NEWSMAKERS
BANKING/FINANCE
Bank of Texas, Fort Worth CEO Mark Nurdin and J.B. Huck, private wealth executive, announce the appointment of Deirdre Cherry as Private Wealth team lead for the Fort Worth market, overseeing the personnel and client relationships in the Fort Worth market.
Vortus Investment Advisors LLC, a Fort Worth-based private equity firm focused on lower to middle market upstream investments across North America, has promoted Brian Hansen to partner, Frank Lamsens to chief operating officer and Ross Cunningham to Director of Finance.
Rylee Pedigo is now a senior investment associate at Northern Trust, contributing to the planning and implementation of customized investment portfolios, designed to meet the often complicated goals of the company’s clients. She provides proactive client service and support through research, analysis, communication and risk management.
Pedigo was born and raised in Fort Worth. She studied communications at The University of Oklahoma and was a member of the OU golf team all four years. After graduating from OU, Rylee competed as a professional golfer in the LPGA/Symetra tour for two years before joining Northern Trust.
ENGINEERING
One of the first employees to join Peloton Land Solutions Inc when it was founded in 2010, Jonathan Ragsdale, RLA, has been promoted to principal of the fast-growing, Fort Worth-based firm. Ragsdale, who has more than 16 years’ experience in program management and planning, manages multi-disciplinary land development and planning projects.
For the past 10 years, Ragsdale has been involved with site planning, entitlement and feasibility studies for various projects within the 27,000-acre AllianceTexas project in north Fort Worth and also serves as the planning/entitlement lead for the 870-acre Alliance Town Center mixed-use development. Ragsdale holds a bachelor of landscape architecture degree from Texas A&M University.
A new hire at Peloton, Brian Haynes, P.E., CFM, has been selected as vice president where he will lead the charge of a growing public sector services program. He is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a bachelor of science in civil engineering.
Additional Promotions
Associate Amanda Mata, P.E., who joined Peloton a year ago as project manager, is a professional engineer with more than 15 years’ experience and holds a bachelor of science in engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station.
Associate Andrew Mizerek, P.E., has 16 years’ experience in civil engineering, land development and construction administration, including the engineering design of large residential developments and commercial projects.
Associate Tanner Sheets, P.E., joined Peloton in October 2018 and is based in the Frisco office. He is a registered professional engineer with experience in civil engineering design of municipal, commercial, and residential projects.
Associate Timothy “TJ” Wells, P.E., started his career at Peloton’s Frisco, Texas office in 2019. He has more than seven years’ civil engineering design experience of municipal infrastructure, as well as private sector residential and commercial projects.
KAI Engineering has announced the hiring of Mike Tamagni, P.E., as senior mechanical engineer in its Dallas-Fort Worth office.
GOVERNMENT
Gov. Greg Abbott has reappointed Maj. Gen. Kevin Pottinger, USAF (Ret.), Shannalea Taylor, Dennis Lewis and Kenneth Sheets to the Texas Military Preparedness Commission for terms set to expire Feb. 1, 2027.
Kevin Pottingerof Keller is chairman of the Freedom Mobility Foundation.
He was commissioned in 1976 after completing the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Arizona State University. He completed Undergraduate Pilot Training in 1978 at Reese Air Force Base, Texas, and entered the Air Force Reserve in 1991 after spending 15 years on active duty.
Pottinger flew the F-4 Phantom and F-16 Fighting Falcon. He served as Commander of the 301st Fighter Wing at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Commander of the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, Colorado, Director under the Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs at the Pentagon, and Mobilization Assistant to the Commander of the Pacific Air Forces.
In 1999, Pottinger retired from the Air Force Reserve and flew for American Airlines. After the Sept. 11th attacks, he re-entered the Air Force Reserve.
Pottinger is the recipient of many awards and decorations including the Distinguished Service Medal, and retired in 2015 after 39 years of service in the United States Air Force. Pottinger currently serves as chair of the Texas Military Preparedness Commission.
HONORS AND RECOGNITIONS
Nelson E. Claytor, Ph.D., Fort Worth entrepreneur, inventor, angel investor and president of Fresnel Technologies Inc. has been selected as a 2021 Fellow of The International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE).
Claytor and 56 other professionals will be recognized this year for their technological advancements and contributions to science and the business of optics and photonics.
Claytor is a 2019 Fort Worth Business Press C-Suite Awardee, founding board member of the Fort Worth Medtech Center, now TechFW, and is the first recipient of TechFW’s Legacy Award. He is a member of Leadership Fort Worth.
Fort Worth-based Fresnel Technologies was founded in 1986 by Richard N. Claytor, Ph.D., himself an SPIE Fellow (2015), to innovate in and manufacture specialty plastics optics.
Fresnel Technologies 55 employees produce made-in-the-USA components that are incorporated into diverse systems worldwide, including those for infrared security monitoring, fluorescence measurements, thermometry, biomedical instrumentation and skin care.
Claytor is also Director of Optical Fabrication for Ascentia Imaging of Boulder, Colorado, (http://www.ascentiaimaging.com), serves as a member of the University of Texas at Arlington College of Science Advisory Council, and is co-founder and vice president of the newly-established North Texas local section of the Optical Society of America.
Claytor joins nearly 1,600 SPIE Fellows who have been honored since 1955. SPIE serves about 19,000 current members and more than 258,000 constituents.
Claytor is chair of the board of the Fort Worth Opera.
Hurst resident and retired business executive Howard Shotwell has been elected to serve as chairman of the Northeast Leadership Forum, which serves as a catalyst for collaboration among business and community leaders with government officials.
Shotwell has been a member of the organization for the past 14 years. Following a career as regional executive for managing airport concessions nationwide for Dobbs House, Marriott and Delaware North.
After serving 10 years on the board of directors of Coors Distributing Company of Fort Worth, he was chosen as Chief Financial Officer of the company in 2002, and he remained until the sale of the company in 2014. Today he owns and operates R&D Associates, a property management and real estate company from his home in Hurst.
Shotwell has been dedicated to his home community of Hurst, serving on the Parks & Recreation Board and, for the past ten years, the Planning and Zoning Commission. After serving five years as chairman of the Hurst Citizens’ Fire Academy Alumni Association, he and his wife Sandy have led the annual Hurst Fire Department Steak Dinner on multiple occasions.
In the greater Fort Worth area, he has raised money for United Way and served on the board of Casa Manana.
Shotwell succeeds Nick Sanders, former mayor of Trophy Club, in leading the Northeast Leadership Forum.
LAW
Perkins Coie has named Jill Louis, a partner in the Corporate & Securities practice, as office managing partner in Dallas. Louis succeeds Dean Harvey, who had served in the position since May 2019 and has joined the firm’s Management Committee.
Broude Smith Jennings & McGlinchey PC has added Kathryn Siverling as associate attorney. Siverling is a 2020 graduate of the OU College of Law and will be practicing in the areas of commercial real estate and business transactions.
Jackson Walker has announced the addition of Travis W. McNellie as a partner in the Fort Worth office, joining the firm’s nationally recognized real estate practice.
The firm also announced that the real estate group has added Sara C. Thornton as an associate. Her practice focuses on a wide range of real estate and real estate finance matters.
MANUFACTURING
Fort Worth-based AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ), a global provider of metal coating services, welding solutions, specialty electrical equipment, and highly engineered services, has appointed two new independent directors, Carol R. Jackson and Clive A. Grannum, to AZZ’s Board of Directors.
Both Jackson and Grannum will serve as directors until they stand for election at AZZ’s next Annual Shareholders meeting in July 2021.
Jackson currently serves as president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of HarbisonWalker International, the largest supplier of ceramic refractories in the U.S.
Grannum currently serves as President, Performance Alloys and Composites of Materion Corporation, a leading advanced materials supplier.
Kevern R. Joyce announced his retirement as a board member Feb. 1.
MATERIAL HANDLING
Shoppa’s Material Handling, one of the fastest-growing dealerships in the country providing complete material handling solutions, has announced the appointment of two new directors: Jacob Ratekin, Director of Rental & Used Remarketing, and Mike Pond, Director of Dock & Door Division.
NONPROFIT
Child Care Associates (CCA) has hired Marnie Rulfs Glaser, a highly-regarded industry trailblazer, as its first director of policy. She previously served at the Texas Education Agency as the founding executive director of Early Learning and most recently, as the Dallas Commit Partnership’s founding director of Early Childhood.
REAL ESTATE
CENTURY 21 Judge Fite Company has named Brad Horak as regional sales manager of the North Fort Worth/Alliance Regional Office. He previously was assistant regional sales manager for the Southlake/Colleyville office under Tim Gauntt, North district sales manager.
Horak has been with the CENTURY 21 System for more than 13 years.
TRANSPORTATION
Tarrant Transit Alliance (TTA), a transit advocacy group committed to educating, empowering and mobilizing the Tarrant County and Fort Worth community to promote multimodal transit policy, appoints 14 new community leaders to its board of directors.
Among the new board members is Onyinye Akujuo of the JPS Foundation, who will serve the organization as vice chair of the board.
These additions will increase the size of TTA’s board to 37 members.
In addition to Akujuo, new Tarrant Transit Alliance board members are: Dionne Bagsby of Tarrant County College, Chelsea Bonham of Acute Salon, Jerene Bustamante of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Chelsea Griffith of the City of Fort Worth, Jonathan Guadian of the Glen Park Neighborhood Association, Jared Howard of the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce, Tiesa Leggett of the North Texas Commission, Rick Miedema of the Teamsters Local 997, Renee Parker of Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County, Brad Lonberger of Kimley-Horn, Richard Riccetti of Williamson-Dickies, Daniel Garcia Rodriguez of United Fort Worth and Danette Wicker of Danette’s Urban Oasis.
Current board members include Andre McEwing of Tarrant County College, Jeff Davis (past chair) of Republic Title, Graham Brizendine (secretary and treasurer) of Rogue Architects, Carlo Andreani of Pacheco Koch Consulting Engineers, Tyler Arbogast of Fort Worth Housing Solutions, Bob Baulsir of Trinity Metro, Kristen Camareno of Tarrant County, John Dewar of Freese & Nichols, Rainey Dock Matthews of the Mayor’s Council on People with Disabilities, Allison Docker of Near Southside Inc., Matt Dufrene of BlueZones and Texas Health Resources, Chad Edwards of the City of Fort Worth, Jesse Herrera of Urban Theory and CoAct, Leah King of United Way of Tarrant County, Melissa Konur of Downtown Fort Worth Inc., Dee Lara O’Neal of DBIA-SW and This Place TX, Rebecca Montgomery of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Roxanne Pillar of Huitt-Zollars, Benjamin Roberston of Byrne Construction, Schuyler Stapleton, a student at Tarrant County College, Casey Tounget of Transwestern, Manuel Urbina, a student at Tarrant County College and Walter Williams of Tarrant County College.