BANKING & FINANCE
Elevate Credit Inc. has appointed Brian Biglin as chief credit officer. Biglin joins Elevate after leading roles financial companies, including serving as chief credit officer at Bill Me Later when it was acquired in 2008 by PayPal, and continuing until 2014 in that same role at PayPal.
CONSTRUCTION
Weston Voss has been promoted to president, North Texas Division for SpawGlass, a commercial and civil contractor. Hiring on with SpawGlass full-time after completing an internship in 2001, Voss served in project manager and superintendent roles before taking the lead in growing SpawGlass’s North Texas Division.
HEALTH CARE
Advanced laparoscopic bariatric and general surgeon Michael L. Green Jr., MD, and surgical oncologist Suhail Sharif, MD, have been named to the Medical City Fort Worth board of trustees. Green is in private practice and developed the Live by Losing weight loss program.
He currently serves as the medical director of bariatric surgery for Medical City Fort Worth.
Sharif is in private practice and is an adjunct clinical assistant professor at UNT Health Science Center. He also is currently medical director of oncology and past chair of surgery at Medical City Fort Worth.
They are replacing outgoing board members Karamat Choudhry, MD, and Aslam Malik, MD.
HONORS/AWARDS
Mikayla Wilson, a senior at Fort Worth ISD’s Trimble Technical High School, is the winner of the Davey O’Brien Scholarship High School Award. The award announcement, which includes a $30,000 college scholarship, was made at the 32nd annual Davey O’Brien High School Scholarship Luncheon at the Fort Worth Club. Trimble Tech Counselor My Jones nominated Wilson for the scholarship.
Mikayla ranks No. 1 in her 361-student senior class with a 4.49 GPA on a 4.0 scale. She is an audio/visual production student at Trimble Tech who has published videos online, including short films and a PSA on texting and driving. Since her freshman year, Wilson has been part of the Bulldog Varsity Softball team, and in 2017 picked up two all-district honors.
Next time you drive past Fort Worth’s Will Rogers Memorial Center (WRMC) say “congratulations!” The facility has been named the League of Agricultural and Equine Centers’ 2018 Facility of the Year. WRMC has been a member of the league since 2012.
SPORTS
The Texas Rangers have appointed Juan Leonel Garciga to the club’s new position of Director, Youth Academy and Youth Baseball/Softball Programs.
Garciga will oversee the Rangers youth camps and clinics programs as well as the club’s Junior and Senior RBI efforts in Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Lancaster. He will also oversee and direct the programming at the Texas Rangers MLB Youth Academy at Mercy Street Sports Complex presented by Toyota in West Dallas.
Garciga joins the Rangers organization after spending the previous 11 seasons with the Miami Marlins, where he most recently served as the Manager of Community Outreach and Player Relations after being promoted to that position in November 2012.
The operations of the Academy are covered entirely by the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation, which also will provide equipment, supplies, utilities and other operating costs.
The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle will honor Texas Rangers pitcher Jake Diekman as the 53rd annual Hutch Award winner. The award is given each year to a Major League Baseball player who best exemplifies the honor, courage and dedication of the legendary baseball player and manager Fred Hutchinson, for whom the cancer research center was named.
Diekman was presented the award on Jan. 24 at a luncheon at Safeco Field, with all funds raised from the event dedicated to advancing cancer research at Fred Hutch. The Rangers were represented at the luncheon by Manager Jeff Banister and Assistant General Manager Josh Boyd.
TECHNOLOGY
ECi Software Solutions has appointed Jeff Ralyea as president of its Manufacturing Division. Ralyea has more than 20 years’ experience in the manufacturing software industry, a career that has included serving in senior leadership positions with SAP Software Solutions, Infor, and most recently, Ellucian.
ECi Software Solutions also announced that Distribution Division President Brian Bowerfind has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Business Solutions Association (BSA). The BSA is a trade association that represents manufacturers and wholesalers in the business products and related industries.
TTI Inc. has promoted Mike Morton, president, TTI Global Sales and Marketing, to the position of chief operating officer.
Send newsmakers to Robert Francis at rfrancis@bizpress.net.
Kisabeth Furniture snags best of show at AAF-Fort Worth
Local furniture manufacturer Kisabeth Furniture took home Best of Show for its work on the La Habana Product Launch. At the American Advertising Federation-Fort Worth awards on Feb. 23.
Alcorn was awarded Best of Print for their Grace & Grit Packaging Design, and Balcom Agency was awarded Best of Interactive for the BUILT campaign and Best of Broadcast for Georgia Grown. Special Judges’ Awards were given to PAVLOV Agency for Best Identity, J&P Cycles for Best Print Ad, and Schaefer Advertising Co. for Best Out-of-Home.
AAF-Fort Worth celebrated the annual American Advertising Awards this year in The Foundry District.
Competition was stiff again this year with a total of 29 golds awarded at the professional level. Schaefer Advertising Co. won six golds, PAVLOV Agency and Balcom both won five, Alcorn took home four, Kisabeth Furniture, GCG Marketing and Red Productions each won two, and J&P Cycles, Texas Wesleyan University and OCG+ all took home one gold.
In addition to Special Judges’ Awards and gold awards, awards were given out at the silver and bronze levels.
Balcom snagged eight silvers and eight bronzes. CGC Marketing took home two six packs, six silvers and six bronzes. PAVLOV Agency snapped up five silvers and nine bronzes. Schaefer Advertising can decorate the office with five silvers and eight bronzes. Red Productions won three silvers and three bronzes. Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau took home three silvers and one bronze. Kisabeth Furniture won two silvers and one bronze. Fastback and J.O. both took home two silvers. Sheffield Creative took home one silver. Buxton, EZ Creative, and NBC 5 DFW each took home one silver and two bronzes. Alcorn, Buzzbomb Creative, Genius House, The Video Zoo, and Warren Douglas Advertising each took home one silver and one bronze. Brian Pierce Marketing and Xpressdocs each snagged two bronzes. Paige Rodges, Design Works Studio, BrandEra Inc., and Texas Wesleyan University each took home one bronze.
At the student level, Best of Show was awarded to the Film and Video Students/Art and Art History Department at the University of Texas at Arlington for their Sierra Club PSA campaign; Special Judges’ Award for Best Identity went to Michaela Keck, Phong Nguyen and Allison Ruiz of UT Arlington for their Hoot Loot School Supplies Stationery Campaign; Special Judges’ Award for Best Logo went to Emily Brown of UT Arlington for the Woods Goods Logo; and Special Judges’ Award for Best Design went to Kelley Willoughby of UT Arlington for The Straight Line is a Godless Line in Book Design.
Best of Show and Special Judges’ Award winners also took home golds. Golds were awarded to Cynthia Lama, Jessica Sanchez, Emily Brown, Kelley Willoughby, all of UTA, and Jaclyn Mazzio of Texas Christian University. UT Arlington took home an additional eight silvers and eight bronzes. TCU took home two silvers and four bronzes. All winners at both the student and professional level can be viewed at youjudgeyou.com/winners.
The Fort Worth American Advertising Awards is the first of a three-tier, national competition. Around the country, local entrants vie for recognition as the very best in their markets. At the second tier, local winners compete against other winners in one of 15 District competitions. District winners are then forwarded to the third tier, the national AAA competition.