Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations
GCG Marketing promoted Kelsey Sauncy to senior account executive. Sauncy will also head the agency’s internship program. Sauncy previously was an account executive, primarily servicing clients in the health care and industrial sectors. She began her career at GCG as an account coordinator in 2011. Before joining GCG, Sauncy worked as an account coordinator at Jackson and Flagg PR in Dallas.
Enilon named Claire Brunner, executive vice president client services, as partner to lead business development, key account strategy and planning, and to oversee the account and project management departments. Brunner has been with Enilon for six years.
Banking & Finance
Northstar Bank expanded its marketing department with new hires Chandler Wallace – photo — and Matt Alexander. – photo — As marketing coordinator, Wallace will be responsible for day-to-day marketing initiatives, including oversight of the website, social media and compliance coordination. Wallace previously worked for Holland Services, Chesapeake Energy and Veritas Energy. As marketing manager, Alexander brings more than 10 years of strategic management experience in marketing and advertising for the financial and medical industries. He worked for several national and global agencies including Tag Worldwide at Alcon, Stubenbordt Medical Marketing and Rennhack Marketing Services.
Boards & Organizations
Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains elected its new executive committee and board members-at-large. The executive committee includes Chairman Patricia Miller, First Vice Chairman Marcia Etie, Second Vice Chairman NyLynn Nichols-Crowell, Secretary Rebecca Barksdale and Treasurer Lois Weeks. New members-at-large are Susan Alanis, Reggie Dial, Leticia Martinez Evans, Liz Lonngren, Keith Kithsiri and Susan Stack. Board members continuing their service include Suzette Compton, Judge David Hall, Sheryl Harris, Rebecca Sandoval, Janet Slaughter, Shoshana Thoma-Isgur, Shirley Thomas and Laura Voltmann.
Alexa Smith-Osborne, a University of Texas at Arlington associate professor of social work and expert in resilience research, military and veterans’ health and mental health issues, has been named a Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research. UT Arlington is the only school in Texas to have a Fellow in the Class of 2016.
Construction & Engineering
Joeris General Contractors hired Jim Graham as the director of preconstruction services in the Dallas-Fort Worth office. He will be responsible for overseeing the estimating department and preconstruction services. Graham has spent 16 years in the local market.
Education
Christie Mosley-Eckler – photo — is the new director of development for the College of Science at the University of Texas at Arlington. She will continue teaching graduate courses in social work at UT Arlington. She previously was vice president of development at Samaritan House and has served as program manager of asset development for Catholic Charities Fort Worth and as director of housing at SafeHaven of Tarrant County. She has had positions as legislative chairman and membership chairman for the National Association for Social Workers for multiple years and has served on numerous nonprofit boards. She is active in many professional organizations such as Women’s Policy Forum of Tarrant County and Downtown Rotary Club.
Government
Robert M. Cohen is the new director of public works for the city of Southlake. He replaces Robert Price. Cohen recently retired from the U.S. Navy, where he spent 20 years gaining experience in public works operations, capital improvement programs and projects, strategic planning, financial management, workforce development, safety and communications. He is a registered professional engineer in Virginia.
Health Care
SteadMed Medical promoted Eric Pearce – photo — to manager of marketing and sales training. Pearce will be responsible for new product development, product launches, strategic and commercial marketing, medical conferences and sales training. He joined the company in 2011; his most recent position was senior sales account manager and field sales trainer.
Honors & Awards
The University of Texas at Arlington was named one of the top doctoral research universities in the United States by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. UT Arlington joins 115 institutions on the R-1 category list: Doctoral Universities-Highest Research Activity.
Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital was designated a Lung Cancer Screening Center by the American College of Radiology.
Keep Haltom City Beautiful received the Affiliate Award of Excellence for 2015 from Keep America Beautiful. KHCB was recognized for its programs in beautification and community greening, litter prevention and community revitalization, recycling and waste reduction and environmental education.
Law
Trey Gordon – photo — joined the Dallas-Fort Worth office of Dorsett Johnson & Swift LLP in downtown Fort Worth as the managing partner. Gordon’s areas of practice include real estate transactions and litigation, transportation/trucking liability, product liability, insurance defense, employment, construction liability, commercial law and general civil litigation. He previously practiced at Cantey Hanger from 1991-2004, at Berry, Odom & Gordon in 2005-2006, and in his own practice, Law Office of Trey Gordon PC from 2007-2015. Gordon is founder of Fort Worth Mediation Center and a member of the Tarrant County Bar Association.
Nicholl Garza – photo – joined Harris, Finley & Bogle PC as an associate attorney. She will focus on general business litigation. Garza graduated magna cum laude from Texas Tech University School of Law in 2015, studied international business law in Lyon, France, and worked as an intern for the 13th District Court of Appeals.
Nonprofit Organizations
Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains named Glenda Moreno – photo — as director of marketing and communications. Moreno is a career marketing and communications professional with more than 25 years of agency, nonprofit and municipal government experience. She previously was vice president of marketing and public relations for Camp Fire First Texas. She also worked as communications officer at the city of Fort Worth and public relations manager at the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, she owned and managed Holcomb Moreno Consulting, a bilingual marketing firm, from 2013-2016. Moreno has a CELTA certificate (Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults) from the University of Cambridge. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, where she currently serves on its Women Influencing Business steering committee. Moreno also serves on the Toluca Steering Committee of Fort Worth Sister Cities.
Performing Arts
Jubilee Theatre appointed William “Bill” Earl Ray – photo — as its new artistic director. His career spans more than 30 years as an actor, director, resident director and former artistic director for the stage. Ray has performed and directed locally for Jubilee Theatre, Circle Theatre, Stage West, Dallas Theater Center and Theatre 3, and he was the resident director for African-American Repertory Theatre (2008-2010). Nationally, he is a former artistic director for Ndaba Theatre in Portland, Oregon, and has multiple stage acting and directing credits in the Tacoma/Seattle area. Film and television acting credits include The Tuskegee Airmen (HBO) Better-Off Dead (Lifetime) and Terror in the Towers – Without Warning (NBC). Ray directed A Love Song for Miss Lydia at Jubilee Theatre in 2007 and most recently was seen in the role of Kenyatta in Jubilee Theatre’s 2010 production of Dominique Morisseau’s Sunset Baby. Ray will assume his new post in mid-March, after directing a production in Portland.
Cleve Lancaster – photo – is the new director of development at Casa Manana Inc. Lancaster most recently was director of development at Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and previously was campaign director for Casa Manana. He worked eight years as vice president and director of development for the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (2004-2012) and director of development at Fort Worth Academy (1996-2003). Lancaster has served as a board member of AFP Fort Worth Metro Chapter and Meals on Wheels Inc. of Tarrant County.
Religion
Rabbi Brian Zimmerman – photo — has been named the new senior rabbi at Beth-El Congregation, effective July 1. Rabbi Ralph Mecklenburger is retiring after 35 years and will become rabbi emeritus. Zimmerman is a 12th generation rabbi. He has many years of experience as an associate, senior and visiting rabbi in congregations in Maryland, Florida and Louisiana. Most recently, he spent nine years as a regional director for the Union for Reform Judaism.
Send newsmakers to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net
Johana Suárez joins news team at Noticias 23
Univision Communications Inc. appointed Emmy Award-winning journalist Johana Suárez – photo – as anchor for Noticias 23. Suárez will be a news anchor Monday through Friday for Noticias 23 5 p.m. newscast and a reporter for Noticias 23 Edición Nocturna at 10 p.m. She will join Ángel Pedrero, Ana María Vargas and Andrea Rega on the Univision Dallas anchor.
Suárez has more than 13 years of experience as a TV anchor and reporter. Throughout her career she has earned 10 Emmy Awards, including Best News Anchor, Best Public Politics Show, Documentary, Best Health Story, Historic and Cultural Segment, and Best Continuous Coverage.
“With her charisma, credibility and passion for the community, Johana will soon become an audience favorite by keeping them well informed with the news they need,” said Samuel Belilty, news director at Noticias 23.
Before coming to Dallas, Suárez worked as weekend anchor/reporter at a station based in Los Angeles, and prior to that she anchored the evening and late newscasts at Univision Sacramento for more than eight years.
During her career, she has interviewed high profile people including California Gov. Jerry Brown, the treasurer of the United States, Rosario Marin, and numerous civil rights leaders.