Zag, a Santa Monica independent technology and service firm that enables consumers to shop and purchase cars online, appointed Victor Doolan to its Board of Directors. Mr. Doolan recently retired as president of Volvo Cars North America and previously served as Executive Director to Premier Automotive Group, the luxury division of Ford Motor Company, and as president of BMW North America. “Coming from the manufacturing side, Vic is especially attuned to the dynamic that exists between carmaker, dealer and consumer,” said Scott Painter, CEO and founder of Zag. Among Doolan’s business and philanthropic activities, he is currently a director of Sonic Automotive Inc., the national automotive retailer that owns Simonson Mercedes, Volvo of Santa Monica and Honda of Santa Monica. www.zag.com
TagWorld, the social networking Internet site based in Santa Monica, has announced a new product, TagWorld Widgets: customizable mini-applications “that can deliver a variety of rich media and personalized information such as games, media players, content, news, weather and video,” according to a company release, which adds that the widgets, which are based on standard web technologies, can be used so they can be “shared with other users by simply clicking a Share button, allowing them to spread virally.” Company CEO Fred Krueger said, “By opening our API [application programming interface], and giving developers the tools to easily extend the functionality of TagWorld, we continue to push to deliver valuable and compelling content and application to our growing user base.” www.tagworld.com
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District provides the community with the business leaders (and customers) of tomorrow, and so the persons who undertake that task today are certainly worthy of note. SMMUSD announced changes for the coming school year. Tara Brown will be principal of Franklin Elementary School; she is a 14-year veteran of the Lancaster School District, where she has served as principal for the past five years. Tristen Macon will be Math Coordinator in the Educational Services Department, where she will apply her eight years’ experience teaching at SMMUSD’s Will Rogers Learning Community, her mathematical learning and her collaborative working skills. Irma Lyons will be principal at Will Rogers Learning Community, where she began as a classroom teacher in 1992 and has served as Assistant Principal and Interim Principal as well. www.smmusd.org
The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey named Robert Thomas as its General Manager. Mr. Thomas comes to The Ritz-Carlton from the nearby Marriott Hotel Marina del Rey, where he was general manager for the past three years. In his new position, he will assume management of a 304-room property that is scheduled to complete a multi-million dollar renovation by summer’s end 2006. www.ritzcarlton.com
