Banking & Finance Sanford, Baumeister & Frazier LLP has added five new employees. Reba Long joins as senior audit associate, Sean Miller as tax manager, Karen Lowrey as business solutions services team member, Paige Todd as audit associate and Debbie Webb as the North Dallas office coordinator. SB&F also promoted Josh Reynolds and Rosa Marikar to senior tax associates. Previously, Long was a senior audit associate at Weaver. She also has served as the lead on implementation of IASB/FASB revenue recognition standards in financial accounting and reporting at Lockheed Martin Corp. Miller comes to SB&F with more than 10 years of experience, serving as a tax manager at Vail & Knauth LLP and as a senior tax analyst at GM Financial Co. Lowery was a manager of client services at Huber, Prater & Henson PC and brings more than 25 years of professional experience in client services to the firm. Prior to SB&F, Todd assisted accounting, finance and economics professors at Tarleton State University with course development, grading and tutoring. She is currently working toward her CPA at Tarleton. Webb previously served as director and vice president and Family Life Learning Center and as a bookkeeper at Guittard & Hyden PC. She brings more than 25 years of experience to SB&F.
Reynolds recently passed the last part of the CPA exam and is awaiting official certification. Reynolds is involved in the Fort Worth Chapter of Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA). Marikar also is involved in the TSCPA and will pursue her CPA in the fall.
Boards & Organizations Hon. Jennifer Rymell, judge of Tarrant County Court at Law #2, took office as president of the Texas Association of County Court at Law Judges. She will lead the association during the 2015 legislative session. The Tarrant County College Foundation recently elected officers and appointed five new members to its board. The officers, serving a one-year term, are: Chairman Randall Canedy, — market president, Frost Bank Mansfield; Vice Chairman David Parker; Secretary Lei Testa; and Treasurer Kay Cox. The new board members are: Jay M. Bartley, senior wealth adviser for American National Bank of Texas; Dr. Charles G. Langham III, author, lecturer and former chief of staff and chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor All Saints Hospital; Rhonda Robertson, assistant chief of police, city of Fort Worth; Linda Valdez Thompson, executive vice president of administration and diversity at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport; and Karen Thornton, vice president of human resources, FTS International.
Construction & Engineering Professional Service Industries Inc. appointed Bryan Sy as principal consultant for its construction materials testing service line. He will be the primary principal consultant for PSI’s offices in McKinney, Fort Worth and Dallas. Based in PSI’s McKinney office, Sy serves a dual role as district manager and has been with PSI since 2007.
Health Care Dent Smith joined Methodist Mansfield Medical Center as vice president of operations, charged with enhancing focus on operational excellence and patient satisfaction as well as oversight of operational synergy with Methodist Health System. He is responsible for the coordination and leadership of many of the hospital’s clinical and nonclinical support departments as well as construction-related activities. Prior to joining Methodist Mansfield, Smith served as vice president of professional and ancillary services at Saint Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Ky., for six years. He has received multiple awards and was the first recipient of the Blandford Award while in the Saint Vincent Health System. This award is given to the leader who best demonstrates the core values of reverence, integrity, compassion and excellence.
Honors & Awards Becky Vela, director of human resources at Whitely Penn, was named the 2014 HR Professional of the Year by the Fort Worth Human Resource Management Association. The Texas A&M University Association of Former Students honored Jared Harrell, counsel in Phelps Dunbar’s Dallas-Fort Worth office, in its 2015 12 Under 12 Young Alumni Spotlight, which honors graduates within the past 12 years who have excelled in business, civic service and philanthropy. In addition to his practice at Phelps Dunbar in the areas of commercial transactions, finance and real estate, Harrell serves as an adjunct instructor at the University of Texas in Arlington, where he teaches a course in real property law. He is active in the State Bar of Texas, Tarrant County Bar Association and American Agricultural Law Association. He is a mentor to Como Elementary School students for Kid’s Hope USA and serves on nonprofit boards, including the 12:48 Foundation, the Amon G. Carter, Jr. Downtown YMCA and the Fort Worth/Tarrant County A&M Club. He is also a committee member for the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show. Harrell was an inaugural member of Leading Edge by Leadership Fort Worth. John T. White Elementary School in Fort Worth has been recognized as one of the healthiest and most sustainable schools in Texas. The school is the first TX-CHPS Verified school in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and received an award for having met the TX-CHPS (Collaborative for High Performance Schools) criteria. Cornerstone Impressions, a Fort Worth screen print company, won third place for its Gruene Hall T-shirt in the true process color screen printing category of the 2014 Impressions Awards, an annual competition hosted by Impressions magazine.
Nonprofit Organizations The YWCA Fort Worth & Tarrant County promoted Trish Rodriguez from the director of community relations to the chief development and communications officer, and added Christy Pierce as the major gifts officer and Melanie Lara as the chief financial officer. Rodriguez, who has been with the agency since November 2013, spent 10 years with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in various roles including vice president of development and press and publications manager. Pierce joined the agency’s development team after serving as the assistant director of development for University of Texas at Arlington’s College of Liberal Arts. Prior to her work in the education sector, she served as the senior manager of foundation and government giving at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Lara spent nine years serving Downtown Fort Worth Inc. before joining the YWCA’s staff. A certified public accountant, Lara has experience in transitioning and rebuilding accounting departments in both for-profit and not-for-profit environments. She currently sits on the board for Lighthouse for the Blind Fort Worth as treasurer.
Real Estate Kara Rafferty joined Trademark Property Co. as director of leasing. An 18-year industry veteran, Rafferty will focus on Trademark’s leasing efforts throughout Texas. Prior to joining Trademark, Rafferty served as vice president of leasing with Jones Lang LaSalle. She was also previously a vice president with Colonial Properties Trust and a senior leasing representative with ING Clarion. Before working in the leasing industry, Rafferty was an attorney in Minneapolis where she owned a law firm. She is a certified retail property executive, certified leasing specialist, certified commercial investment member and a licensed Texas attorney.
Send newsmakers to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net
NTC appoints new executive committee, board members The North Texas Commission recently elected its officers, executive committee and directors to its board for 2015. Gray Mayes, director of government relations for Texas Instruments, is chairman. Robert Hastings, senior vice president and chief of staff for Bell Helicopter Textron, is vice chairman; David Tesmer, senior vice president of advocacy and community benefit for Texas Health Resources is immediate past chairman; and Chris Felan, vice president of rates and regulatory affairs for Atmos Energy, joins the executive committee. The following directors remain on the executive committee: Bob Pence, Holly Reed, Stephen Tolerico, Kevin Ward and Hal Thorne. Newly appointed board members are: Frank Antonacci, Stephen Butt, Kenneth Cook, David Cooke,Corey Davison, Dave Felio, Kelli Fischer, John Gonzales, Jungus Jordan, Eric Krueger, Neha Kunte, YaLonda Lockett, Tracy Merzi, Opal Mauldin Robertson, Joe Scott, Oscar Trevino, and Chris Watts. New ex-officio board members are Robert Jameson, Tina Weinfurther, Charlene Stark and Chris Wallace.
