Neighbors

Susan Valen-Hogberg was named director of sales and marketing for the

Atrium Hotel at John Wayne Airport. She now oversees all aspects of the

214-room hotel’s sales and marketing efforts, including the management of

10 sales and catering professionals. She has served senior sales roles

for the Hilton Anaheim, the Doubletree Hotel in Orange and the Holiday

Inn in Buena Park. She was the marketing director for the former Planet

Hollywood at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa and was vice president of

sales for Valen Transportation of Anaheim. VenQuest Hotel Group owns and

operates the Atrium Hotel and the Guesthouse Hotel in Long Beach, the Red

Lion in Denver, the Ramada Denver Airport, the Red Lion Salem in Salem,

Ore., and the Quality Inn-Portland Airport. . . . Many Costa Mesa and

Newport Beach students attending UC Santa Barbara made the dean’s list

for the winter term. The undergraduate students earned the honor by

attaining a grade-point average of 3.75 or more on a program of 12 or

more units in the College of Letters and Science, or 3.5 in the College

of Engineering. The following Costa Mesa residents made the dean’s list

with major listed after their name: Alexis Wellington Ary, undeclared;

Dana Helen Cassity, communication and sociology; Benjamin William Ritter,

art studio; and Nathaniel Hollis Bays Thaler, pre-psychology. The

following Newport Beach residents made the list with major listed after

their name: Alexei Rex Babazadeh, business economics; John Joseph Graas,

undeclared; and April Mackenna Mosier, pre-law and society. . . . Junior

Nicole Yoshiko Stevens of Newport Beach was one of 1,853 students out of

14,747 undergraduates at the University of Oregon to make the dean’s list

for the 2001 fall term. Students must attain a 3.75 grade-point average

with a minimum of 12 units to qualify for the honor. . . .

Representatives from a Newport Beach fixed-income management company

announced that Makoto Takano has been appointed president of Pacific

Investment Management Co.-Japan. Takano will now be responsible for the

company’s business operations in Japan. He joined the company in October

after working as an operating officer and chief of planning and research

with Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The company’s chief executive said

the company manages about $6 billion in Japanese assets of the $11

billion in total Asian assets. The company was founded in 1971 and is

based in Newport Beach.

* NEIGHBORS spotlights achievements in the community. Please direct

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

send e-mail to o7 bryce.alderton@latimes.comf7 .