Opal Concepts Taps McConnell as CEO

Cameron J. McConnell has been named chief executive and president of Anaheim-based Opal Concepts Inc., which operates or franchises more than 1,700 hair salons. He succeeds Ted D. Nelson, founder of the company, who will retain the title of chairman, and Robert E. Greene, who retired after more than three years as president. McConnell was previously responsible for leading the corporate turnaround of Purex Industries’ Aerospace division.

* Adolph Meave has been appointed chief technology officer of Thehealthchannel.com in Newport Beach. Meave had been with Cambridge Technology Partners.

* Robert J. Pickell has been named executive vice president of marketing for Escrow.com in Santa Ana and Peter Schlosser is the new executive vice president of sales and business development. Prior to joining the company, Pickell was vice president of marketing for Change.com., vice president of marketing of Stamps.com and group director of marketing and business development for AirTouch Cellular. Schlosser was previously managing partner of MarchFirst, where his duties included establishing and building the Orange County office within the Southern California region. Schlosser was also vice president of business development and officer for GEO Interactive.

* Charles Boesenberg has joined the board of directors of Epicor Software Corp. in Irvine. He is president of Post PC Ventures, a management and investment group.

* Jeff Smith is the new chief technology officer of iStarXchange in Irvine. He had been senior vice president and general manager of IT Solutions’ Western region, and before that, was chief information officer and vice president of global information systems and technology at Allied Signal, Turbocharging Systems.

* Mark Nuaimi has been named Western regional vice president of transportation systems for Iteris Inc., a subsidiary of Odetics Inc. in Anaheim. Nuaimi has been with Iteris for more than four years.

* Michael Shipps has been selected vice president of sales and marketing at Ecom Textile Inc. in Fullerton. Shipps had been vice president of sales at Escrow.com in Santa Ana. Before that, he was regional sales manager, regional data consultant and senior technical consultant for MCI Telecommunications in both Seattle and Atlanta.

* Kia Stora has joined ELiberation.com in Irvine as a business development account executive. She was formerly with Sony Music International. In addition, Greg Viall has been named a direct marketing specialist. He had been with Toytime.com.

* Jeff Moore has been appointed senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis. Moore, a retail specialist, works in the Anaheim office. He has been with the company since 1987 and spent 12 years in the Newport Beach office. Before that, Moore was with Hallmark Cards Corp. in various sales and management positions.

* Doug Everson has joined MyDrugRep.com in Newport Beach as president. Everson had been president and chief operating officer at Nelson Professional Sales. Before that, he was the director, strategic alliances at Astra Merck Inc., in Chesterbrook, Penn.

* J. Leckie Rives has been named senior vice president and chief financial officer of Virtual CEO Inc. in San Juan Capistrano. Previously, Rives helped found Perigon Medical Distribution Corp., and served as senior vice president and chief financial officer.

* David Lakso has been appointed vice president and general manager of Santa Ana-based XO Communications Inc.’s Los Angeles and Orange County markets. He joined the company in September after serving as vice president of business development for GTC Telecom. Lakso was also Pacific region vice president, alternate channel sales for Qwest Communications.

* Jeff Nelson has been named senior vice president, merchandising for Krause’s Furniture Inc. in Brea. He joined the company in March 1999 as vice president, merchandising. Before that, Nelson was a buyer of occasional furniture and furniture accessories with Macy’s West and held similar positions with Macy’s East and the Broadway in Los Angeles. Randal Fisher, who has been director of advertising since since 1995, was promoted to the newly created position of vice president, marketing.