Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations
Christine Cantrell joined Balcom Agency as account manager. A former Balcom intern, Cantrell returns to the agency with several years of experience managing communications campaigns for clients across multiple industries. She comes from Elmore Public Relations in Houston and will help Balcom to oversee marketing for Kubota Tractor Corp.’s central division.
Banking & Finance
Texas Capital Bank hired John Gannon and Clyde Thompson to expand its Small Business Administration lending across its regional markets. Gannon will lead the sales and operations team and Thompson will take become credit officer. Veteran SBA lenders, Gannon and Thompson have spent 28 years and 24 years, respectively, in the industry.
Boards & Organizations
Philip Shoults, vice president and general manager for Oldcastle Precast, was elected to a three-year term on the board of the National Precast Concrete Association. Previously he worked at LP Building Products for 12 years as vice president.
New officers at Fort Worth Sister Cities International are Chairman Johnny Campbell, Sundance Square; Chairman-elect Veronica Chavez Law, Brackett & Ellis LLP; Secretary Lu Pham, Dowell Pham Harrison LLP; and Treasurer Walter Stucker, UBS Financial Services. Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price is honorary chairman. New board members include: Mitzi Chollampel, Dr. Robert Chu Jr., Jeff Davis, Casey Dyer Oliver, Kelley Eubanks, Stacey Guillen, Jay Horn, Tom Law Jr., Richard Lowe, Mike Micallef, Patrick Miller, Dr. Tricia Nguyen, Judy Schmeltekopf, Fred Slabach and Melissa Thompson. Remaining board members include: Richard Casarez, Travis DeVault, Staussa Ervin, Ashley Freer, Greg Irwin, Michael Jacobsson, Julie Johncox, James Meintjes and Mary Jo Polidore. City chairmen include: Hannah Behrens, Michael Crain, Paul Geisel, Sheryl Harris, Greg Jackson, Michael Roemer and Anette Soto.
Government
The Tarrant County Commissioners Court appointed Brooke Allen as judge of Probate Court No. 2 to replace Judge Patrick W. Ferchill, who retired Aug. 31 after 37 years of service to Tarrant County. As a partner with Moses, Palmer and Howell LLP, she represented clients in probate-specific cases and also negotiated family settlement agreements. Allen earned a law degree from Texas Wesleyan University Law School and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Auburn University.
Honors & Awards
Tom Cravens received the inaugural Dream Builder Award from the Downtown Arlington Management Corp. for his impact on the downtown Arlington community. Cravens has been a driving force to revitalize downtown Arlington since the 1980s. He championed the revitalization effort by aligning community leaders, businesses and residents to create a vibrant downtown as an economic engine for the city and a destination for businesses, residents and visitors.
Dr. Albert H. Olivencia-Yurvati, the director of medical education for Plaza Medical Center of Fort Worth’s Graduate Medical Education Program, received the first Guy D. Beaumont Jr. FACOS (Fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons) Award of Academic Excellence. He was honored for his “outstanding organizational leadership and excellence in improving the quality of osteopathic surgical education in American Osteopathic Association/American College of Osteopathic Surgeons accredited surgical training programs and in continuing education.” Yurvati is a tenured Dallas Southwest Osteopathic Physicians endowed professor in surgery and chairman of the department of medical education at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Worth. He also is professor of integrative physiology at the UNTHSC Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases, adjunct professor of biological sciences at the University of North Texas in Denton, and a visiting professor in the department of biomedical engineering at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. Board-certified in cardiothoracic-vascular surgery and general surgery, he is a Fellow of the ACOS, the International College of Surgeons and the American Heart Association.
The Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau will present Grammy-nominated recording artist and Fort Worth native Leon Bridges with the 2017 FWCVB Hospitality Award on Feb. 1 at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel. The award honors a person, company or organization that has made significant contributions to developing, marketing and delivering visitor experiences for Fort Worth’s travel, tourism and hospitality industry.
The World Affairs Council recently presented its H. Neil Mallon Award to American Airlines Group Chairman and CEO Doug Parker for his work in promoting the increasing international impact of Texas and its business community. Under Parker’s leadership, American, the world’s largest airline, has maintained its international headquarters in Fort Worth near Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. During his thank-you remarks, Parker surprised the audience and the man who introduced him at the event, American Airlines executive Robert L. Crandall, by announcing that the new $350 million American Airlines corporate campus near DFW Airport would be named in Crandall’s honor. Crandall was the chairman and CEO of American Airlines from 1985-1998. The new Crandall campus is under construction.
Janine Iannarelli, founder and president of Par Avion Ltd., an international business aircraft brokerage firm based in Houston, was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame of NJ. Iannarelli is a native of New Jersey and a long-time resident of Houston. Par Avion Ltd. maintains an office in New Jersey. She is considered a pioneer among women in business aviation, with more than 30 years of experience. Iannarelli also was named one of 10 Women on the Move by Texas Executive Women to be honored on Nov. 15.
During Fort Worth Sister Cities International’s 31st Annual Meeting, Kids Who Care received the Eisenhower Award for Organizational Involvement and Julie Johncox received the Bob Bolen Award for Outstanding Board Leadership.
The Fort Worth Independent School District’s Young Women’s Leadership Academy has been selected as a national 2016 Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. The school was honored for having students perform at very high levels.
Law
Janet Bubert, whose practice area focuses on representing schools, joined Underwood Law Firm PC as a shareholder. Bubert has represented independent school districts, charter schools, school foundations, universities and colleges in a variety of matters including employment, student discipline, policy development and open government. She has represented educational entities in federal and state courts and before the Texas Commissioner of Education. A primary focus of her school law practice is related to special education and programs for students with disabilities.
Museums
Brett Abbott, a specialist in American photography of the 20th and 21st centuries, has been appointed director of collections and exhibitions at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Abbott comes from the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was Keough Family Curator of Photography and head of collections since 2011. Abbott will lead four Amon Carter departments: curatorial, conservation, exhibition design and preparations services, and registration. He will join the staff in late October.
Abbott’s honors include the 2012 Ansel Adams Fellowship from the Center for Creative Photography for his research on Wynn Bullock, the 2010 Lucie Award for Curator of the Year for the landmark exhibition Engaged Observers: Documentary Photography since the Sixties and the 2007 Lucie Award for Curator of the Year for his work on Edward Weston. Abbott was associate curator of photography at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles for nine years prior to joining the High. He is a graduate of the Getty Leadership Institute’s Executive Education Program for Museum Leaders and also was a curatorial intern at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Radio & Television
RIDE TV hired cable and satellite distribution executive Peter Clifford as the senior vice president of U.S. distribution. Clifford has more than 20 years of network distribution and marketing experience, primarily representing independent and start-up networks in the pay TV industry. Prior to joining RIDE TV, Clifford was the senior vice president of distribution at RFD-TV, where he negotiated linear and digital distribution agreements and oversaw affiliate marketing. His distribution experience also includes five years at World Wrestling Entertainment as senior vice president of distribution and affiliate marketing. He also served as the regional vice president and general manager at Golf Channel.
Technology
Elbit Systems of America named Tiffany Nesbit as vice president of engineering and Douglas Sandklev to the new position of vice president of technology and innovation. Nesbit and Sandklev will both be charged with continuing innovation of technologies and solutions to help meet U.S. warfighters’ mission needs. Nesbit has more than 25 years of aerospace experience, most recently with Honeywell, in research and development leadership including director of engineering in China; director of Aerospace Software Center of Excellence, an organization with more than 250 engineers across eight sites and three countries; and Engineering Lead, Flight Controls Joint Venture Formation Team.
With more than 20 years of experience, Sandklev will work closely with customers, including the U.S. government and prime contractors’ research and development organizations, industry partners and Elbit’s supplier base to develop integrated technology strategies.
Send Newsmakers to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net