• John Manzetti has been named president/CEO of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (Pittsburgh). Manzetti joined the PLSG as an executive-in-residence in July and was named chief operating officer in September. Previously he was president/CEO of NOMOS. Manzetti succeeds Doros Platika, who earlier this fall announced his resignation as the PLSG’s CEO. The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse is a public/private partnership founded by the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the regional foundation community.

• Refac Optical (Fort Lee, New Jersey) said its employment agreement with Robert Tuchman, its senior vice president and general counsel, will terminate on Dec. 31 and will not be renewed. In addition, Tuchman has resigned from the company’s board of directors. Refac Optical Group operates 531 retail locations in 47 states and Canada, consisting of 508 licensed departments, five freestanding stores, 18 eye health centers and professional optometric practices, two surgery centers, one of which is a laser correction center, and two manufacturing laboratories.

• David Smith has been named executive vice president and CFO for Thoratec (Pleasanton, California), effective Dec. 29. Smith most recently was VP and CFO at Chiron. He held that position for three years until the company was acquired by Novartis in mid-2006. Smith replaces Cynthia Lucchese, who in August said that she would be leaving Thoratec for personal family reasons. Thoratec’s product lines include the Thoratec VAD and HeartMate LVAS, and it reports more than 10,000 devices implanted in patients suffering from heart failure.