Business Briefs

THE WESTIN LA PALOMA RESORT & SPA has earned the 2016 Best of Meetings Today Award from Meetings Today magazine. THE TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER announced several staff promotions in the Early Childhood Education program as a result of the recent retirement of Wendy Edmonds, co-director of the program… Read more »

AARON GREENBERG of the JIM CLICK AUTOMOTIVE TEAM was one of two winners of the Arizona Daily Star’s Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Auto Sales Person. The other winner was Alfonso Avitia of Jim Click Nissan.     JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN’S SERVICES received an $8,000 grant from Phoenix… Read more »

Philadelphia native MICHAEL WALDEN joined the UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA HILLEL FOUNDATION staff as director of Jewish student life. Walden also holds the position of Ezra Fellow, a program for early career Jewish professionals that includes training in experiential Jewish education and immersive Jewish learning. He earned his Bachelor of… Read more »

STACI KRUPINSKY is a new commercial lines sales executive for Lovitt & Touché, where she will focus on workers’ comp and business insurance in select markets. Previously, she owned a Farmers Insurance Agency in Tucson. Before that, she worked as a sales trainer and agency business consultant for Farmers… Read more »

Kathy Rodriguez

THE TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER announced several new hires. KATHY (KAT) RODRIGUEZ joins the J as assistant director of digital marketing and communications. Previously, Rodriguez was a marketing specialist at the University of Arizona Medical Network. She holds an Associate of Arts degree from the Fashion Institute of Design… Read more »

ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY has received a $1 million matching guarantee toward its $2 million fundraising goal from Tucson businessman and ATC board member Mike Kasser. The ATC board of trustees has extended its fundraising deadline to July 15. ATC had announced last month that it needed $2 million by… Read more »

KIM EGITA is the new chief financial officer for the JEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA. Previously, she was finance and assets director at Our Family Services, where she oversaw the financial aspects of its 2012 merger with New Beginnings for Women and Children, where she had been administrative director… Read more »

(Cymera Caren-Boyd)

RABBI SHAFIR LOBB, formerly of Tucson, was named one of “America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis 2016” by the Forward. Lobb has been the rabbi of Congregation Eitz Chayim in Port Saint Lucie, Fla., for one year. Previously, she was rabbi of Port Saint Lucie’s Temple Beth El Israel for three… Read more »

The seventh grade class of TEMPLE EMANU-EL’s Kurn Religious School participated in the Association for Fundraising Professionals Youth in Philanthropy program. The students chose to support cancer research and, after issuing a request for proposals, selected the American Cancer Society as their fund recipient. The class raised $1,038, with… Read more »

THE WESTIN LA PALOMA RESORT AND SPA has appointed MARIA ELENA ARMENTA and MARC VAN DAM as group account directors and DEBORAH WEISS as group sales manager. Armenta previously served as the regional director at the Preferred Hotel Group in Miami. Van Dam, who will be based in Dallas,… Read more »

Julie Zorn

JULIE ZORN, Jewish living and learning specialist at the TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER, has completed LEAP (Leadership Enrichment and Advancement Program), a continental leadership program from the Jewish Community Center Association’s talent management pilot program. Zorn is one of only 22 people selected from nine JCCs across North America.… Read more »

CLAIRE’S CAFÉ, owned by CLAIRE JOHNSON, is a finalist for the Good Neighbor Award, one of the 2016 Torch Awards to be awarded by the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona. The award recognizes a company “that has shown a commitment to making southern Arizona a better place through… Read more »

HANNAH GÓMEZ has joined the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Coalition for Jewish Education’s PJ Library team as coordinator of PJ Our Way. She will be working with PJ Our Way tweens ages 9-11. She also will coordinate outreach efforts for both PJ Library and PJ Our Way. Gómez… Read more »

BERTÍ S. BRODSKY has joined the Arizona Jewish Post as account executive. She has 10 years of sales experience for various media including the Tucson Weekly, Cloud 95 radio, TCI/Tucson Cable Advertising and the Savvy Shopper. A graduate of Catalina High School, she earned her associate’s degree from Pima… Read more »

ERMANOS CRAFT BEER & WINE BAR, 220 N. Fourth Ave., has launched a discount wine club. The TUCSON WINE CLUB is led by one of Ermanos’ owners, Mark Erman, and will be curated by sommelier Anya Linda. For information, visit tucwineclub.com or email anya@tucwineclub.com.… Read more »

The DIAMOND FOUNDATION has committed to endow the TUCSON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA with $1 million to create the Joan B. Diamond Concertmaster chair. Diamond is a lifelong music lover who studied piano and voice at the University of Arizona. She introduced classical music to her children by buying season tickets… Read more »

Attorney GARY COHEN has been certified as a member of The Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won million or multi-million dollar verdicts, awards or settlements. Cohen, a Tucson native, has been practicing law at Mesch Clark Rothschild, where he is a shareholder, since… Read more »

MICHELLE BLUMENBERG, executive director of the UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA HILLEL FOUNDATION, and AMALIA MARK, UA Hillel director of Jewish student life, attended the Hillel International Global Assembly in Orlando Dec. 14-17. The convention focused on inclusion of students with disabilities, pluralism and mental health on campus. SIVAN KORN has… Read more »

The National Shoe Retailers Association honored ALAN MIKLOFSKY, president of ALAN’S SHOES/ NEW BALANCE TUCSON, as the 2015 Retailer of the Year at its annual leadership conference in Charlotte, N.C., last month. Alan and Annette Miklofsky have been operating stores in the Tucson area since 1982 and currently have… Read more »

THE ARIZONA-SONORA DESERT MUSEUM has been recognized as a winner in the 2015 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice  awards for museums, ranking 11 out of 25. The 600 institutions recognized with Travelers’ Choice awards represent just 1 percent of all attractions worldwide. The Desert Museum is recognized on the TripAdvisor site… Read more »