People: July 8, 2013

 

Law

Shayla L. Friesen and Christopher L. Taylor have joined Barlow Garsek & Simon LLP. Friesen’s legal practice focuses on business bankruptcy, corporate reorganizations and restructurings, acquisitions (including within bankruptcies), creditors’ rights and complex commercial litigation. She has additional experience representing public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions as well as in general corporate matters and compliance with securities laws. Friesen is a former briefing clerk to Jeff Bohm, chief United States bankruptcy judge for the Southern District of Texas, and is a 2009 graduate of South Texas College of Law, summa cum laude. She previously was ass ociated with the Houston law firm of Porter Hedges LLP. Taylor is a litigator whose practice ranges from complex commercial matters to simple consumer disputes. He also maintains an immigration practice that helps guide individuals and employers through the immigration process. His immigration experience includes Form I-9 compliance issues, H-1B visas, various student visas and PERM applications. Taylor is a 2010 graduate of Texas Tech University School of Law and previously was associated with Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP.

Architecture & Engineering The Beck Group named Scot Bennett director of business development. Bennett will oversee all business development efforts for the Fort Worth regional office. A trained architect, Bennett joins Beck with nearly 20 years of experience in the design, construction and real estate industries. Most recently, Bennett was responsible for the growth and development of the private/corporate sector and the Southwest district for a noted general contracting firm.

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Banking & Finance Comerica Bank has named Donald P. Hellman its first Fort Worth market president. Hellman, with 32 years of commercial banking experience in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has led Comerica’s middle market business in Tarrant County since 2008. He will continue in that role, and his new responsibilities will include supporting the bank’s customer initiatives and overall business and community development efforts across its retail, business bank and wealth management businesses. An Irving native, Hellman is active in community and civic affairs, serving on the board of directors for Downtown Fort Worth Inc. and Communities in Schools of Greater Tarrant County. He is also an active member of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.

Boards & Organizations Krishnan Rajeshwar, assistant vice president for research at the University of Texas at Arlington’s College of Business and distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has been elected a vice president of The Electrochemical Society, an educational nonprofit with more than 8,000 members in more than 70 countries. Rajeshwar has been a faculty member in the UT-Arlington College of Science since 1983 and was a charter member of the UT-Arlington Academy of Distinguished Professors. His specialties include photoelectrochemistry, nanocomposites, electrochemistry and conducting polymers. He is the author of more than 400 peer-reviewed journal articles, including several in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society and Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters. G. Thomas Vick Jr., with Vick Carney & Smith LLP in Weatherford, has been elected chairman of the Texas Bar Foundation Board of Trustees. Vick has served as chairman of the State Bar of Texas Family Law Section, as a commissioner on the Texas Access to Justice Commission, as a director on the State Bar of Texas board, and as president of the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists and the Texas Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Vick served as mayor of Weatherford and as a trustee for the Weatherford Independent School District. He is a graduate of Austin College and South Texas College of Law. Vick joined his father, Gabe T. Vick, in his law practice in May 1981. The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce announced its new officers and directors. Officers are: chairman, Susan A. Halsey, managing partner, Jackson Walker LLP; vice chairman, Bob Pence, president and CEO, Freese and Nichols; treasurer, Mark Nurdin, CEO, Bank of Texas- Fort Worth Region. Bill Thornton is president and CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber. Incoming directors are: Walter Amaya, GE Manufacturing Solutions; Larry Anfin, Coors Distributing Co. of Fort Worth; Bruce Benner, Bennett Benner Pettit Architects + Planners; Brian Chase, Bell Helicopter-Textron Inc.; Ryan Cormier, Ratio Digital Media; Nathan Darst, Bank of America, downtown; Tim Doke, University of North Texas Health Science Center; Mayna Haggard, Yellow Rose Cattle Ranch; Robin Hamilton, Wells Fargo, Sundance Square; Judy Hunter, Acme Brick Co.; Dee Kelly Jr., Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP; Lisa Lankes, Justin Brands; Becky Redman, Lockheed Martin; Steve Tatum, Cantey Hanger LLP; and Andrew Ward, Mercantile Center. Fort Worth Country Day named six new trustees to its board for three-year terms: Laura Alexander, Brent Clum, Randy Eisenman, Scotty MacLean, Louella Martin and Bonnie Petsche. Officers are Shannon Ray, president; David Ekstrom, vice president and treasurer; and Jane Nober, secretary. Alexander, managing director at First Southwest, is a member of the Government Finance Officers Association, the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the Texas Ballet Theater Board of Governors. She earned a mathematics degree from the University of Richmond and an MBA and master’s degree in education from Stanford University. Clum is the chief financial officer of MorningStar Partners, an entity he helped to found after the merger of ExxonMobil Corp. and XTO Energy Inc. He left his position as senior vice president and treasurer of XTO in 2010. He currently is chairman of the finance and audit committee of Rangers Baseball Express and also is the chairman of Lone Star Bean. Clum serves on numerous boards, including Junior Achievement of the Chisholm Trail, the Longhorn Council of the Boy Scouts of America and Casa Mañana, and is on the finance committee of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. A certified public accountant and chartered financial analyst, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Baylor University and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business. Eisenman is a founding partner of private equity firm Satori Capital. Previously, he spent 10 years at Q Investments, and while there he founded Handango, a global leader in the smartphone content market. He is involved in Young Presidents Organization, recently serving as the North America co-chairman of the organization’s Sustainable Business Network. He is a board member of the Cook Children’s Health Foundation and is on the foundation’s investment committee. He also serves on the Texas Christian University Entrepreneurial Program Advisory Board. Eisenman earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas, where he graduated with high honors from the Business Honors Program. MacLean is the lead attorney/owner of MacLean Law Firm PC. From 1993-2011, he was attorney/partner of Jose, Henry, Brantley, MacLean & Alvarado LLP. His civic and professional activities include memberships in the Texas Bar Association and American Association of Justice. He previously served on the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra board and is second vice president on the board of River Crest Country Club. MacLean earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma and a law degree from Texas Tech University. Martin is president of Four Star Ranch, LBM Inc., LBM Investments, LBM Land and TMM Association. She has served as chairman of the United Way, the Opera Ball and Jewel Charity Ball, and is an active member of the Women’s Board of Cook Children’s Medical Center. She also served on the executive board of Texas Wesleyan University, where she received an honorary doctorate in 2002. She is affiliated with the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, First United Methodist Church, Fort Worth Garden Club, Rotary Club of Fort Worth and The Woman’s Club of Fort Worth. She serves on the boards of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Van Cliburn Foundation and Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Martin attended Christian College in Columbia, Mo.; the University of Texas at Austin and TCU. Petsche is an officer of Alan & Bonnie Petsche Holding Co. LLC. She serves on the board of trustees for Cook Children’s Medical Center and its Facilities and Development committees. She was a founding board member of the Fort Worth/Arlington chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. At Fort Worth Country Day, Petsche has served on the PFA board and in several volunteer capacities. Energy FTS International Inc. named Sharon S. Stufflebeme as its new chief information officer. She comes to FTSI from RadioShack Corp., where she was senior vice president and chief information officer for four years. Previously, she was senior vice president and chief information officer for 7-Eleven, which she joined in 2004. She also was a partner at Arthur Andersen Business Consulting and a vice president at Hitachi Consulting. Craig E. Young has joined Approach Resources Inc. as vice president-drilling and completions. Young has more than 30 years of operating and management experience in the oil and gas industry, specializing in drilling engineering and operations. His recent experience includes almost 10 years with EOG Resources, where he led the company’s development of the Eagle Ford Shale play. Young also oversaw the drilling, completions and production teams for EOG’s Barnett Shale and Barnett Combo plays. Additionally, Young has more than 14 years of experience in engineering roles with Marathon Oil Co. He has been involved in horizontal drilling for the past 25 years and has substantial experience working in the Permian Basin as well as the Eagle Ford and Barnett Shale. Young has a mechanical engineering degree from Texas Tech University and a U.S. patent for his work in horizontal drilling.

Honors & Awards T.D. Jakes, senior pastor of The Potter’s House and a bestselling author, along with his communications department, comprised of Regina Lewis, Kayla Tucker Adams and Zakiya Larry with Zunoraine Holmes of TDJ Enterprises and Yona Deshommes of Simon and Schuster, was honored with two public relations awards from Hermes Creative for the “Let It Go” book launch. The T.D. Jakes team won a platinum award in the Public Relations Campaign category and a gold award for “Oprah’s Next Chapter featuring T.D. Jakes” for Television Placement. Jakes and his communications team also are finalists for two Salute to Excellence Awards by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ.) Winners will be announced at the national convention in July. Gigi Westerman, president of Arlington-based Strategic Image Inc., received the Silver Anvil Award of Excellence at the 2013 Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil Awards ceremony in New York. Westerman won for Breastfeeding WORKS, What’s Good For Babies Is Good For Business, a campaign created for Tarrant County Public Health. This summer, Anna Huddle, a teaching assistant in the Museum School at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, will continue her pursuit of becoming a museum curator. Huddle will be a Lipper Intern at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage, a semester-long paid position in which aspiring professionals are connected to local schools to raise awareness concerning the Holocaust and Jewish heritage. Huddle is a Museum School alum and the daughter of a Museum School teacher. In Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2013 ranking of the best undergraduate business programs in the United States by specialty, the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University ranks No. 6 in entrepreneurship, No. 13 in finance, No. 17 in corporate strategy and No. 19 in marketing. The publication ranked 123 business schools. Overall, the Neeley School was No. 28 out of 145 U.S. undergraduate business programs ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek. The undergraduate business specialty ranking also notes the percentage of students reporting internships, with 84.35 percent of TCU undergraduate business students securing internships, according to survey responses. The average percentage of students with internships among the ranked schools is 72.81 percent. The Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) won a national Award of Excellence, the highest category, from the Transportation Marketing and Sales Association in the category of Single Advertisement. The ad, developed in partnership with The T’s agency of record, Fort Worth-based ad/PR firm Concussion, was designed to encourage people to take the Trinity Railway Express to Fort Worth for the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl at Texas Christian University.

Real Estate Panther Real Estate Solutions added Molly Beard to its commercial selling team. Beard graduated from Texas A&M University in May with a degree in land economics/finance and real estate. She was a member of the Texas A&M marketing competition team, NAMA, and received a National Association of Personal Financial Advisors scholarship and the Presidential Service Award.

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Retail Simon Property Group has tapped Dallas-Fort Worth blogger Chrissi Shields as a Simon Style Setter for North East Mall. Shields will provide a local opinion on all things related to fashion and beauty. The announcement of the local Style Setter is part of a nationwide rollout by Simon in which some 40 style bloggers were selected from more than 700 applicants to be their local Style Setters. The selection process included the submission of a sample blog post, which was voted on by the mall’s Facebook fans.

Send People items to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net