BANKING & FINANCE
Frost Bank has promoted Mark Spriggs to executive vice president of corporate banking and Philip Mortimer to vice president for energy finance in the downtown Fort Worth branch, according to Hadley Woerner, region president of Frost-Tarrant County. At the same time, Mike Gerro has been promoted to market president for corporate banking in the Matlock Road office and Travis Inge to senior vice president for corporate banking in Keller.
LAW
Beth Thurman has joined Winstead’s Real Estate Development & Investments Practice Group as an associate in the Fort Worth office. Prior to law school, Thurman served eight years in the U.S. Navy as a tactical coordinator and mission commander aboard P3 Orion aircraft. She served in naval campaigns across the globe including Operation Enduring Freedom. She received her law degree from Texas A&M University School of Law in 2015.
Geren receives Vision Award from UNTHSC for support to school
The University of North Texas Health Science Center has awarded State District 99 Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth) its highest recognition for service, the Vision Award, for his decades-long support of the university’s growth and progress.
“Time after time, Charlie Geren has stepped forward to help move our institution forward,” Dr. Michael R. Williams, president of UNTHSC, said in a news release. “He has consistently served as a vocal supporter for all areas of UNTHSC and the many benefits that our schools and programs offer.”
Geren’s support for the center’s DNA program has been a critical factor in its development into one of the nation’s premier laboratories for human identification, the university said.
In addition to securing the lab’s state appropriations, Geren wrote a bill recognizing it as a sanctioned crime lab, making it eligible to apply directly to the U.S. Department of Justice for additional grants and awards.
The UNT Center for Human Identification has assisted in nearly 30,000 forensic and missing person cases, processed more than 15,000 DNA samples and completed nearly 4,000 sexual assault cases.
UNTHSC said that Geren was instrumental in ensuring the school’s role in the Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium, which is a collaboration among nine of the state’s leading medical research institutions.
In the last legislative session, he helped secure nearly unanimous support for House Bill 1913, which removed the prohibition against UNTHSC awarding an MD degree, the school said.
The new TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine is scheduled to open in 2019, pending accreditation.
“I appreciate this award – and UNT Health Science Center’s commitment to training the health care providers who are going to care for the citizens of Tarrant County,” Geren said in the news release. “I’m proud to support UNTHSC and its efforts to make Texas a healthier place to live.”
The Vision Award was established in 2008 to recognize community members who strive to help advance the Health Science Center’s mission to create solutions for a healthier community.
Previous recipients include U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, community supporter Michele Reynolds and the late Val Wilkie Jr., formerly of the Sid Richardson Foundation.
Send newsmakers to Robert Francis at rfrancis@bizpress.net.