Newsmakers: Brodnicki, Westerman earn crisis communication certification

ADVERTISING/PR

Sandra Brodnicki, APR, and Gigi Westerman, APR, Fellow PRSA, recently earned an intensive crisis communication certificate from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). Brodnicki and Westerman are partners in The S & G Group, a strategic planning and communication consulting firm based in Arlington.

The course focused on managing relationships for crisis planning and response; issues and risk management; community and customer relations; corporate social responsibility; and ethics and trust-related topics.

Mass Luminosity, a Dallas/Fort Worth based research, technology and experiential company, has announced the promotion of Julie Curtis to Chief Marketing Officer.

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In her current post, Curtis is president and co-founder of Wheelhouse Marketing & PR, a Fort Worth based marketing agency recently acquired by Mass Luminosity in 2019.

Curtis not only helped build Wheelhouse into a multi-million-dollar marketing agency within her nine-year tenure, but also led the creation of custom technology for serving client needs via a robust and data-driven platform with real time reporting and field collection, Mass Luminosity said in a news release.

Curtis holds a BFA from the University of Texas at Arlington.

DEFENSE

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Marillyn Hewson is stepping down as the current Lockheed Martin Corp. president and CEO. Effective June 15, James Taiclet will take on the leadership roles, the Board of Directors of Lockheed Martin announced on March 16.

Hewson spent six years as the CEO of the global aerospace and defense company.

Taiclet joined the corporation’s board in 2018. Previously, he was the chairman, president and CEO of American Tower Corp. During his time, American Tower increased its market capitalization from approximately $2 billion to approximately $100 billion.

Before joining American Tower in 2001, Taiclet served as the president of Honeywell Aerospace Services, a unit of Honeywell International.

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His career also includes stints at Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corporation; McKinsey & Company and serving as a United States Air Force officer and pilot.

Hewson will become executive chairman of the board, also effective June 15, subject to her re-election to the board by the stockholders at the upcoming annual meeting.

Locked Martin announced a couple of other changes on March 16.

Frank St. John, the current executive vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS) business, which also has operations in Fort Worth, was elected by the board to serve as chief operating officer. Stephanie Hill, senior vice president, Enterprise Business Transformation, was appointed to succeed St. John as executive vice president, RMS.

HEALTH CARE

Medical City Fort Worth CEO Jyric Sims has been recognized as one of 70 African-American leaders in healthcare to know by Becker’s Hospital Review, the hospital said in a news release.

Sims serves as chief executive officer of Medical City Fort Worth, a 348-bed hospital with more than 1,200 employees and a multi-specialty graduate medical education program.

The Texas EMS, Trauma & Acute Care Foundation (TETAF) has announces that Fort Worth physician and medical educator, Jeff Beeson, D.O., has been elected to serve a second term on its board of directors.

Beeson is vice provost of academic partnerships and initiatives and assistant professor of medical education at UNT Health Sciences Center in Fort Worth. He was first elected to serve a two-year term on the TETAF Board in 2018.

EDUCATION

Randy J. Cleveland of Fort Worth has been reappointed to the Mississippi State University Foundation for a new three-year term, the university announced. Cleveland is a 1983 petroleum engineering graduate and the retired vice president of Americas for ExxonMobil Production Company. He was a Distinguished Engineering Fellow in 2008 for the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering and the college’s Alumnus of the Year in 2019. Mississippi State University in Starkville is a 142-year-old land-grant institution.

ENGINEERING

Landev Engineers Inc. has recently acquired Dallas-based Cates-Clark & Associates, citing the company’s “experienced staff of engineers and extensive background in land development for both private and public clients.

Landev said the acquisition will allow it to continue to produce the most efficient and cost-effective designs for a variety of developments, including commercial mixed-use, industrial and manufacturing, retail, and single-family and multi-family residential.

LAW

Neal W. Adams of Grapevine is the recipient of the 2020 Dan Rugeley Price Memorial Award from the Texas Bar Foundation, established by friends and family and endowed through the Texas Bar Foundation in June 1996 in memory of Austin lawyer Dan Price who died in 1994.

Adams earned a BBA in Marketing from Texas A&M University in 1968, and a Juris Doctor in 1970 from Baylor University School of Law. He served in the United States Army as trial counsel for Headquarters Command, Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

Adams has been practicing law in Texas and Tarrant County, Texas since 1972. He is president of the law firm of Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C. in Grapevine.

Adams was awarded the 2016 Kelly Frels Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the State Bar of Texas, School Law Section.

He has a lengthy list of service to the legal profession and to education, including service on the

Board of Trustees of Hurst, Euless, Bedford Independent School District from 1979 through 1986, and as president from 1981 through 1985. He also served as a member of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for six years and as vice chairman from 2005 through 2007.

NONPROFIT

Alliance For Children has announced the hiring of Katia Gonzalez as Director of Community Engagement. Gonzalez began her career in field of child advocacy in 2010 as an investigator with the Department of Family and Protective Services where she worked as part of a multidisciplinary team investigating the most severe allegations regarding sexual and physical abuse, neglect, and child fatalities. Gonzalez joined Alliance For Children in 2015 and has served in various roles, including prevention education to the community. She graduated from Texas Woman’s University with a degree in Child Development and Family Studies.