Fort Worth Stock Show changes management
Two new staff members joined the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show amid the expansion of the event’s publicity department.
Sonia Benavides, formerly with the Tarrant County office of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, is the sponsorship coordinator/special events assistant.
Matt Brockman takes over as manager of the recently expanded publicity department. Brockman, who recently directed the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, was the Stock Show’s administrative manager from 2010-2013 and executive assistant from 2006-2010. He previously worked for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, Texas Department of Agriculture and other agricultural organizations in Austin and Washington, D.C.
Longtime publicity manager Shanna Weaver is assuming a part-time role in order to spend more time with family and will serve as assistant publicity manager.
“Shanna Weaver remains a very trusted member of our publicity department,” said President and General Manager Brad Barnes. “We look forward to benefiting from her expertise and knowledge and are fortunate to be able to increase staffing in our publicity department. Shanna and Matt make a great team. Their energies and efforts will grow the Stock Show’s public presence in the coming years.”
Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations
Denice Galier Bailey joined Corporate Business Solutions Inc. as a sales and marketing executive. She previously operated dbaileygroup marketing and advertising firm. Bailey began her career with the Fort Worth Business Press in 1989.
Enilon elevated Jeremy Hamilton to manager of technology, Chris Brailsford to senior user experience developer and Jessica Fontana to director of project management.
Banking & Finance
Merry Bagwell and Scott Wicke joined the Southlake office of Raymond James & Associates. Bagwell was a first vice president and investment officer at Wells Fargo Advisors, a financial adviser at Wachovia Securities and a financial consultant at A.G. Edwards & Sons. She also worked 23 years at Keebler Co., including as sales representative and regional sales director. Wicke also was a financial adviser at Wells Fargo Advisors, senior compliance manager/privacy officer at EmCare, a financial consultant at A.G. Edwards & Sons and an account executive at WBAP Radio.
Boards & Organizations
New members of Mayfest Inc.’s board are Terry McGuill, Rachel Navejar and Tiffany Rubenkoenig. They join President Bryan Liles, Vice President Janet Bubert, Treasurer Bart Tucker, newly elected Secretary Debbie Boudreaux, and members Carrie Cappel, Will Churchill, Rob Cocanower, Randle Harwood, Kathleen Hicks, Chad Lorance, Lisa O’Connor, Kristy Odom, Stacey Pierce and Richard Zavala.
The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) elected Bruce Leonard as its vice chairman for producers. He is senior director of marketing of natural gas liquids at Targa Liquids Marketing & Trade. He has been an active volunteer with PERC on its advisory committee.
Winstead shareholder Andrew Rosell has been appointed to the Cook Children’s Health Foundation board.
Business Consulting Services
Buxton promoted Chris Briggs from senior vice president of client experience to chief of staff. Briggs joined Buxton in 2003 in the spatial analytics department. He has had leadership positions in multiple areas, including operations and marketing. Briggs has been a featured speaker at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and Texas Christian University’s Neeley School of Business, and he coordinates the annual Buxton Challenge with the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative. He also has served on the advisory board for the International City/County Managers Association.
Education
Marilyn Wiley is the new dean of the College of Business at the University of North Texas through August 2018. Wiley joined UNT in 2009 as senior associate dean of the College of Business and as a professor of finance in the Department of Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Law.
Engineering & Construction
Speed Fab-Crete appointed Brad Bloxom as assistant project manager, representing the Bloxom family’s third generation to join the 64-year-old construction company. He joins his father, David Bloxom, company president and co-owner, and late grandfather, Dave E. Bloxom, who founded the firm. Brad Bloxom is responsible for assisting in the overall management of projects assigned to him, from the pre-construction stage and permitting, through construction, to owner occupancy.
Gary R. Bouthillier is the new director of aviation at Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. Bouthillier has nearly 20 years of experience designing and managing aviation projects. Previously, he led Jacobs Engineering’s Fort Worth aviation group. Prior to that, he was program at W.K. Dickson & Co. Inc. responsible for the firm’s Charlotte, N.C., office aviation department. He also was a senior design manager for the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Terminal Renovation Improvement Program for the past four years. His work on multiple runway and taxiway design and rehabilitation projects includes the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the Eastern Iowa Airport and airports in Central and South America and the Caribbean.
Health Care
USMD Holdings Inc. appointed Jim Berend as chief financial officer and executive vice president. Berend has more than 35 years of experience in health care finance. Prior to joining USMD, he was CFO and executive vice president of a company operating surgical hospitals in Texas. He previously was the partner in charge of the health care practice at Grant Thornton and the health care consulting practice at Ernst & Young in Dallas. Berend started his career at and spent nearly 25 years at Arthur Andersen, beginning as a staff accountant, rising to partner and then leading the health care practice in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Honors & Awards
Nandika D’Souza, University of North Texas Regents Professor of mechanical and energy engineering and associate dean of undergraduate studies in UNT’s College of Engineering, is the 2015 Society of Women Engineers Distinguished Engineering Educator. The award is presented to educators who make significant contributions to the engineering field.
D’Souza has worked with students in the areas of failure analysis, viscoelasticity and material reliability. Her teaching and research focuses on mechanics and materials and how best to incorporate them reliably in design. She is a Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers for her contributions to the field of polymers, composites, fibers, films and coatings. D’Souza has earned numerous awards, including the UNT Research Leadership Award, UNT College of Engineering Research Award and Vinyl Division Thesis Award from the International Society of Plastics Engineers. She was named the 2009 Engineer of the Year by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Electronics and Photonics Packaging Division. She was designated UNT Regents Professor in 2015.
Fort Worth Club executive chef Timothy Prefontaine won the national 2015 Dr. L.J. Minor Chef Professionalism Award at Cook. Craft. Create. ACF National Convention & Show.
The Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration awarded its Pinnacle Award for the 2014-2015 school year to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History’s Distance Learning Program for its performance as a content provider. The museum is one of two sites in Texas to receive the honor.
Real Estate
Alliant National Title Insurance Co. hired Craig Dunbar as agency representative in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana and Arkansas. Previously, Dunbar was regional agency representative for another national title insurance company and chief deputy superintendent of insurance for the New Mexico Department of Insurance. Dunbar serves on the board of the New Mexico Land Title Association and is a member of the Texas Land Title Association.
Send newsmakers to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net