Newsmakers: Former Xerox exec joins Fort Worth law firm

Maureen F. “Mo” Moore, a former senior executive at Xerox Corp., joined the law firm of Dowell Pham Harrison LLP as of counsel in the firm’s recently opened Fort Worth office on Aug. 1. Her practice focuses on union avoidance training and audits, labor relations training for human resources professionals, negotiations, arbitrations, and management of election campaigns related to union organizing efforts.

Before joining the firm, Moore was vice president of corporate labor relations at Xerox Corp. in Dallas, where she was a member of the corporate Human Resources Senior Executive Leadership Team. Moore also served as vice president of labor and employment at Blockbuster Inc., where she advised a team of domestic and international HR professionals.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to work with someone whose breadth and depth of experience in labor relations is unmatched. Her in-house experience at Blockbuster and Xerox, coupled with her time in private practice, brings a unique perspective to labor and employment issues that will be of great value to our clients,” said founding partner Caroline Harrison.

Moore is board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of North Texas, where she focused on personal and industrial relations and earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration. She graduated from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law cum laude, Order of the Coif, in 1983.

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Banking & Finance

Mike Scott joined Southwest Bank as vice president-mortgage lending officer, bringing more than 14 years of mortgage and banking experience to the bank. Previously, Scott was mortgage lending officer for Southside Bank in Flower Mound and Arlington. He has also worked as mortgage banking officer for Compass Bank at several Dallas-Fort Worth-area branches, as loan officer for Bank of America and as community lending manager for Chase Bank clients in Texas and Louisiana. He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) and of High Velocity Networking Group.

Cathedral Capital Inc. appointed Lisa Cassell as chief financial officer for the company. Cassell has more than 20 years of experience in accounting and spent several years in public accounting before joining a Fortune 500 company in consolidations. While there, she created the company’s accounting systems and handled human resources, risk management, staff training, financial operations, loan negotiations, corporate documents, customer billing and collections, and accounting and software upgrades.

Greg Hall was promoted to chief marketing officer at Elevate. He previously was executive vice president of marketing. He will oversee brand management, marketing and advertising programs. He had prior roles at Capital Auto Finance, HSBC Auto Finance and the Boston Consulting Group.

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Boards & Organizations

The Fort Worth Chapter of Financial Executives International elected the following officers and appointed committee chairmen for 2015-2016: President Thomas Hook, Lockton Companies LLC; Past President Shannon L. Greene, Tandy Leather Factory Inc.; President-Elect Ross Staffel, Advance Global Communications Inc.; Membership, Ann Crossman, Andritz Separation Inc.; Programs, Alan Martin, Dent Zone Companies Inc.; Treasurer Mark Autry, Double Eagle Energy Holdings II LLC; Arrangements, Tina Castillo, Compass Well Services; Academic Relations, Hector Quintanilla, Texas Wesleyan University; Career Management, Paul Keller, Completion Industrial Minerals LLC; Career Management (co-chairman), Hook; Professional Development, Staffel; Directory, Jennifer McKeever, Hub International Insurance Services; Diversity, Mechelle Bates, Jacobs Engineering; Sponsorship, Greene; Socials/Plant Tour, Carol Stuckley; Web/Technology, Desiree Koozer, Pier 1 Imports Inc.; Publicity, Mason Kruse, Caird Energy LLC; and Golf Tournament, Hook.

Health Care

Plaza Medical Center of Fort Worth named Monica L. Johnson as vice president of human resources. Johnson has more than 18 years of human resources-related experience. She comes to Fort Worth from a sister HCA hospital in Virginia, John Randolph Medical Center, where she served as vice president of human resources for two years. Prior to that, she worked for nine years as a labor and employment litigation paralegal in the HCA corporate office in Nashville, Tenn.

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Honors & Awards

Corey Spinks, general manager of the Olive Garden in Grapevine, and Becky Wagner, general manager of the Olive Garden in Mansfield, have attained Darden Restaurants’ Diamond Club status, recognized for their commitment to delivering guest experiences at the highest level, while making a difference in the lives of guests, employees and in their community.

Fortune ranked Texas Health Resources the No. 1 health care company to work for in the United States. The rankings, developed by Fortune and Great Place to Work, are based on feedback from thousands of employees from health care companies across the country. Only one other health system in Texas made the list, and Texas Health is the only hospital-based health system in the North Texas region to be ranked.

The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce has been honored by Hiring Our Heroes with the three-star Chamber of Valor award. The award acknowledges the contributions of local chambers, industry associations, and business development organizations that join the Hiring Our Heroes mission of finding meaningful work for veterans, transitioning service members and military spouses.

The University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing and Health Innovation has been designated a Center of Excellence by the National League for Nursing, the nation’s foremost organization for nursing faculty and leaders in nursing education. UT Arlington is one of only 12 nursing schools in the country to earn the designation this year.

MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival received of the 2015 Zenith Award, the highest honor presented from the Texas Festivals & Events Association.

Law

Levi M. Dillon is the newest associate attorney at Bourland, Wall & Wenzel PC. Dillon’s practice focuses on estate planning, probate, and tax and business planning.

Nonprofit Organizations

Leanna Gilles is the new executive director of Project 4031, a nonprofit organization partnering with hospice and palliative care organizations to provide resources and grant wishes to terminally ill patients and their families. Gilles initially joined Project 4031 as a volunteer and served on its board during the past year.

Kristy Minter, who started with the Ronald McDonald House of Fort Worth in August 2014 as a development coordinator, assumes new responsibilities as the staff liaison for the Red Shoe Society, a young professionals group that supports and advances the mission of the Ronald McDonald House here. Minter oversees the Red Shoe Society’s efforts to raise awareness for the organization and the society. Minter previously worked for GM Financial and Abilene Dental.

Paige Jennings joined Camp Fire First Texas as public relations coordinator. She has participated in and taken the lead on many strategic communications initiatives, including the council’s work on universal pre-kindergarten, summer enrichment programming and the launch of the Camp Fire First Texas blog. Jennings is a member of the Greater Fort Worth Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, where she received an Award of Excellence in 2014. She also is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators and the National Society of Leadership and Success.

Real Estate

Principal Management Group of North Texas promoted Morgan Schott to a senior association manager. Schott will be responsible for a team of community managers related to a portfolio of communities managed out of the North Richland Hills office. Schott has seven years of experience in property management. In 2010, she became a licensed real estate agent in Georgia while managing homeowners associations in the Atlanta area. After moving to Texas in 2013, Schott joined Associa as a portfolio manager.

Technology

Storage Switzerland LLC added Joseph Ortiz as a senior analyst. Ortiz comes to Storage Switzerland from DSMCS Inc., an independent consulting company in Stafford, Texas, where he helped clients by giving technical support on major data protection and security products, and projects for OEMs, VARs and individual businesses. A U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, Ortiz served seven years in law enforcement with the Houston Police Department and Harris County Sheriff’s Department. He left law enforcement in 1980 to go into the information technology profession full-time. Prior to DSMCS, Ortiz worked for Legato Systems and StorNet. His background includes training, server hardware and storage systems, and backup, recovery and encryption software on various platforms.

Sabre Corp. named Zul Sidi as vice president of enterprise data and analytics, a strategic area within the company’s product and technology organization. Sidi joins Sabre from Rogers Communications Inc., Canada’s largest provider of wireless and data communication services. During his tenure at Rogers, he served as vice president of data management and technology, responsible for establishing the company’s data strategy. Sidi also led the general analytics professional services organization for SAS Institute.

Send newsmakers to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net