JTaylor adds CPA to lead tax services
Pamela S. Roberts is joining advisory/assurance/tax firm JTaylor as a partner in tax services.
Roberts is a certified public accountant with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Texas at Arlington. She joins JTaylor after having worked since June 2014 as managing partner of tax services at the Fort Worth office of BDO USA LLP.
“Pam has demonstrated tremendous leadership in building high performance teams to provide comprehensive tax services for businesses and individuals to achieve beneficial outcomes for her clients,” said Joe Taylor, chairman of the board. “We are very excited to have her business acumen and leadership at JTaylor to further the development of our team members and to continually enhance the results we provide our clients.”
Roberts’ focus is on tax planning, tax controversy, tax research and partnership structures and allocations, including in the oil and gas and real estate industries. She has monitored and implemented tax quality and risk management procedures for BDO’s Fort Worth office and the Southwest region to manage risk and provide consistency in the quality of work for a portfolio of Fortune 500 clients. Roberts is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Texas Society of CPAs.
Former Secret Service agent
joins TCU to head public safety
Texas Christian University has hired the school’s first associate vice chancellor of public safety, a new position.
Adrian Andrews, with a background of 28 years in the Secret Service, has been named to the new position. Andrews will oversee emergency management, police, shuttle and transportation, and public safety. During his time in the Secret Service he was involved in public safety, training, emergency management and law enforcement. He has worked in dozens of emergency situations, including serving as the incident commander for a devastating tornado in Oklahoma in 2005. Since 2015, he has been second in command, assistant special agent in charge, of 90 field agents in Dallas.
He was recruited by Mackenzie Eason & Associates, a Fort Worth executive search firm.
Andrews was born into a military family in Oklahoma City and grew up in Alaska, Virginia and Michigan. As a child, he had watched as Jimmy Carter was running for president and wondered who the men were who were standing around to protect him. After learning about the U.S. Secret Service, he decided he wanted to be a part of it. He was a high school football player and received a scholarship to play at Central Missouri State University, where he earned a degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in criminal justice management.
He moved back to Oklahoma after his graduate degree to work as an intake counselor at the Tulsa Juvenile Court for three years. In 1989, he was hired by the Secret Service.
From 1996-2001, he was a member of President Bill Clinton’s advance team. He traveled as a non-commissioned officer and No. 1 in the group. He also trained agents going out to lead advances. In addition, he has worked fraud and investigative cases, and counter-assault to handle threats and terrorist attacks.
After three years in Dallas, he returned to the Washington, D.C., area to be assigned to Vice President Dick Cheney’s detail for two years. In 2008, he was promoted to special agent in charge in Oklahoma City to run an office of 20 agents.
AWARDS & HONORS
The Greater Fort Worth chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (GFW PRSA) named Paul Paine its 2017 Communicator of the Year.
This award is presented annually to a person who has “demonstrated leadership and communications ability while involved with an issue or event of significance to the greater Fort Worth region,” the news release stated.
Paine has been president of Near Southside Inc. since 2005 and will receive the award at the sixth annual Worthy Awards gala Nov. 8 at the Fort Worth Club.
Tonya Veasey of OCG PR was recognized by The PR Council during its Diversity Distinction in PR Awards. According to the organization, “Her leadership view and hiring practices promote diversity at every level of the company. She has established a formidable agency that focuses on ethnic, gender-based, political and ideological diversity not only in the workplace but also with the clientele she and her team choose to represent.”
Kelly Jordan of Virginia Cook, Realtors received the 2017 Hearts at Work award during a company celebration luncheon Sept. 22 at the Park Cities Club. The award was established to honor significant volunteer service by the company’s sales associates.
A life-long resident of Fort Worth, Jordan has made contributions to organizations as diverse as the Presbyterian Night Shelter and Cassata Learning Center. Virginia Cook, Realtors will make a $1,000 contribution to a Fort Worth charity in Jordan’s honor.
ENERGY
Purple Land Management (PLM) hired Christina Sherwood as the associate director of acquisitions. Sherwood will oversee mergers and acquisitions on behalf of oil and gas operators.
Sherwood holds a bachelor’s degree from Baylor College of Dentistry, Texas A&M Health Science Center and a doctorate from Texas Wesleyan School of Law. She is active in the land and legal community in both Tarrant County and Midland. She also serves on the board of directors of the Permian Basin Landmen’s Association and was named a “Top Attorney” by Fort Worth Business Press and Fort Worth, Texas Magazine.
Previously, Sherwood was a partner at the local oil and gas law firm of Guerra, Sherwood & Ylanan and worked earlier as a landman in the Barnett Shale for several years.
LAW
Melinda Westmoreland, a senior assistant criminal district attorney and deputy chief of the misdemeanor division for the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, is this year’s recipient of the C. Chris Marshall Award. This award is presented by the Texas District & County Attorneys Association (TDCAA) each fall to the most distinguished faculty member and teacher.
Westmoreland’s expertise in trial advocacy and child abuse cases has made her a highly sought-after criminal law teacher and trainer around the state. She is a regular faculty member for TDCAA’s extensive continued legal education programs. She has also been a featured presenter at the Crimes Against Children Conference in Dallas, Texas Christian University, Cook Children’s Health Care System and the Texas A&M School of Law. In May 2015 she was a special prosecutor for a high-profile child murder case in McLennan County.
The award is named in honor of C. Chris Marshall, a Tarrant County assistant criminal district attorney who was a statewide leader in appellate law and had a passion for teaching. Marshall was the chief of the Tarrant DA’s Appellate Division in July 1992 when an Arlington man went on a shooting rampage in a fourth floor courtroom of the Tarrant County Courthouse, killing Marshall and another man.
Rafael Rodriguez has joined Winstead PC’s Commercial Litigation Practice Group as an associate in the Fort Worth office. His practice focuses on representation of Texas companies facing business disputes.
RELIGION
The Rev. Dr. Russell Peterman, senior minister at First Christian Church, Concord, California, has been called to be senior minister at University Christian Church in Fort Worth. Peterman focuses his ministry on preaching and has taught a homiletics course at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.
Send newsmakers to Robert Francis at rfrancis@bizpress.net.