Dene Rogers, former CEO of Target Australia and Sears Canada, will join RadioShack as president and CEO on May 9.
Rogers also will serve on the Fort Worth retailer’s board of directors.
Most recently, Rogers was president and CEO of Biosenta Inc., a developer and maker of chemical products for household and industrial applications. As executive vice president and general manager of Kmart Corp., he helped lead the company’s turnaround during 2003-2006 when it came out of bankruptcy and later acquired Sears. From 2006-2011, he was CEO of Sears Canada; after Sears he was chief executive of Target Australia.
Prior to retail, Rogers was a management consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton, a senior vice president of business development for GE Capital, and a senior vice president of development at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, where he helped refresh the Westin brand and develop the W Hotels brand.
At RadioShack, Rogers will focus on re-inventing the retailer’s business model for long-term growth.
“Dene shares our commitment to RadioShack’s legacy as the nation’s leading neighborhood electronics convenience store and has an impressive vision for how to expand the business into other segments of the market across a variety of platforms,” said RadioShack Chairman Robert Lavan.
The RadioShack brand was acquired from bankruptcy by General Wireless Inc. in March 2015. Since then, RadioShack has re-launched RadioShack.com, launched the NCREDIBLE brand and the Ncredible 1 headphones with celebrity Nick Cannon as chief creative officer, and formed an exclusive partnership with Sprint to create stores-within-a-store in 1,400 of the more than 1,700 RadioShack stores across the country.
Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations
Hilda Limón joined Balcom Agency as a media buyer and planner, bringing 11 years of media buying and selling experience. Limón started her media career in radio promotions at Entravision Communications. Later she was an account executive at Azteca America, where she sold national and local TV airtime. She then transitioned to the buying side as a media buyer at Inspire Agency for such clients as Sprint and Visionworks. Limón also gained experience in a third side of media: as talent in several TV commercials. At Balcom, she will manage media plans for such clients as Kubota, Cavender’s and Northstar Bank.
PAVLOV Advertising hired Ali Baer as account executive for its Dallas Fort Worth International Airport account. Baer is responsible for day-to-day account service and project management duties related to the airport’s business-to-consumer advertising and marketing. Previously Baer was an account executive at BrandEra in Fort Worth. She is the marketing chairman for the Red Shoe Society, a young professionals group that partners with the Ronald McDonald House of Fort Worth.
Banking & Finance
David Milhollon has been named vice president of lending for Heritage Land Bank’s Fort Worth branch. Milhollon has more than 14 years of experience in financing and analysis as well as construction-based operations. Previously he was a project manager for Hernandez Consulting LLC of New Orleans. In the banking industry, he has been branch manager in Azle at Herring Bank and senior vice president at First Financial Bank in Fort Worth. Milhollon is a petty officer first class in the U.S. Navy Reserve, assigned to the Seabees since 2003. He served in Afghanistan and has been awarded two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals and a Seabee Combat Warfare Designation, among others. He is a member of the Greater Fort Worth Realtors Association and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
Boards & Organizations
The Bankers Bank elected George Chaggaris to its board. He will continue as chairman of Riverbend Bank and president and CEO of Riverbend Financial Corp. Chaggaris recently concluded a three-year term on the board of the Texas Bankers Association in Austin.
Sandi McDermott, director of Tarleton State University’s center on the Navarro College Midlothian campus, has been appointed to the advisory board of the Texas State Alliance of YMCAs. McDermott is a board member of the YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth, a 2015 graduate of Leadership Fort Worth, and a member of the North Texas, Texas and American Organization of Nurse Executives. She serves on the boards of the Tarrant County College Nursing School and Fort Worth Southwest Area Council Chamber of Commerce. She began her nursing career as a doctor’s assistant and has worked for Baylor Health Care System, Texas Health Resources and Hospital Corporation of America.
Honors & Awards
Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains will honor four local leaders during its annual Women of Distinction awards luncheon on May 11 in Fort Worth. This year’s honorees are: Discover Award, Sunny Brous, director of development and events at Junior Achievement of the Chisholm Trail: Connect Award, Southlake Mayor Laura Hill; Take Action Award, Rosalinda Martinez, administrative assistant-international admissions at Tarrant County College and vice chairman of marketing and public relations at Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas Fort Worth Chapter; and Lifetime Achievement Award, Joyce Newsom, longtime advocate and supporter of Girl Scouts.
Theresa Mossige, principal of R.L. Paschal High School, is the winner of the 2016 TCU Excellence in Education Award. The award annually recognizes an individual who has made contributions to the field of education and is actively involved in the Texas Christian University College of Education. Mossige is in her sixth year as principal of Paschal; she previously served four years as principal of Stripling Middle School.
Fort Worth Can Academies will honor community leader Joy Ann Havran at a benefit luncheon on May 19 in Fort Worth. Havran is a certified public accountant in private practice. She is a member of the Texas Society of CPAs and Leadership Fort Worth and a board member of Cook Children’s Medical Center and Jewel Charity Ball. She is a past board member of Mayfest Inc., Junior League of Fort Worth, Fort Worth Dallas Ballet, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Association, Fort Worth Country Day School, Harris Methodist Health Foundation and March of Dimes of North Texas. She is also a founding trustee and past member of the Harris Hospital Doris Kupferle Breast Center and past fundraising gala chairman for March of Dimes, Jewel Charity, Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas, Historic Fort Worth, Van Cliburn Piano Competition and the Arts Council of Tarrant County.
Troy C. Alley Jr., co-founder and chief operating officer of Con-Real LP, was inducted into the University of Arkansas’ College of Engineering Hall of Fame. He is the first African-American so honored. Alley graduated in 1969 with a degree in electrical engineering. He was in the university’s first class in which African-American undergraduate students were allowed to live on campus. Alley was one of 60 black students among the 11,000 student body. Alley also is the first African-American to serve on the College of Engineering Campaign Committee, Engineering Advisory Board and is the only “Distinguished Alumni Award” recipient. He is an instructor for the Appraisal Institute, a former lecturer/instructor at the University of Texas at Arlington and Paul Quinn College, and a member of the advisory boards at UT Arlington’s School of Engineering and Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business. He is the founder of the Engineering Career Awareness Program, the first minority program at U of A to recruit underrepresented engineering students and which provides four-year scholarships. Alley also is founder of the Alley Scholars organization, a collaboration of business professionals from all disciplines partnering to help promote and support future young minority entrepreneurs and leaders.
Texas Christian University’s College of Education Language & Literacy Program received the Wisniewski Teacher Education Award, an honor presented annually to recognize an outstanding teacher education program at a college or university. College of Education Dean Mary M. Patton accepted the award during the Society of Professors of Education annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
Send newsmakers to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net