veterans could mean tax savings, but in order to take advantage of these incentives, businesses need to have the know-how.

SANTA ROSA — The Langer family of Southern California, who acquired a sparkling juice bottling plant in Healdsburg three years ago, is making a multimillion-dollar bet on Sonoma County with a more than four-fold larger bottling plant with three times as much production capacity to support its new Langers of Sonoma brand.

SAUSALITO — Sanovas Inc. today announced it will expand its corporate headquarters in Marin County’s southernmost city and start local assembly of key components for its microsurgical devices, used in diagnosing and treating cancer and other chronic diseases. The startup plans to hire 20 locally this year.

SAN RAFAEL — Novato-based BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (Nasdaq: BMRN) today said it plans to relocate several hundred employees from its Bel Marin Keys headquarters plant to downtown San Rafael by the end of this year.

FAIRFIELD — Partnership HealthPlan of California said it is undergoing a significant expansion that includes plans to grow its 280-person workforce by as much as 30 percent through 2014, while having created over 60 jobs in 2011.