Steve will join Sears Holdings as senior vice president and president, Home Appliances. Steve comes to Sears Holdings from Sony Electronics, where he most recently served as executive vice president, leading the Product to Consumer Marketing and the Home and Digital Reading business divisions.

In his new role, Steve will lead the company’s effort to continue driving profitable growth in its industry-leading appliance business.

Steve said of his new role, “I am excited about the opportunity to join Sears Holdings, with iconic brands like Kenmore. Sears is an industry leader in appliances and I believe we can further that position with great products, and by delivering a great experience to our customers and members.”

Steve earned over 20 years of experience with Sony, holding roles of increasing responsibilities working in Sales, Marketing and General Product Management.  He started his career in 1980, having founded Trolley Stereo during his undergraduate years. As president, he grew the company into an audio/video retail and mail-order business.

Steve is a 2007 MBA graduate from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.

Frank was recently named vice president of retirement plans at National Planning Holdings, Inc. (NPH®), one of the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer networks. Frank will be the first executive to fill this new position at NPH, and will be tasked with supporting existing retirement plan business, as well as helping NPH representatives grow their practices in the qualified plan space. Frank will be based at the company’s Santa Monica headquarters.

Under Frank’s direction, the NPH network will expand its service offerings for advisers seeking to develop retirement plan and 401(k) business. He will also oversee new support programs that help NPH representatives address evolving compliance regulations as they work with plan sponsors on their retirement plan offerings. continue

Jason, the well-known organizer of the LA Startups Uncensored events, and founder of Docstoc, has a new project, License123, a new service that helps entrepreneurs and small businesses figure out what licenses and permits they need to operate legally. The new service seeks  to help business owners avoid fines and operate legally, saving them hours and days of research time and calls. The service will also allow users to download required forms, link to online applications, and provide all of the contact information needed by businesses.

License123 is part of DocStoc.  Before starting Docstoc, which provides a wide selection of documents to start, grow and manage one’s small business or professional life. e was a partner in a venture consulting firm in Los Angeles where he worked with dozens of start-ups.

Jason was the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2009 Most Admired CEO for a small business. He holds a BA from UCSB and his JD/MBA from Pepperdine University. He was the student body president of both universities.

Read more about Jason at www.jasonnazar.com.

Allan was recently appointed head of Technicolor’s worldwide media services business unit with P&L, sales, operational, R&D and strategy responsibility. Technicolor operates in the media and entertainment sector, and is committed to digital innovation. Technicolor’s research and innovation laboratories deliver advanced video services to content creators and distributors, and also focuses on imaging and sound technologies.

Formerly, Allan was employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM Global Services.

Allan is an honors graduate of the the University of the West of England, where he studied systems analysis. He is also a 1997 MBA graduate from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.

Jim recently joined the board of directors at Legal Genie, Inc., an online unbundled legal services provider. Legal Genie allows users the optional choice of connecting with a private attorney to provide document review, legal advice and guidance.

As a member of the board, Jim will be working closely with private equity firms to secure funding. He formerly served as president of Cellular One of San Francisco and later as a southeast regional president for McCaw Cellular Communications, where he was responsible for over $10 billion in assets. Jim then became the first president of Nextel Digital Mobile Networks.

Jim is a 1982 graduate from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management where he received his MBA.

Stephen is now a board member at Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, a member-driven, professionally staffed nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the region’s business community.

The Chamber has approximately 1,400 business and professional firms as members, making this chamber one of the largest in California. The strength of the Chamber lies in its membership—working together to make the communities of Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Agoura Hills a better place to live, work and raise a family.

Stephen current serves as a partner at LearnItByEar.com, an audio-based study system designed to improve learning and retention through the listening of short-track MP3 audio files to definitions and key concepts of popular courses for students with a busy, on-the-go lifestyle. continue

Breno is the new alliances manager at Burger King Brasil in São Paulo Area, Brazil. His professional experience covers a broad range of specialties, including business development, organization improvement, team leadership, change management, budgeting and forecasting, and credit analysis.

Breno has held positions at several Brazilian financial institutions, and most recently was an intern at Banco Santander International.

Breno received a bachelor of science degree in economic sciences from Ibmec Business School in Brazil. He is also a 2011 MBA graduate from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management, where he concentrated in leadership and change management.

Para was recently featured in the Asian Journal for her inspiring professional rise and her contribution to the Filipino-American community.

According to the article:

Para spends a larger chunk of her days serving the Filipino-American community, specifically for FACCOC. “Now that I am the President of this organization, I feel an even stronger sense of purpose and duty.  It is unbelievable the amount of my waking hours spent doing FACCOC-related activities.  I may not make everyone happy or serve everyone but at least no one can say I am doing this for money or for my own glory. If I can make a difference in one person’s life through my community service at FACCOC, then I think I have accomplished my goal,” she admitted to the Asian Journal.

Read the rest of Para Anderson’s Journey to the Top (and Beyond) in the Asian Journal.

Lorin recently accepted a position as fulfillment operations project lead at DIRECTV. He was promoted from his former position, UAT project lead.

Until March of last year, he was the owner and principal at Lorin Cha Consultancy. He has also held positions with Ticketmaster, The Walt Disney Company, SMCI, and more.

He attended Arizona State University, where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in computer information systems. His minor concentration was Chinese (Mandarin). He is a 2010 graduate of Pepperdine University’s MBA program at the Graziadio School of Business and Management.

Sandro is now senior marketing manager at AT&T Foundry. Sandro recently graduated from AT&T’s Leadership Development Program (recruited on-campus) Palo Alto, CA, an incubator helping accelerate new technologies into the AT&T portfolio and the telecommunications industry at large.

“This is in many ways my dream job, and reflecting on how I got here started me thinking about about the influence the Graziadio School had on my direction, management style, and life overall,” said Sandro of his new opportunity at AT&T. He was recruited on-campus by the company. continue