San Luis Obispo Business
October, 1999

Newsmakers/Briefs

GST Telecommunications has named Heidi Downing as the new General Manager for its 100-plus employee operation in San Luis Obispo and all five southern California offices. Downing has more than 16 years experience in the telecommunications industry, more than 10 of them on the Central Coast.

Your People Professionals recently hired Michelle Raust as Recuiting Specialist for the San Luis Obispo office. Raust is bilingual and has previous experience as an Alternative Dispute Resolution Coordinator with the EEOC in Washington, DC and has completed mediation training.

San Luis Trust Bank recently announced the election of John A. Ronca Jr. to the Bank's Board of Directors. Ronca is President of Ronca & Kennedy, a local law firm.

Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument recently announced the appointments of joint-spokespersons Barbara Renfrow and Dan Eller for the Hearst Castle Public Relations office.

ARAMARK Corporation, the management concessionaire for Hearst Castle, has initiated a scholarship program for students at Coast Union High School in Cambria.

The Foundation for the Performing Arts Center recently received a generous gift of $2,500 from Unocal Corp. The gift will be used to purchase equipment needed for the Pavilion in the Performing Arts Center.

Tortilla Flats is celebrating its 25th anniversary of doing business in downtown San Luis Obispo.

The San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden recently received national recognition. The Master Plan for the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden was given the Analysis and Planning Merit Award by the American Society of Landscape Architects and the California Horticultural Society recently awarded the Garden a grant of more than $900 for the installation of a winter blooming South African Cape native garden.

Cuesta College kicked off the 1999-2000 academic year by honoring nearly 200 student scholarship recipients and 100 donors at the college's annual Scholarship Recognition Reception. More than $90,000 in scholarships was awarded to students for the current year.

Cal Poly has again been rated the best public, largely undergraduate university in the West by U.S. News & World Report and has climbed past several private schools in the magazine's annual survey.

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