People in Business: May 15, 2011

Cathy Calfo has been named executive director of California Certified Organic Farmers in Santa Cruz, which certifies 2,400 organic farmers, processors, retailers and private labelers.

She has been executive director of the national Apollo Alliance, based in San Francisco, working to promote clean energy and good jobs. She was California's deputy state treasurer between 1999 and 2004, leading strategic initiatives and overseeing the department's legislative and communications programs.

Calfo is a founding member of the Santa Cruz Commission for the Prevention of Violence against Women and served on the city planning commission and the board of directors of a local homeless shelter for teens. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a bachelor's degree in American Studies. Calfo has lived in Santa Cruz since 1975 and has three sons: Kris, Kaj and Elijah.

Matthew Swinnerton has joined a local credit card processing company, Transaction.SC in Santa Cruz. His main role will be to acquire new clients and promote and market Transaction.SC's Santa Cruz brand. A 13-year veteran of the credit card processing/merchant account industry, he formerly was with Cruzio.

Matthew O'Brien, a Santa Cruz resident, has qualified as a "championship" agent by Farmers Insurance for his outstanding overall performance. He achieved a high sales volume for auto, home, life and business policies while maintaining high client retention and profitability. O'Brien will attend a conference in San Francisco May 22-26 to discuss new business strategies and issues affecting customers; only 199 earned the honor of attending out of more than 17,000 agents.

Eric J Costello, an Edward Jones financial adviser in Aptos, qualified for the firm's inaugural 2011 Financial Advisor Leaders Conference this month in St. Louis. Costello was one of only 290 financial advisers to qualify out of more than 10,000.

J.J. Kaye of Santa Cruz has been named to the HALO Branded Solutions President's Club for sales achievement. He is in the top 10 percent of the company's 800-person nationwide sales force. Kaye has been an accounting executive for HALO for nearly two decades.

Earthbound Farm in San Juan Batista has filled three new positions. Judy Chen was named chief marketing officer, Sandy Whitehouse was named chief human resources officer and Will Daniels was named senior vice president of operations and organic integrity.

Chen has more than 15 years of marketing experience. She was group leader, marketing and business development for Chiquita Brands. Before that, she was with Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream and Clorox.

Whitehouse has more than 15 years experience in human resources. She was vice president of human resources for Orchard Supply Hardware, and before that she was with Sears.

Daniels formerly was senior vice president quality, food safety and organic integrity.

VirnetX Holding Corp. in Scotts Valley has promoted three employees. Victor Larson was named vice president of research and development, Jon Weaklend was named vice president of finance and Greg Wood was named vice president of corporate communications.

Larson will continue to direct VirnetX's research and development efforts as it moves toward securing the emerging 4G mobile markets. He is a co-inventor of VirnetX's technology.

Weaklend has been VirnetX's controller since 2008 and has more than 30 years of financial experience.

Wood has more than 15 years of brand experience that includes McDonald's, Safeway, Nissan, Burger King, Taco Bell, Nutri-System, Supercuts and Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

Also, Dustan Sheehan has been hired as webmaster. A graduate of UC Santa Cruz, he has more then 11 years of design experience and will be responsible for VirnetX's web services and technical communications.