ADVERTISING/PUBLIC RELATIONS
The Greater Fort Worth Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (GFW PRSA) has named its officers and board of directors for 2020.
Laura Van Hoosier, MS, APR, has been named president of the chapter. Hoosier serves as the director of internal communications for Cook Children’s Health Care System. She’s been a volunteer with GFW PRSA since 1998, having served in various roles such as the chair of the healthcare special interest group, treasurer, Assembly Delegate, and president once before in 2008.
Lesley Dupre was named vice president of membership/president-elect. Dupre serves as an account director and PR specialist at the Balcom Agency where she works with clients including the TCU Neeley School of Business, James L. West Center for Dementia Care, and the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival.
Margaret Ritsch, Ed.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, was named vice president of programs. Ritsch is the director of public affairs at Fort Worth Housing Solutions. Previously, she built and oversaw a student AD/PR firm at Texas Christian University, where she taught in the Department of Strategic Communication for more than five years while earning a doctorate.
Additional GFW PRSA officers elected for 2020:
Treasurer – Tracy Greene, marketing and communications manager at Moncrief Cancer Institute
Treasurer-Elect – Rick Dardenne, public affairs manager at GM Financial
Secretary – Jessamy Brown, APR, patient communications specialist (public relations) at JPS Health Network
Past president – Beth Lamb, APR, chief marketing officer at Ronald McDonald House of Fort Worth
Directors – Michelle Clark, APR, associate vice chancellor, advancement strategy and administration at Texas Christian University; and Claire Bloxom Armstrong, public relations director at PAVLOV Agency
Assembly Delegates – Holly Ellman, associate director of communications at Texas Christian University; and Jeremy Agor, APR, senior director of communications and marketing at the University of Texas at Arlington College of Engineering
PAVLOV has signed three new clients in the banking, aviation, and directional drilling business sectors.
The agency’s brand strategy team has been hired by Fortune 500® company, JPMorgan Chase, to conduct an internal communications initiative in support of its Global Services division.
PAVLOV’s interactive team has been contracted by the Allegheny County (Pennsylvania) Airport Authority to create enterprise-level websites for both its Pittsburgh International Airport and Allegheny County Airport. And Radius HDD (part of The Toro Company family of brands), a leading manufacturer of directional drilling equipment and tools headquartered in Weatherford, Texas, selected PAVLOV for B2B digital marketing, social media and public relations services.
CONSULTING
Arlington-based mma, a full-service consulting firm focused on the Texas and development market, has hired Stephen Roberson as director of survey. After a brief stint at semi-retirement, Roberson decided he was not quite done with his lifelong passion. He brings 49 years of experience and leadership to mma’s team. “His wealth of knowledge and extensive experience in land surveying will greatly help our young professionals grow as individuals and professionals,” said mma Chief Operating Officer Jacob Sumpter in a news release.
Mackenzie Eason has announced that Hope Moon, formerly Manager of Talent and Quality of Place at the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, has joined the firm as a consulting partner. Mackenzie Eason is a consulting firm focused on talent acquisition, development, culture and executive search.
EDUCATION
Fort Worth Country Day has named Alexis Stern as the next leader of its Bass Upper School, effective July 1, 2020. Stern succeeds Steve Stackhouse, who will retire at the end of the 2019-20 academic year.
ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE
David Gonzalez Alonso, AIT, has joined the design team at Quorum Architects. Alonso brings seven years of practical experience in corporate, healthcare, civic, multi-family, and retail and restaurant design, all in Puerto Rico. He is working with the multi-family design team and will also assist the firm’s municipal and retail clients.
Brice Komatsu has joined Fort Worth based Cornerstone Projects Group as Senior Project Manager. He has a diverse background and experience in the Construction and Development Industry in Fort Worth, partnering with the Commercial, Municipal, Retail, Higher Education and Private markets.
Baird, Hampton, & Brown has hired Ronald Ishmael, PE, as an associate and structural engineer and expanded the firm’s offering to include structural engineering in addition to mechanical/plumbing, electrical, and civil engineering; land surveying; and landscape architecture.
Ishmael brings 13 years of diverse structural engineering experience to the firm and holds a degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M University.
Michael Vasilyev, – an expert in classical and quantum communications and professor of electrical engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington, has been named a Fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE).
Vasilyev is one of 72 newly elected Fellows and was recognized for his “achievements in nonlinear-optical signal processing.” He is the fourth current College of Engineering professor to be honored as a SPIE Fellow. The others are James Coleman, Robert Magnusson and Weidong Zhou.
The society, founded in 1955, has 20,000 members worldwide and serves 255,000 constituents from 183 countries.
Freese and Nichols, Inc. has added Senior Construction Manager Roger Post, PE, an experienced leader of transportation infrastructure projects across the United States.
Post has more than 30 years of experience providing construction engineering and inspection (CEI) services and has managed more than $1 billion worth of projects for state transportation clients. He also has led a regional construction group working on projects spanning the western U.S. from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Northwest.
Post has handled all elements of CEI team management: strategic planning, business development planning and execution, staffing, contract negotiations and team logistics. And his experience extends to client relations and business development.
FINANCE
Kyle Birch – is the new president of North America Operations for GM Financial. Previously he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer-North America from 2013 to 2020. He joined the company in 1997.
Jonas Hollandsworth – is the new Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer-North America for GM Financial. Previously, he was Executive Vice President, U.S. Sales and Credit Operations, from 2011 to 2020.
Will Stacy — is the new executive Vice President, Chief Marketing and Digital Officer for GM Financial. Previously, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer-North America.
Bob Beatty – is the new Executive Vice President, Chief Experience Officer for GM Financial. Previously, he was Executive Vice President, Customer Experience, from 2015-2020.
Jeannie Baldwin has joined Texas Capital Bank’s SBA Lending Team as Vice President/Senior Business Development Officer. She lends in Texas and nationwide using the SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 loan programs on loan requests of up to $15,000,000 for the purchase of land and building, business acquisition, partner buyout, expansion and refinance. She will be based in Fort Worth and brings more than 25 years of SBA Lending experience to Texas Capital Bank.
Tailwind Advisors announced Jan. 15 it was launching a new division, Tailwind Philanthropic Advisors, that will work with clients to establish and support a long-term philanthropic vision while aligning with financial goals. Macy Hill was named president of the division. Hill has many years of experience leading philanthropic investment, family office management, nonprofit operations, and public policy advising.
She is a graduate of Texas Christian University with multiple degrees and is active in the community. She was appointed in 2013 by Gov. Rick Perry to the Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners. In 2010, she was a Fort Worth Business Press 40 Under 40 honoree.
Premier Bank Texas, a branch of Providence Bank with locations in Missouri, has promoted Allison Taylor to Commercial Banking Officer. In her new role, Taylor will be responsible for originating commercial loans in Grapevine and the surrounding areas.
GOVERNMENT
Amethyst Sloane, performance excellence administrator for the City of Fort Worth, and Robert Sturns, the city’s director of economic development, have been named to the 2019 Traeger Award Top 100 List by Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL), an international organization dedicated to engaging the brightest minds in local government,
The award recognizes individuals for their commitment to improving local government, the Fort Worth city website said.
Sloane is listed as No. 8 in the 2019 Traeger Awards and Sturns is No. 91.
Honorees are nominated by their peers for their impact on the organization, their influence in the community, their dedication to mentoring others and their contributions as leaders in local government.
The ELGL Traeger Awards are named after Chris Traeger, the city manager of the fictional city of Pawnee, Indiana., from the television show Parks and Recreation who’s known for his extreme energy and commitment to improving local government.
HEALTH CARE
Dr. Karen Duncan, MD, MBA, -a board-certified pediatrician with more than 20 years of medical and executive leadership experience, has been named chief operating officer for JPS Health Network.
Duncan joined JPS in 2017 as Executive Vice President of Community Health Services. She will begin her new role at the end of January 2020, when Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Bill Whitman retires, JPS said in a news release.
HONORS/RECOGNITIONS
The United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) has announced that high school student Kendyll Dewayne Locke is one of two state students selected to attend the 58th USSYP Washington Week program March 7-14. Locke, a senior at North Crowley High School, is a representative on the Student Council and serves as the as the vice president of the Black Student Union. Outside of school, he is a public relations committee member of the NAACP of Fort Worth-Tarrant County, public relations director for Fort Worth City Councilwoman Kelly Allen Gray, and a board member and marketing director for Power Dominion and Glory Ministries.
TCU Head Football Coach Gary Patterson has been announced as the 2020 President of the American Football Coaches Association. Patterson was elected for the presidency position by AFCA members. He was first vice president in 2019 and was named to the AFCA Board of Trustees in 2010. Set to begin his 20th season with the Horned Frogs, Patterson is the nation’s second-longest tenured head coach. He has totaled 22 national coach of the year awards, all in the last 11 seasons. Most recently, he was the 2018 Gene Stallings Award recipient. Patterson is the third TCU head coach to be president of the AFCA, joining Dutch Meyer (1949) and Abe Martin (1965).
The Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate received the coveted Bill King Award for Excellence in Agriculture during the Fort Worth Stock Show’s Livestock Appreciation Day Luncheon presented by Lone Star Ag Credit Jan. 23. The Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate was founded in 1980 by a small group of Fort Worth businessmen led by Don Weeks and has made a tremendous impact on Texas 4-H and FFA youth. Since 1980, the Syndicate has raised nearly $60 million for youth exhibitors, provided more than $1.8 million in scholarships for 4-H and FFA members and helped more than 8,800 youths pursue their agricultural goals.
INSURANCE
Chaliese Rippey has joined HUB International Insurance Services as a benefits consultant in the Fort Worth office. Rippey holds professional affiliations with the National Association of Health Underwriters, the Texas Association of Health Underwriters, and the Fort Worth Association of Health Underwriters(FWAHU), where she President in 2006-2007.
IMA Inc., a national insurance brokerage firm with offices in Dallas, is planning a Texas expansion starting in Fort Worth with the addition of two Fort Worth-based insurance veterans, Trey Schuler and Gavin Wallace. Schuler and Wallace will work in tandem, serving as senior vice presidents for the employee-owned insurance broker. Both serve as volunteers for the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo.
Schuler is president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Tarrant County and holds a Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation. Wallace has served as a director of the Independent Insurance Agents of Tarrant County and currently serves on the Ben Hogan Foundation Advisory Board.
LAW
Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP elected five new partners of the firm – Jane Jackson, J.R. Johnson, Jeff Kuhnhenn, Chase Medling and Dan Vela. The new partners are emerging leaders from a broad cross section of the firm’s practice groups, including Appellate; Civil and Commercial Litigation; Corporate and Securities; and Oil & Gas/Energy. Jackson is a partner in the New Orleans office’s Appellate and Litigation practice groups. Johnson is a partner in the Austin office’s Litigation practice group. Kuhnhenn is a partner in the Midland Office’s Oil & Gas/Energy practice group. Medling is a partner in the Fort Worth office’s Litigation practice group. Vela is a partner in the Fort Worth office’s Corporate and Securities practice group.
Kelly Hart also announced that Derek L. Montgomery has joined the firm as a partner in Kelly Hart’s Litigation and Appellate practices. He will be based in Kelly Hart’s Midland office. Montgomery handles a variety of complex civil litigation and appellate matters for individuals, corporations, and other institutional clients. He has extensive experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in a wide range of matters, including business disputes, oil and gas litigation, and wind energy matters. He has tried cases to verdict in both state and federal courts, briefed and argued appeals throughout the State of Texas, and litigated matters in trial and appellate courts in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Hawai’i, Illinois, Louisiana, Ohio and Wyoming. Montgomery also has experience as a felony prosecutor where he served as trial and appellate counsel for the State of Texas in cases for murder, aggravated assault, engaging in organized criminal activity, burglary, robbery, and theft. He continues his involvement in criminal jurisprudence by teaching law enforcement officers on the subject of lawful searches and seizures across the State of Texas.
Attorney Marc Stach has joined the law firm of Harris Cook LLP. The addition of Stach is a result of the firm’s continued growth and overall mission to provide full service legal assistance to its clients. Native to Ohio, Stach moved to Arlington in 1989. Over the years he has been appointed to several civic boards and commissions, including the position of chairman of the City of Arlington’s Zoning Board of Adjustment, a mayoral appointed position. He is also a member of the Arlington Bar Association and Tarrant County Probate Bar Association. Stach earned his Juris Doctorate from St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio. Prior to this, he attended Texas Christian University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Political Science.
NONPROFITS
Methodist Justice Ministry (MJM) has added attorney Jannette Miller saying her hiring will allow the nonprofit to increase legal representation to women and children who have been impacted by domestic violence. Miller received her Juris Doctor from Texas A&M School of Law. She also is an ordained minister of the United Methodist Church and previously served as the pastor at Harker Heights United Methodist Church in Harker Heights, Texas.
Fort Worth Sister Cities International, now 35 years old, has launched public campaign of the Members Circle of Giving and announced Charlie Powell, president of Ciera Bank, as the 2020 Campaign Chair.
REAL ESTATE
Texas-native Rudy Martinez – has opened a NextHome office in Southlake. The new office is the 31st location in Texas for the franchise, NextHome said in a news release. Martinez has 28 years of real estate experience. Martinez is a past president of the Keller Chamber of Commerce and a member of the board of Cancer Care Services.
Lisa Elkins, – a realtor with United Country Real Estate|Fort Worth, was installed as a director of the Greater Metro West Association of Realtors during the association’s Awards and Installation Banquet held in December. She was also honored with the REALTOR Spirit Award, which is given to a realtor who is a credit to the real estate profession and exhibits a helpful and cheerful attitude towards customers, clients and fellow members, United Country Real Estate said in a news release. Elkins has been in the real estate industry for nearly four decades.