Engineering & Construction Baird, Hampton and Brown Inc. hired Thomas L. Hoover, who brings 30 years of experience in the civil engineering field. Hoover has been a project engineer and manager for urban street design, utility design and recreation design projects since 1984. His honors and achievements include a National Award for Smart Growth and Sustainable Development and a State Award for Design Excellence.
Health Care Plaza Medical Center of Fort Worth named Janet Mize-Jugert vice president of transplant for the hospital. In this position, Mize-Jugert will be responsible for the overall direction and business development, marketing, physician relations and community outreach for Plaza’s transplant service line. Mize-Jugert, an experienced health care executive with more than 27 years of experience, began her clinical career as a staff nurse in the critical care unit for Pasadena General Hospital in Pasadena, Texas. She has served in various leadership roles including as a transplant coordinator, program manager, and independent consultant and site auditor for hospitals across the country. She most recently served as administrative director for CHRISTUS Transplant Institute at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio. She has been appointed to the NATCO Ad Hoc Committee and to the Clinical Credentialing Committee for the American Board of Transplant Coordinators for the UNOS Nursing School Training Advocacy Team. Honors & Awards United Way of Tarrant County presented two awards to “key” volunteers at its 2014 Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon. Tim Neathery, program administration manager at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, received the Key Individual Volunteer Award. Neathery is volunteer coordinator of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Golf Tournament, which benefits the United Way campaign. TD Auto Finance won the Key Corporate Volunteer Award. As part of its United Way campaign last fall, the company completed four weeks of community service projects. The award was accepted by Rob Blanton, – head of TD Auto Finance Collections. For the third consecutive year, Richard Whitman, vice president of mortgage lending at Texas Trust Credit Union, has been named a Five Star Mortgage Professional. Whitman scored in the top 1 percent for client satisfaction among 15,700 licensed mortgage loan originators in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. The award recognizes mortgage professionals based on an independent consumer satisfaction survey. Whitman joined the credit union in 2006 and has more than 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry. Kristy Libotte Keener, graphic design coordinator for North Central Texas Council of Governments won a Platinum International Hermes Creative Award in graphic design for a community information guide, Charting the Future. The booklet was designed for the Transportation Department at NCTCOG. The 2014 Arlington Small Businesses of the Year Awards, presented by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, went to Galactic Performance Solutions and Southern Flair Photography, For-Profit Category; Dental Health Arlington in the nonprofit category; and IKids Pediatric Dentistry in the veteran-owned category. Texas Wesleyan University’s School of Business Administration has achieved accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. This is Texas Wesleyan’s initial accreditation and it must be renewed every five years. The Rotary Club of Arlington was named “Top Rotary Club for 2013-2014” out of 64 clubs at the recent Rotary District Conference in Fort Worth. Other recognitions received at the conference included First Place in Community Service and the Governors Challenge Award for its “End Polio Now” campaign. Additionally, the Arlington Independent School District board honored the club with the Community Engaged for Excellence Award for work done with local schools.
Manufacturing Consumer goods veteran Alice Tillett has taken the reins as the new CEO of Petmate, a maker of pet products. She succeeds Joe Messner who retired after joining the company in 2011. Tillett most recently served as president of Pacific Bicycle, a division of Dorel Industries, whose brand names include Schwinn, Mongoose, Pacific and Roadmaster. Prior to that, she served in leadership positions for several large consumer brands including Gibson Greetings, Rubbermaid and Huffy Bicycle.
Nonprofit Organizations Kara D. Waddell has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Child Care Associates. Most recently, Waddell was executive director of Early Learning Hub Inc. in Mid-Willamette Valley, Ore. Prior to that, she served as the state of Oregon’s child care executive, overseeing the state’s child care licensing, child care quality improvement and statewide child care subsidy system. She also served on the Governor’s Early Learning Council. Waddell co-developed and secured a federal Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant award for Oregon. She also oversaw the development and launch of the state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System. Before moving to Oregon, Waddell lived in China for more than a decade and is proficient in Mandarin. In China, she served as country director for an international non-governmental organization, developing programs in global child advocacy. Waddell was a Fellow in Philanthropy at Harvard’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations.
Real Estate CBRE has added Fort Worth-area valuation and advisory services for office, retail, industrial, multifamily and other commercial property types. Fort Worth residents Micah Beck, who joined CBRE in 2011, and Trey Evans, new to the company as of January, intend to grow the team in the coming years. In addition to property valuations and market studies, the team offers litigation and eminent domain specialty services.
Sports The Lone Star Brahmas added Hunter Van Pelt as the new senior account manager and Clifton Foster as the new communications manager for the team. Foster is the voice of the Brahmas on the team’s fasthockey.com feeds and the host of the weekly Brahmas coaches show. In addition, Scott Plourde has moved into a sales/business development role, and will direct the game operations during the upcoming season. Chad Siewert now heads up the front office as vice president of ticket operations.
Send newsmakers to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net
Community leaders honored as living legends The National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum will honor outstanding civic and community leaders at the 21st annual Dr. Marion J. Brooks Living Legend Award ceremony on June 5 from 5:45 to 8 p.m. at the Fort Worth Library located at 500 W. Third St. in Fort Worth. This year’s honorees include: Erma Bonner Platte, arts and culture; Dennis L. Dunkins Sr., education; Devoyd Jennings, business; Alene Washington, -community service; Johnnie L. Young, government. Platte is an award-winning watercolor artist known professionally as E LaRue. She has served on numerous boards such as Fort Worth’s Commission for Historical Preservation, the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society and the DFW Claude R. Platte Tuskegee Airmen Chapter. Dunkins began his career with Fort Worth Independent School District as a teacher in 1963. He worked in management at General Motors for almost a decade before starting his own business, Fairhaven Office Supply, from 1968 to 1983. He returned to Fort Worth ISD in 1980 as director of magnet planning until 2000 when he became ombudsman (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission officer). Jennings, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce, began his career in 1973 with TXU/ONCOR as a lobbyist/community affairs specialist. He has served on numerous boards, including the Texas Association of Business, Texas Wesleyan University, North Texas Commission, the Texas Association of African American Chambers and the North Texas Toll Authority. Washington has served as senior director at Fellowship Corner Senior Center for 40 years. Most recently, she was the recipient of the President’s Award for Service from Senior Citizen Services of Tarrant County. Her “Steppin’ Grannies” dance group is well-known throughout Fort Worth. Young is senior housing program adviser with the Office of Housing Counseling in the Outreach and Capacity Branch and on the National Supervisory Team with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Previously chairman of the Fort Worth Housing Summits, he served as supervisory housing program specialist, Region VI, from 2009 to 2012 in HUD’s Fort Worth office.