Johnny Rockets Names Executive

* Robert Wabler has joined Johnny Rockets Group Inc., an Irvine restaurant operator and franchiser, as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Wabler was most recently executive vice president and chief financial officer of Just For Feet Inc. Before that, he was senior vice president, chief financial and administrative officer of the Athletes’ Foot Group Inc. Wabler succeeds Steve Fenstermacher who left the company in early June.

* George Bedar has been appointed vice president, chief information officer for CKE Restaurants Inc. in Anaheim, the parent company of Carl Karcher Enterprises Inc., Casa Bonita Incorporated and Summit Family Restaurants Inc. Before joining the company, Bedar was with QuesTec Inc. and Ogden Professional Services.

* Gene Turley has been named vice president for marketing and sales for Hughes Data Systems in Irvine, a unit of Hughes Aircraft Co. Since joining Hughes Aircraft in 1969, Turley’s positions have included program manager, major programs marketing manager, director of marketing for Surface Systems and, most recently, director of marketing for Hughes Data Systems.

* Gary P. Hagen has been appointed national sales director of Auto-By-Tel Marketing Corp. in Irvine. He was formerly vice president of sales and marketing for Aljomaih, a General Motors distributor in Saudi Arabia. Before that, Hagaen was senior vice president of sales and marketing for Starcraft Automotive Corp. Auto-By-Tel is an Internet purchasing program for new and used vehicles and related services.

* Kris Woods has been named to the newly created position of sales and business development manager for SRS Labs Inc. in Santa Ana. Woods will be responsible for the research and development of sales programs for use with overseas chip representatives and manufacturers. Prior to joining SRS Labs a year and a half ago, Woods held sales positions with Goldmine, a contact management software developer, and Merisel, a software and hardware distribution company.

* Carl C. Gregory III has joined the board of directors of Pacific Gulf Properties Inc., a Newport Beach real estate investment trust. Gregory is chairman and chief executive of West Capital Financial Services Corp. He succeeds Stewart W. Bowie, who retired after serving since June 1994.

* Rick M. Neubauer has been made a partner of Price Waterhouse LLP, based in the Orange County office. Neubauer has been with the firm since 1991.

* Sheri Johnson and Gerry Tschopp have been named account supervisors for Laer Pearce & Associates, an Irvine public relations firm. Johnson has been with the firm three years. Prior to joining Laer Pearce, Tschopp headed the Kia Motors America account at Porter Novelli’s Orange County office.

* Rick Sharga has joined Shafer, an advertising and public relations firm, as vice president. He is based in the Irvine office. Sharga was previously vice president of the technology group of Latven, Diccicco & Battista of Pennsylvania.

* Masatoshi Tsurutani has been appointed president of Kawasaki Motors Corp. U.S.A. in Irvine, effective July 1. Hiroshi Noda, who has served in that capacity since 1991, will move to New York as president of Kawasaki Heavy Industries (USA) Inc. Tsurutani was most recently assigned to the Small Engine division in Japan.

* John Larson has been named to the newly created position of vice president of technical service and support for the Computer Systems Division of Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. in Irvine. Larson previously held management positions at NCR Corp., including, most recently, director of sales and marketing for The Americas Support Services. He was also national account manager for the Alliance Marketing division of AT&T; Global Information Solutions.

* Dennis Nagy has joined the board of directors of CenTor Software Corp., and will act as interim chief executive. Chris Nunez, the company’s founder and chief executive, will remain as board chairman and chief technical officer. Nagy was formerly senior vice president of worldwide sales and support for MacNeal Schwendler Corp. and general manager of its international group.

* Michael Chacon has been appointed chief technical officer for Ascolta Training Co., an Irvine provider of technical training. He has lectured and held training classes, and written articles and books on technical processes.

* Giovanni Paliska has joined MicroNet in Irvine as vice president of worldwide sales. He had been vice president of sales and marketing at Enhance Technology, a manufacturer of video adapters and multimedia sound controllers.

* Jaime S. Martorell has been named vice president of business development for Rockwell International Corp. in Seal Beach. Prior to joining Rockwell, Martorell was president and chief executive officer for Indala Corp., a division of Motorola, based in San Jose. He joined Motorola in 1989 and held several senior management positions in Europe and the United States. Before that, Martorell was with AT&T; and Fairchild Semiconductors, and was a founder of Logic Devices Inc.

* Richard A. Kraemer has been elected to the board of directors of Long Beach Financial Corp. in Orange, filling a vacancy on its five-member board. Kraemer is vice chairman of Republic New York Corp. and Republic National Bank.