Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations Jeff Hooper is a partner at Creative Ammo Media Group. He joins from the Fort Worth Business Press, where he was the vice president of marketing and sales. Hooper is also president of the consulting firm Capital H Strategies. In his 30-year career, he has had several key positions in organizational management. He served for more than 11 years as executive director of the Fort Worth-based National Cutting Horse Association, nine years as executive director of the Texas Thoroughbred Association in Austin, and as vice president at both the Racing Resource Group and Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie.
Aviation Executive AirShare, a fractional aircraft ownership based in Kansas City, Mo., that also operates out of Fort Worth and Dallas, hired Harry A. Mitchel as vice president of operations. Mitchel will be based at Executive AirShare’s facilities at Dallas Love Field and will oversee all aircraft operations, including flight operations, maintenance, scheduling and managed aircraft. Mitchel most recently was president of H&N Enterprises in Franklin, Tenn. He has 30 years of experience in business and commercial aviation. He was vice president of operations with Aviation Compliance Services in 1989. He later served as director of Pinnacle Airlines’ Corporate Education Center in Memphis, director of aviation for Magic Carpet Airlines (the aviation department of the National Basketball Association’s Orlando Magic), lead pilot for Las Vegas-based Vision Air, general manager of Funair Corp. and vice president, operations at Colgan Air Inc. for five years. Mitchel has an aeronautical engineering degree from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and has more than 6,000 hours of experience as an ATP pilot.
Banking & Finance Mark A. Jackson joined Community Bank as a senior vice president, charged with attracting commercial, real estate, commercial real estate, and Small Business Administration business in Hood and surrounding counties. Jackson is a founding member of the Granbury Independent School District Education Foundation and is vice president of the Granbury ISD school board. He also volunteers with many civic organizations, including the United Way of Hood County, the Optimist Club and Boy Scouts of America. He received a bachelor’s degree in international business from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the University of Dallas. Tommy Uhr is a new mortgage banker at The Federal Savings Bank. He owns Prequalprice LP, a developer of iOS applications for the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod devices, aimed at the residential mortgage consumer and professional. He previously was an account executive at the Fort Worth Business Press and was director of strategy at MaineToday Media. From 2004 to 2008, Uhr was a principal at Bongo Technologies. He also was a mortgage banker with CTX Mortgage. He received his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Texas at Arlington. New hires at Liberty Bank are John Wood, vice president/commercial lender at the Davis location, and Geoff Griffin, vice president/commercial lender at the Westside location. Griffin, a graduate of Texas Wesleyan University, was most recently with West Side Bank & Trust. Northern Trust promoted Brian Brady to senior portfolio manager in Fort Worth. He is relocating from Northern Trust’s Los Angeles office. He has more than 12 years of investment management experience at Northern Trust, serving high-net-worth families and institutions. Brady earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has the chartered financial analyst (CFA) designation and is finishing an MBA at the University of Chicago-Booth business school. His professional affiliations include membership in the CFA Society of Dallas-Fort Worth and the CFA Institute. Tiffany Arterbury joined J. Taylor & Associates in the firm’s tax and accounting services divisions. Arterbury has more than 18 years of experience in accounting-related services and more than five years in corporate and individual income taxation. She also is a QuickBooks Pro adviser. Previously, she worked for George, Morgan and Sneed PC in Weatherford as a tax accountant and as the accounting services manager. Arterbury received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Phoenix and her master’s degree in accounting and financial management from Keller Graduate School of Management. New hires at Sanford, Baumeister & Frazier LLP are: Robert Wills, R. David Howard, Kourtney Malish, Audra Kirby and Kay Grace. Wills, senior audit manager, earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in accounting from Texas State University. He began his career in 2004 as an auditor with BDO Seidman LLP. In 2006, he relocated to Fort Worth and was audit senior for Deloitte & Touche LLP. After working as senior accounting analyst at Pioneer Natural Resources, he returned to Deloitte & Touche as an audit manager. Howard is a senior tax accountant at SB&F’s North Dallas office. He received a bachelor’s degree at Oklahoma State University in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Texas at Arlington. He started his career as an accountant with Hanner & Associates PC and is certified and licensed by the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. Malish, an audit associate, graduated from Sam Houston State University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting. Kirby, also an audit associate, majored in finance at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and continued accounting studies at the University of Houston, where she earned her certificate in accountancy. Kirby previously worked as an auditor for both privately and publicly held companies. Grace graduated from UT Arlington with an accounting degree and is preparing to sit for the certified public accountant exam. Boards & Organizations Texas Wesleyan University President Frederick G. Slabach has been elected for a two-year term on the board of Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas. The Arts Council of Fort Worth & Tarrant County elected William F. (Bill) Hart as chairman of the board. Hart is the president of Design Plastics Inc. and has been a board member since 2010. He joins other officers Suzan Greene, vice chairman; Ginny Tigue, past chairman; Scott Wheatley, secretary; Christy Cates, treasurer; and Rory Divin, ombudsman. Also on the board are: Brandi Cottingham, community advocate; Alan Cody, regional land manager, XTO Energy; Greg Kubes, financial adviser, Edward Jones; MaryAnn Means, deputy chief of staff, city of Fort Worth Mayor & Council Office; and Karen Myers, president, Karen Myers Strategies. The Tarrant County office of the American Heart Association added two members to its board: Gus S. Bates of Gus Bates Insurance & Investments, and Whit Smith, president and founder of Whitney Smith Co., a human resources consulting firm. The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association installed Pete Bonds of Saginaw as the new president during the closing session of the 2013 fall board meeting. Bonds was the first vice president prior to the death of former TSCRA President Clay Birdwell. The Texas Travel Industry Association (TTIA) elected new officers and members to its board for 2013-2014. The new chairman is Frank Morogiello of Mansfield, who is chief supply officer of GetGoing. The immediate past chairman, Steve Atkins, president of The Atkins Group, will continue to serve on the board’s executive committee. Kim Phillips, executive director, Denton Convention & Visitors Bureau, is chairman-elect. Davis Phillips, CEO of Phillips Entertainment Inc., will be treasurer, and Jim Brothers, director of marketing at Six Flags Over Texas, will serve as secretary. David Teel, president and CEO of TTIA, also sits on the executive committee. Six new members to serve three-year terms are: Josh Winkler, global vice president, Orbitz Partner Marketing; Larry Woods, director, Boerne Convention & Visitors Bureau; Bob Jameson, president/CEO, Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau; Debbie Charbonneau, tourism director, Village of Salado; Robyne Kintz, vice president of marketing-South Region, Premium Outlets/SIMON; and Arthur Coloumbe, general manager, JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa.
Honors & Awards University of Texas at Arlington aerospace engineering student Ezgihan (Izzy) Baydar from Flower Mound has been awarded a NASA Harriet G. Jenkins Predoctoral Fellowship that will allow her to pursue her research into efficient jet engines in conjunction with the space agency. Baydar and her adviser, Frank Lu, professor in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department, were awarded the three-year fellowship, which provides $135,000 in funding and includes summer internships at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Baydar has done research with UT Arlington mathematics Professor Tuncay Aktosun and interned at Los Alamos National Laboratories. Lu and Baydar’s work at NASA will focus on making air intakes more efficient in jet engines. Senior Airman Bahja Jones of Fort Worth recently was selected as one of Air Force Central Command’s “Airmen in the Fight” for 2013. The Airmen (service members and civil servants) exemplify the Air Force’s core values of integrity first, service before self and excellence. Jones was recently featured in an “Airmen in the Fight” video for the Air Force. The video showcases her job as a public affairs photojournalist. Lackland Security LLC, a subsidiary of Fort Worth-based Lackland Holdings LLC, received a Veteran Employment Award from the Texas Veterans Commission for its contribution to the military veterans of Texas. Lackland Holdings built an in-house security division staffed with returning wartime veterans who needed jobs and had the required skills. Lackland Security has hired more than 50 veterans since the company’s inception a year ago, and military veterans make up more than 90 percent of the company’s staff. Texas Health Ben Hogan Sports Medicine’s athletic training residency program has become one of two U.S. programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education.
Law Deanya Kueckelhan Cocanougher is a new partner in the Southlake office of Cantey Hanger LLP. She most recently was director of the five-state Southwest Region of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. She specialized in federal and state consumer law during the last nine years. Her experience includes seven years at the FTC and two stints as managing attorney in offices of the Texas Attorney General. She twice had a solo practice. With Cantey Hanger, she will focus her practice on consumer law issues, including compliance with consumer privacy, mobile, financial, marketing and advertising consumer laws; and defense of FTC, CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) and Texas Attorney General consumer protection enforcement actions. Cocanougher earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from East Texas State University and is a graduate of the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University. She was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1990. She also is admitted to practice in the Northern, Eastern, Western and Southern Districts of Texas; the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; and the U.S. Supreme Court. New associates at Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP are Torrie C. Taylor, Hannah M. Meadows and Jarratt F. Watkins Taylor joins the Estate Planning/Probate Practice Group. She received a business administration degree in marketing from Texas Tech University and graduated in 2013 from Texas Tech University School of Law. She clerked for Judge Jane Boyle and Judge Reed O’Connor, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Meadows joins the Real Estate and Finance Practice Group. She graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in public relations and received her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. She clerked at Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP in Dallas. Watkins joins the firm’s Corporate and Securities Practice Group. He is a UT graduate with a degree in history and government and received his law degree from SMU Dedman School of Law. Watkins interned in American Airlines Inc.’s legal department.
Media Production Matt Harton is the new line producer at Red Productions. He comes to Fort Worth from Los Angeles, where he was a freelance line producer for commercial and feature work. Harton has worked on projects for companies such as Target, Nike, Everlast, Under Armour and Reebok. Real Estate & Construction Trammell Crow Co. appointed Scott Krikorian leader of the company’s Dallas-Fort Worth business unit. He will oversee development and acquisition projects, new business pursuits, finance and daily operations. He previously was a managing director and principal responsible for industrial development throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He began his career with Trammell Crow as an industrial leasing agent in 1988 and grew to oversee all industrial developments and investments. Prior to CBRE’s acquisition of Trammell Crow, Krikorian led the Dallas-Fort Worth Industrial Services Group. He is a member of the North Texas Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. Farid (Fred) Ehsai has joined Yates Construction as chief estimator for the North Texas Division in Fort Worth. Ehsai is responsible for conceptual, budgetary and hard bid estimates, development and maintenance of owner/client relations, preconstruction services, value engineering, historical job analysis and departmental development throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Formerly he was with SpawGlass Contractors.
Technology Consuro Managed Technology hired Marty Momdjian as solutions architect. Momdjian most recently was senior system administrator and infrastructure team leader at the Museum of Science in Boston, where he also was an active member of and contributor to the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center. Prior to that, he was the senior systems administrator and subject matter expert for the ITT Systems Department of Defense Africa Command/Central Command, providing enterprise technology support engineering for O&M support for the Department of Defense/Army and Navy enterprise network in the Middle East Theater. Momdjian is a graduate of Middlesex College, where he majored in computer science and minored in criminal justice.
Transportation The Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) appointed Rebecca Young-Montgomery as assistant vice president for government relations. She comes to Fort Worth from Austin, where she was chief of staff to state Rep. John Smithee (R-Amarillo) and later an executive aide to House Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland). She also worked for the Texas Education Agency and the General Land Office, monitoring and guiding legislative activities related to those agencies. Since arriving in Fort Worth in 2012, Young-Montgomery has worked as a public relations consultant to several local organizations, including the Tarrant Literacy Coalition and the James L. West Alzheimer’s Center. She also was appointed executive director for the USS Fort Worth Commission, a part-time role she will continue to fill. She is a member of the Woman’s Policy Forum, Junior League of Fort Worth and Steer Fort Worth Homelessness Task Force, and a board member of the American Red Cross Chisholm Trail Chapter. She is also active a local Toastmasters club. She is an alumna of Leadership Texas and Leadership Austin and is in the current class for Leadership Fort Worth.
Send People items to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net