Northern Trust Bank promoted Jeffrey L. Johnson, 47, to senior vice president of trust administration for the private bank's five offices in Palm Beach and Martin counties. Johnson, based in North Palm Beach, will oversee $3 billion in assets.
Citibank Private Bank recruited Barry R. Sloane, 43, for the new post of region area head for the southeastern U.S. He will be based in Miami with responsibility for Florida and Georgia. Sloane previously headed the North American private banking business for Credit Suisse in New York. Patrick Kelly, who had directed Citibank's private banking business in south Florida, will lead Citibank's consumer banking business in Florida.
William G. Smith Jr., 45, president and CEO of Tallahassee's Capital City Bank Group since 1987, was named community banker of the year by the Community Bankers of Florida. He was president of the Florida Bankers Association from 1990-1991.
Economic Development - Daniel A. Lynch is out as president and CEO of the Orlando-based Economic Development Commission of Mid-Florida after two years on the job. The regional economic development group tapped J. Darrell Kelley, retired president of Sprint United Telephone in Florida, to lead the group as interim president, an appointment that may become permanent in the future. Lynch, 47, reportedly was frustrated by the challenge of juggling the politics of the four counties that fund the organization and decided to return to North Carolina, where he spent a decade at High Point Economic Development Corp. Kelley, 56, has been an active civic and community leader since moving to Florida in 1994. A native of South Carolina, he stepped down last year from Sprint after nearly 40 years in the telecommunications industry.
Education - Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach tapped George H. Ebbs, 55, to be president. He replaces Steven M. Sliwa, who resigned this summer and is now CEO and president of Colt's Manufacturing Co. in West Hartford, Conn. Ebbs was previously CEO and president of the Canaan Group, a Park City, Utah, management consulting firm that specializes in the commercial aviation industry. He will continue as counsel to the firm, which recently was acquired by Allied Signal.
Roy E. McTarnaghan, founding president of Florida Gulf Coast University, will step down from his post and begin a one-year leave of absence from the university system in early 1999. The Board of Regents will conduct a search for his replacement. McTarnaghan, 65, plans to write a history of Florida Gulf Coast University and work on distance-learning projects.
Miami's Barry University named Jack Scarborough as dean of the Andreas School of Business, which is working to obtain accreditation by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business. Scarborough, 51, has taught on Barry's business faculty for nine years. He replaces Lewis Lash, who will continue as an associate professor of management at Barry.
Healthcare - Baptist Health Systems of South Florida promoted Fred M. Messing to be chief operating officer of the not-for-profit group of five hospitals, the Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, outpatient facilities, physician practices and home healthcare services. Messing, 51, has served as CEO of Baptist Hospital, a part of Baptist Health Systems, since 1995.
Law - Stephen N. Zack, 50, a founding partner of Miami's Zack Kosnitzky and a former president of the Florida Bar, was installed as president of the National Conference of Bar Presidents. A specialist in civil trial law and international law, he served as special counsel to Gov. Bob Graham in the 1980s.
Lisa Landy, a partner in the international practices group at Miami's Akerman Senterfitt & Eidson law firm, was elected president of the Washington, D.C.-based Organization of Women in International Trade. Landy, 35, joined Akerman Senterfitt in 1997 after three years with Steel Hector & Davis.
Manufacturing - Former Bristol-Myers Squibb executive Ian Stuart takes over as executive vice president and COO at Rexall Sundown, the Boca Raton maker and distributor of vitamins. He takes the position most recently held by Dean DeSantis who left Rexall last spring. Stuart, 46, most recently was president of Bristol-Myers' Mead Johnson Nutritionals. He also held posts at Unilever and Gillette.
A new generation takes the helm of Regal Marine Industries, where Duane Kuck, 43, takes over from his father, Paul Kuck, 68, as CEO of the Orlando luxury pleasure-boat manufacturer. Duane Kuck also remains as president of the 28-year-old family-owned business. The senior Kuck continues as chairman and will focus on international markets.
Media - Steve Mauldin, 50, was tapped as vice president and general manager at WFOR-TV, Channel 4, the CBS affiliate in Miami. He replaces Allen Shaklin, who resigned in August. Mauldin was president and general manager at WTSP-TV, the CBS affiliate in Tampa, for seven years.
Real Estate - Miami's Terranova Corp., a commercial real estate management and leasing company, promoted Beth Azor to be president, CEO and a principal in the firm. She replaces Stephen H. Bittel, who takes the new title of chairman. Azor, 38, joined Terranova in 1985 as a retail lease broker.
Restaurants - Cuban-born Al Salas, 38, former Pizza Hut national vice president of operations, and Peruvian/Venezuelan entrepreneur Alberto Galsky formed Koning Restaurants International in Miami. The company becomes Pizza Hut's largest minority franchisee with 90 south Florida restaurants.
Miami's Burger King Corp. reorganized its field management, naming Mark Giresi as senior vice president of U.S. franchise operations and development and Roy Blauer as senior vice president of U.S. company restaurants. Giresi, 40, has spent 14 years with Burger King, most recently as senior vice president and the company's chief legal counsel. Blauer, 40, is a 20-year Burger King veteran and has held a variety of operations-related executive posts.
Retail - Sports Authority founder Jack Smith, 63, resigned as CEO of the financially struggling Fort Lauderdale-based chain of 214 sporting goods stores. The company recently said its third quarter 1998 loss would be more than expected and announed plans to close 18 unprofitable stores after Christmas. Smith remains chairman. Martin E. Hanaka, 48, who joined Sports Authority as vice chairman in February, replaces Smith and will temporarily act as president and COO, a post vacated by Richard J. Lynch Jr. shortly after Hanaka's promotion. Robert Timinski, chief merchandising officer, and Arnold Sedel, senior vice president, also resigned from the company. Before joining Sports Authority, Hanaka was president and COO of Staples, the Massachusetts-based office supply retail chain, and earlier was president and COO of Lechmere, a household-products retailer.
Ventacor Group, formerly Woolworth Corp., recently halted a deal to buy Sports Authority due to a decline in Ventacor's stock price.
Services - NationsRent, a Fort Lauderdale company that operates 84 equipment rental companies across the U.S., named Don O'Neal as president. O'Neal, 51, was president of A-1 Rental in Fort Worth, Texas, a 13-store chain founded by his parents 42 years ago. A-1 recently signed a deal to merge with NationsRent.
Software - Fort Lauderdale's Ultimate Software Group, a developer of human resource management systems and payroll software, promoted Jeffrey Bonar to vice president of development. Bonar has 30 years of software development and management experience and was most recently based in Texas as Ultimate Software's director of advanced development.
Tourism - Jerry Thirion has been elected chairman of the Florida Hotel & Motel Association for 1998-99. He is senior vice president and managing director of the Registry Resort in Naples. William W. McCreary, general manager of the Swan and Dolphin resorts at Walt Disney World, is president-elect.