Newsmakers: Peglar named chair of Community Healthcare

ADVERTISING/PR/MARKETING

Cooksey Communications recently added Estelle Cottingham to its team as an assistant account executive. Cottingham is supporting Cooksey’s clients in the commercial real estate, financial services, legal services and government sectors. Before Cooksey, Cottingham gained experience at two Fort Worth-based agencies and at Scholastic Inc. in New York. Cottingham graduated cum laude from Texas Christian University with a Bachelor of Science degree in strategic communication and journalism.

BANKING/FINANCE

Sheryl Messer, CPA, has joined Whitley Penn as a Public Sector Senior Manager in the Fort Worth Office.

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Vista Bank was named as one of five of the inaugural class of U.S. Banks awarded as a Best Community Banks to Work For in its asset class. Independent Banker, the monthly publication of the Independent Community Bankers of America, presented the honor to the bank in December.

BOARDS/ORGANIZATIONS

The World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth has announced that President and CEO Jim Falk will step down in 2020 from the organization he has led and developed over the past 19 years into the North Texas region’s preeminent public forum on international affairs.

The World Affairs Council is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that focuses on global issues and offers the community opportunities to engage with global leaders, diplomats, authors and scholars in an atmosphere of balanced discourse.

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This past November, the World Affairs Councils of America named the Dallas/Fort Worth organization as Council of the Year.

The Denton Chamber of Commerce has hired Ruben Perez as Director of Sales and Services, Denton Convention & Visitor’s Bureau.

Ruben comes to Discover Denton from Lamont Associates, a global site selection and meeting resource firm where he served as the executive vice president.

He replaces Dana Lodge, who also served as Interim director of the CVB during the chamber’s president and vice president searches.

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Ruben spent six years with Visit Dallas and held leadership roles as director of convention sales,

This appointment comes right after Denton won the 2020 Most Exciting Meeting Destination Change award at this year’s Southwest Showcase.

CONSTRUCTION/ENGINEERING

Hasen Design Build & Development has added Brian Broom– to the company as director of operations. Broom will oversee companywide project operation standards, policies, protocol, and related training and mentoring programs.

Broom is a recognized leader in the construction industry, and has more than three decades of experience, the company said in a news release.

His prior projects during his employment with The Linbeck Group and Manhattan Construction include oversight of some of Fort Worth’s most iconic buildings, including the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, Cook Children’s Hospital, and the Moncrief Oil Building.

Broom is involved in his community as well, with service as a member of the Keller Zoning Board of Adjustments, the City of The Colony Planning and Zoning Commission and Downtown Fort Worth Inc.

Three leaders in Facilities services for Freese and Nichols Inc., have taken on new roles for 2020:

Vimal Nair, PE, LEED® AP BD+C, has been promoted to assistant division manager for Facilities; Wade Zemlock, PE, is Electrical Group Manager; and Adam Young, PE, CEM, LEED AP, is group manager for Mechanical and Plumbing.

Commercial roofing company DK Haney Roofing has announced the promotion of Royce Martin to CEO, a move that was effective Jan. 1. While Dustin Haney will still be involved with the company as owner and president, Martin will lead all business and operational duties for the company going forward. Martin had been the company’s chief operation officer.

EDUCATION

Texas Christian University has named Sonja S. Watson, Ph.D., its new dean for the AddRan College of Liberal Arts effective May 29, 2020, after a nine-month, nationwide search.

She is currently associate dean of Academic Affairs for the College of Liberal Arts and associate professor of Spanish at the University of Texas at Arlington and the former director of the Women’s & Gender Studies Program.

She will replace longtime leader F. Andrew Schoolmaster, Ph.D., who has served as the AddRan dean for more than 12 years. Schoolmaster will retire at the end of the current academic year.

Liberty Christian High School – in Argyle won the Super Varsity Game Day Division II category in the 2020 National High School Cheerleading Championship and National Dance Team Championship competition.

The events, produced by the Universal Cheerleaders Association and Universal Dance Association, both Varsity Spirit brands, took place at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

HEALTH CARE

Community Healthcare of Texas, a Fort Worth-headquartered not-for-profit hospice and palliative care provider, has announced the recent appointment of Steve Peglar as the new chair of the board of directors.

Peglar has served on the board since 2015 and on the executive committee since 2017. He is senior vice president with WhitneySmith Company, a Fort Worth-based human resources consulting firm.

GOVERNMENT

Gov. Greg Abbott has reappointed Carol Ann Bonds, Ph.D., Garry Bradford, and Darrell Coleman, and appointed Patrick Akuna to the Texas Military Preparedness Commission for terms set to expire on Feb. 1, 2025. Coleman of Wichita Falls is a public relations consultant for the Patterson Auto Group. He retired after a 35-year career in the newspaper industry with the E.W. Scripps Company. Previously, he has served as the president and publisher of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and the Wichita Falls Times Record News. He is treasurer of the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce and treasurer and former chair of the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation. Additionally, he is a board member of the Sheppard AFB Military Affairs committee, North Texas Rehab Center Foundation, Wichita Falls Boys & Girls Club, and Rathgeber Hospitality House. He also served on the Texas Military Value Task Force in 2014 and the South Texas Military Affairs Committee. Coleman received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Midwestern State University.

Abbott has appointed Shanda Perkins and Ben Streusand to the Texas Public Finance Authority for terms set to expire on Feb. 1, 2025. The authority issues and sells bonds for designated state agencies in order to finance the acquisition or construction of buildings. Perkins of Burleson is the customer relations, mortgage, and claims manager for J Wales Enterprises LLC, and is a former banker and vice president of 22 years. She is a member of the Texas Health Hospital Advisory Council, a former director of Johnson County and South Tarrant County Chamber Summit, and a former member of the Hill College Advisory Council Advisory Board, Congressional Advisory Council, and the Congressional Women’s Focus Group. She is a board member of Forest Hill Chamber of Commerce, chair of the Forest Hill Women’s Alliance, active member of Open Door Church.

Abbott appointed Mary Albin, to the Chronic Kidney Disease Task Force. The task force coordinates implementation of the state’s plan for prevention, early screening, diagnosis, and management of chronic kidney disease and educates health care professionals. Albin of Mansfield is the executive director of the End Stage Renal Disease Network of Texas a subsidiary of Alliant Health Solutions. She is a member of the Executive Directors Advisory Council for the Forum of End Stage Renal Disease Networks and the National Quality Forum. Albin received a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership from Chapman University and is a Certified Professional of Healthcare Quality from the Healthcare Quality Certification Commission.

HONORS/AWARDS

David Mansdoerfer, special assistant to UNT Health Science Center President Dr. Michael R. Williams, has received a national honor for his leadership on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

Prior to joining UNTHSC in September, Mansdoerfer served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He was presented the award at the 66th Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS Meeting on Feb. 10 in Washington D.C.

The award credited Mansdoerfer for persistence and dedication in helping to create the Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America (EHE) initiative. The plan, which was announced by President Trump during the 2019 State of the Union, utilizes powerful prevention and treatment tools, as well newer tools to pinpoint where HIV infections are spreading most rapidly.

When Torion Lewis was 7 years old, she was a shy kid from a single-parent home suffering emotionally following her parent’s recent divorce. Fast-forward 11 years, and Lewis is a confident 18-year-old delivering a moving a speech to more than 300 community leaders about her experience as a member of Boys & Girls Clubs. Shortly afterward, that speech earned her the title of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County’s 2020 Youth of the Year, the organization said in a news release.

The Youth of the Year competition is a national program run each year by Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA). Lewis will go on to contend for the Texas State Youth of the Year title and a $5,000 college scholarship from BGCA. Lewis is an all A student out of Seguin High School in Arlington.

Johnny D. Boggs, whose eight Spur Awards are a record in the 67-year history of Western Writers of America, will receive the organization’s 2020 Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature. Boggs will also be inducted into the Western Writers Hall of Fame, housed outside the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming.

Boggs spent several years as a sports reporter and editor at the Dallas Times Herald and Fort Worth Star-Telegram before moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1998 to write fiction and nonfiction full time.

LAW

Doug Clayton, a partner at Cantey Hanger LLP law firm, has been elected to serve as chairman of the board of directors of TechFW. He follows Maxwell A. Lea, III, a managing director with DFB Pharmaceuticals, whose term expired at the end of 2019. TechFW is a nonprofit entrepreneur support organization that helps entrepreneurs commercialize innovative technologies and works to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in north Texas. Clayton has served on the TechFW board since 2016.

MANUFACTURING

Shoppa’s Saginaw location has been awarded Toyota’s After Sales Service Evaluation & Certification (ASEC) status. This accolade is given after a Toyota material handling dealership proves a consistent pattern of making customer service a priority.

Euless-based U.S. Concrete Inc. has announced that CEO William J. Sandbrook will retire April 3, 2020. He will be replaced by Ronnie Pruitt, the company’s president and chief operating officer. Sandbrook will continue to serve as the company’s chairman of the board until the company’s annual meeting of stockholders in May 2020. Sandbrook joined U.S. Concrete in August 2011 as president and CEO.

NONPROFIT

Girls Inc. of Tarrant County has announced its 2020 board of directors leadership, with MaryAnn Means-Dufrene becoming chair of the board.

She is the Director of Stakeholder Success at collective growth designs, a coaching and advising company.

Kim Cummings is serving as vice chair. Cummings is Assistant Vice President, Human Resources, Diversity & EEO for BNSF Railway. She serves on the Diversity Advisory Council for Grapevine-Colleyville ISD and has been an actively engaged with the National Association of Asian American Professionals, Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter and United Way of Tarrant County.

Kathleen Bryant, Six Sigma Black Belt at Cummins Inc., is the new secretary. Bryant also serves on the City of Arlington’s Grant Review Committee and the KERNEL Live! Application Review Board for United Way of Tarrant County.

Robert Munoz, Ed.D., will continue as treasurer. Munoz is Vice President of Continuing Education for Tarrant County College, Trinity River Campus.

Academy 4 has hired Terrence Butler as director of development to replace Michael McMahon when he retires later this year.

Butler will be responsible for planning, organizing, and directing fundraising and business development strategies throughout Tarrant County and in Austin.

Academy 4 is a nonprofit organization that connects churches to schools and communities through mentoring fourth graders in leadership.

Founded in 2012, Academy 4 works with Title 1 schools throughout Tarrant County and Austin in 13 schools (nine in Tarrant County and four in Austin).

Butler served five years as assistant director for HOPE Farm, Como location. Most recently, Butler worked as the founding executive director for Rivertree Academy, where he led efforts to create a Christian private school for the children of Lake Como, Pre-K-5th grade, who typically could not afford a private school education.

He currently serves as the second vice president of the Neighborhood Advisory Council in the Lake Como neighborhood and is a board member for both the Fort Worth Christian Prayer Breakfast and Union Gospel Mission.

REAL ESTATE

Simone Goelz has joined SVN | Trinity Advisors as an associate. Goelz has more than 20 years of experience observing the evolution of the healthcare sector.