Neighbors

Elizabeth Mitsunaga and DeVerges Jones were hired by Pretend City, the

Children’s Museum of Orange County, with offices in Newport Beach.

Mitsunaga has been named the director of exhibits and will be responsible

for directing and coordinating architectural design, exhibit design and

fabrication, and construction of Pretend City, which will be a

52,000-square-foot museum offering children and families the opportunity

to learn as they play in an interactive child-size city that is intended

to stimulate the intellectual curiosity of children in an innovative

environment. She worked more than 12 years for Walt Disney Imagineering,

eventually becoming engineering manager. She was part of the design and

construction team of the Tree of Life at Walt Disney’s Animal Kingdom at

Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and was a project manager for Tokyo

Disney Sea. Jones was hired as a director of marketing. He has directed

marketing activities for companies ranging from middle-market firms and

e-commerce start-ups to high profile, top-ranked companies such as

Pepsi-Cola, Mars, Burger King, Kodak, Philips and AT&T.; Jones will be

responsible for research, strategic planning and all marketing

communications. During his career, he has doubled United States retail

sales of Kal Kan to $1.1 billion and secured the No. 1 brand ranking for

Pedigree food for dogs in the U.S. . . . Robbins Jorgensen Christopher,

an architecture firm with offices in San Diego and Newport Beach, has

three new professional team members and has promoted another. Jason

Briscoe has rejoined the firm after three years with the Los Angeles firm

of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates. Kristine Steffen joins the firm as

its new director of interior design, bringing more than 14 years of

architectural experience with corporate, entertainment, hospitality and

commercial clients. She was most recently employed by Newport Beach-based

Gensler and Associates. Karyn Sandin is the firm’s new marketing manager

with a background in visual arts and architecture. She was previously

employed with HOK Architects. Tom Garcia has been promoted to a

registered landscape architect in California. Robbins, working with

general contractor Soltek Pacific, won a $9.3-million design and build

competition for the Systems Integration Laboratory at Port Hueneme. . . .

Costa Mesa resident Shawn Silver will study at the University of Florence

in Italy for the 2001-02 Cal State University International Program. To

qualify, students must be upper division or in graduate standing with a

minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.75 or 3.0, depending on the

program. The Cal State Chico student is an art history major and is one

of 32 Chico students of 557 total students accepted into the program. The

International Program offers qualified students the chance to study

abroad for a full academic year.

* NEIGHBORS spotlights achievements in the community. Please direct

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

send e-mail too7 bryce.alderton@latimes.comf7 .