Karen Delaney, executive director of the Volunteer Centers of Santa Cruz County, has been elected board president of the Volunteer Centers of California, an association that works with 28 centers statewide.

Delaney joined the local Volunteer Center in 1983 and became executive director in 1985. She is a nationally recognized leader, speaker and trainer in volunteer and nonprofit management. In 2002, the UN sponsored International Year of the Volunteer, she represented the United States as a consultant in promoting volunteerism to the government of Argentina.

She also has provided training in volunteer management to the National Hospital Association, National Conference on Service and Volunteerism, California Department of Parks and Recreation, the Community College System of the Four Corners Region, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Governor's Office of North Carolina.

A past chairwoman of the National Council of Volunteer Centers, she has served as a board member of the Points of Light Foundation and of California Volunteer Centers Inc.

She and her family live in Live Oak. In Santa Cruz, she has served on numerous boards and committees, including United Way of Santa Cruz, the Community Action Board, LifeLab, Save Our Shores, Santa Cruz Living Wage Commission, County Disaster Planning Council, Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Commission and the Human Care Alliance.

Robert Dennis has joined Lighthouse Bank in Santa Cruz as vice president, commercial relationship manager and Small Business Administration lender.

Dennis has 20 years of banking and SBA lending experience. He previously was at Wells Fargo and has been a SBA lender in Santa Cruz County since moving here in 1989. A graduate of Santa Clara University with a degree in accounting, he is a past president of the SCU Alumni Association. He serves on the board of the Bronco Bench Foundation, which raises scholarship money for Santa Clara University's student athletes.

Jack Evans has been appointed vice president/senior relationship manager for Rabobank, N.A.

Based in Santa Cruz, he will be responsible for commercial lending, business development and community relations in Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Pajaro.

Evans has 35 years experience in the financial industry. He was at First Republic Bank in San Jose, and before that, Monterey Bay Bancorp. He has served on the board of the Capitola-Soquel Chamber of Commerce as treasurer for six years. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Evans has lived in Santa Cruz County for more than 25 years with wife, Tyese Evans and daughters, Kristin and Kara.

Mickey Holzman of Pajaro Dunes Co., Watsonville, Rita Law, Sandra Lovelace and Kate Lemega of Kendall & Potter Property Management, Aptos; and DeDe Harrington and Shawn Harrington, Beach House Rentals, Capitola, attended the 23rd Annual Vacation Rental Managers Association conference in New Orleans.

The event was organized by Travel Industry Consultants of Santa Cruz and coordinated by Michael and Rosemary Sarka, Jessica Finney and Rachel Goldwasser. Travel Industry Consultants is celebrating its 20th year anniversary of operation.

VirnetX Holding Corp. of Scotts Valley has appointed Edmund "Gif" Munger as chief technical officer and Robert "Bob" Short III as chief scientist.

Co-inventors of VirnetX's core technologies, they will lead advancement of the Zero Click instant secure connect mechanisms at the company's Virginia R&D facility.

Munger was chief system architect and assistant vice president at Science Applications International Corp., where he held the same senior position for the FBI's Counterterrorism Data Warehouse Prototype. He has a master's degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from MIT and a bachelor's degree in naval science from the U.S. Naval Academy.

Short was previously assistant vice president and division manager at Science Applications International Corporation. He holds a doctorate in electrical engineering from Purdue University, and a master's degree in mathematics and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech.

People in Business publishes announcements of employee promotions and workplace awards for people who work or live in Santa Cruz County. Send information to Business Desk, Santa Cruz Sentinel; fax to 429-9620; or e-mail jgumz@santacruzsentinel.com. Please put 'PEOPLE IN BUSINESS' in the subject line; high resolution photos 200 dpi run on a space-available basis. Deadline is noon Wednesday.