Hilltop Securities Inc. is opening a new wealth management office in Fort Worth and has named Victor F. Medina to be senior vice president and branch manager in the firm’s private client group.
Medina was previously senior vice president, financial adviser at Morgan Stanley. His wealth management practice will be located at 777 Main St., Suite 1200, where HilltopSecurities has a municipal finance office.
“We are very excited to welcome Victor to HilltopSecurities and look forward to expanding our presence in the Fort Worth community,” said David E. Geschke, director of retail for HilltopSecurities and CEO/president of HilltopSecurities Independent Network Inc. “Victor is an accomplished financial adviser and manager whose relationship-driven approach to wealth management perfectly aligns with HilltopSecurities’ financial planning philosophy.”
In addition to providing personalized financial advisory services to families and businesses, Medina is involved in numerous Fort Worth area community organizations. He serves on the Ambassador Council of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and the Salvation Army’s Youth Education Town Advisory Committee of North Texas. He is a member of Rotary Club of Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Medina earned a bachelor’s degree in business management/marketing from the University of Texas at San Antonio and is a lifetime member of the university’s alumni association
Hilltop Securities Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings Inc. HilltopSecurities’ affiliates include Hilltop Securities Independent Network Inc., PlainsCapital Bank, PrimeLending and National Lloyds Corp.
COMMUNICATION EXPERT JOINS
NEW MED SCHOOL FACULTY
Dr. Evonne Kaplan-Liss, a pioneer in teaching medical students and health care providers to be better communicators, has joined the faculty of the new TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, which plans to enroll its first class in 2019.
Kaplan-Liss is the first medical school dean dedicated solely to the training of students and faculty to be effective communicators and empathetic scholars, according to the school.
As the assistant dean of narrative reflection and patient communication, Kaplan-Liss will develop curriculum and create an environment that teaches medical students to communicate more effectively with patients, colleagues, the community, media, funders and policymakers.
“This innovative medical school is a unique opportunity to transform health care by inspiring the next generation of medical students to be empathetic scholars,” Kaplan-Liss said. “Our goal is to infuse clarity throughout a new progressive communication curriculum and to become a model for other medical schools.”
Kaplan-Liss was the founding medical director of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science in the Stony Brook University School of Journalism in New York. There she developed curriculum and led hundreds of national and international workshops to educate thousands of students, faculty and administrators in the health professions to be more effective communicators.
She also will work with faculty members who will be required to participate in initial and ongoing communication training. Kaplan-Liss will incorporate the communication curriculum into the medical school and beyond, reaching out to the Fort Worth community, the University of North Texas Health Science Center and Texas Christian University through a plan to develop Fort Worth’s Center for Empathetic Communication.
“When I visited Fort Worth and met Dean [Stuart] Flynn, I knew this was the best place to bring this center,” Kaplan-Liss said. “Dr. Flynn not only values the importance of communication training for his medical students, but also has the vision to integrate this training throughout all four years. This wouldn’t be possible at another university because curriculum is already established and faculty can often be unwilling to make changes.”
Kaplan-Liss is a clinical associate professor in the Program in Public Health and the Department of Family, Population & Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook Medicine in New York. She is also affiliated faculty at Stony Brook’s School of Journalism and continues to speak nationally on behalf of Alda Communications Training Co. in New York City. She graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, completing residencies in both pediatrics and preventive medicine. She also receiving a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University’s Mailmen School of Public Health. Kaplan-Liss is managing editor of the textbook Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice, 2nd Edition.
UTA HIRES CINCINNATI DEAN
AS ACADEMIC AFFAIRS VP
Teik C. Lim, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Cincinnati, will be the next provost and vice president for academic affairs of the University of Texas at Arlington, university President Vistasp Karbhari announced April 19.
Lim’s appointment is effective June 30. He has headed the engineering college at Cincinnati since 2012, overseeing significant growth in enrollment, reputation, faculty size, corporate partnerships, research funding and endowments, UT Arlington said in a news release.
“The selection committee was extremely impressed with Dr. Teik C. Lim’s depth of experience and established record of devising innovative ways of addressing conventional challenges in a university environment,” said Duane Dimos, vice president for research at UT Arlington and
chairman of the search committee, in the news release.
Karbhari said that Lim’s “dedication to excellence and student success along with his proactive and highly successful record in engagement with the corporate world and with the local and global community make him the ideal candidate to continue our drive to ever higher levels of excellence.”
In Cincinnati, Lim established a unique university Simulation Center funded by P&G that now supports 75 research students from five colleges at the university and was replicated at three other global sites. He also strengthened the partnership between the College of Engineering and Applied Science, the College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital through an interdisciplinary biomedical engineering initiative, the news release said.
As provost and vice president of academic affairs at UT Arlington, Lim will oversee academic administration and student success programs.
“UTA’s aspiration to become the model 21st century urban research university, an institution on the move, and the excellent team President Karbhari has assembled are what attracted me to this position,” Lim said in the news release. “The university already has all the necessary elements to achieve its ambition – enrollment growing by leaps and bounds; a very diverse student body; and a campus situated in a thriving, dynamic and very large Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex with strong global connections.”
Lim earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla, and a doctorate in mechanical engineering at The Ohio State University.
With a projected global enrollment of close to 57,000 in 2016-17, UT Arlington is one of the largest universities in Texas.
EDUCATION
Kristi Martin-Smith has been appointed director of education and training for Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center. She was previously the executive director of the Early Education Department at Harvest Christian Academy in Fort Worth.
ENGINEERING
Joshua J. Roehm has been named office manager of the Huitt-Zollars Fort Worth office. As a vice president of the firm and now office manager, he will be responsible for leading full-service, multi-disciplinary architecture and engineering pursuits and production. Roehm has 20 years of experience in a variety of markets including health care, industrial, transportation, and higher education. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University architectural engineering program.
GOVERNMENT
Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed Tina Yturria Buford, who earned a certificate in ranch management from the Texas Christian University School of Ranch Management, to the Soil and Water Conservation Board for a term set to expire on Feb. 1, 2018. The board administers Texas’ soil and water conservation law and coordinates conservation and pollution abatement programs throughout the state.
Buford of Harlingen is the education project manager for the East Foundation, developing natural resource education programs for South Texas youth. In addition, she works alongside her family at the H. Yturria Land and Cattle Co. Buford has a bachelor’ degree in rangeland ecology and management from Texas A&M University at College Station.
Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed James L. “Jim” Minge of Arlington to the Credit Union Commission for a term set to expire on Feb. 15, 2023. Minge is the president and CEO of the Texas Trust Credit Union. He is a member of the Texas State Society of Public Accountants and the Fort Worth Chapter of the Texas State Society of Public Accountants. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from The University of Texas at Austin.
Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Fred Tate of Colleyville to the Judicial Compensation Commission for a term set to expire on Feb. 1, 2023. The commission recommends the proper salaries to be paid by the state for all justices and judges of the Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals, Courts of Appeals and state district courts. Tate is a strategically focused fractional CFO who helps businesses achieve top line and bottom line growth. He is a volunteer with GRACE Christmas Cottage, Patriot Paws and the Bransford Elementary Dads Club and serves as Tiger Cub den leader. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Baylor University.
HONORS & AWARDS
Rhonda Christensen, a research professor in the Department of Learning Technologies in the College of Information at the University of North Texas, has been awarded a Fulbright Senior Specialist Scholarship.
Cantey Hanger partner Tawanna Lynn Cesare has been recognized as an “Extraordinary Woman” by Powerful Purses Inc. for her contributions to the organization and its scholarship programs. Powerful Purses is a charity that represents the commercial real estate industry.
Max Krochmal, assistant professor of history at Texas Christian University, has received the 2017 Frederick Jackson Turner Award from the Organization of American Historians. The award is given annually to the author of a first scholarly book dealing with some aspect of American history. Krochmal’s book, Blue Texas: The Making of a Multiracial Democratic Coalition in the Civil Rights Era (University of North Carolina Press) deals with Texas’ shifting cultural, economic, racial and electoral landscapes from the 1930s through the 1960s and beyond.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Cooksey Communications recently added Allison Chvojan as an account executive.
“Allison brings a breadth of knowledge to this role,” said Gail Cooksey, founder and president of Cooksey Communications. “We believe she will be able to provide Cooksey with the means to strategically build on our new and existing business.”
Chvojan began her career at a government education and transportation entity in Dallas where she aided the in-house communications team. She gained experience managing both internal and external communications, crisis communications, social media, graphic design and event management. Chvojan graduated from Louisiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication.
NONPROFITS
Lisa Fellers has joined Lighthouse for the Blind of Fort Worth as head of development to engage in development and donor relations. Previously she was director of development for The WARM Place.
Send newsmakers to Robert Francis at rfrancis@bizpress.net.