People – Oct. 21, 2013

 

Banking & Finance Northstar Bank of Texas opened its third banking center in Tarrant County on Oct. 1 in Arlington. Leading the team will be Matthew L. Steward as Tarrant County president. He will be joined by Bobby Clark, senior vice president/lending, and Brenda Via, vice president/operations manager. Steward has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Midwestern State University and completed both the Southern Methodist University Graduate School of Banking and the University of Oklahoma’s ABA National Commercial Lending School. He has more than 30 years in the banking industry and has worked in the Arlington banking market since 2002. Clark has been in banking for almost 10 years in the Arlington, Bedford and Southlake markets. His previous experience includes oil and gas exploration/production and aviation. Clark earned a management degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and completed the SMU Cox Executive MBA program, Sales Fundamentals Certification Program. He is an active member of the UT Arlington Alumni Executive Board, currently serving as vice president for membership/marketing. Via has more than 30 years of local banking experience, including administration/operations/lending and loan administration. She will serve as banking center operations manager. Tim Klauck joined Woodhaven National Bank as vice president of commercial lending at its Ridglea location. Klauck will focus on new business development with small and mid-sized businesses. He has more than 25 years of experience that includes 16 years in the financial sector as a relationship manager with small businesses and affluent families, banking center manager and full-service investment adviser. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, Klauck spent his early career in leadership positions in the military, manufacturing and financial organizations.

Boards & Organizations The North Texas Commission’s new officers are: chairman, David Tesmer, senior vice president for advocacy and community benefit for Texas Health Resources; vice chairman, Gray Mayes, director of government relations with Texas Instruments; and treasurer, Dan Johnson, Richardson city manager. Former Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief of Mike Moncrief Investments will become the immediate past chairman. Directors are: Sandra Doyle, director of public affairs at Atmos Energy; Dan Hagan, managing director/corporate affairs for American Airlines; Bob Pence, president/CEO of Freese and Nichols Inc.; Holly Reed, regional vice president with AT&T; Stephen Tolerico, chief marketing officer at Sewell Automotive Companies; Kevin Ward, general manager with the Trinity River Authority. Hal Thorne of OnePrime will serve as general counsel and immediate past chairman. New board members are: Douglas Athas, mayor of Garland; Kenneth Cook, Banyan Water; Tim Dant, DFW Hyatt Regency; A.C. Gonzales, city of Dallas; Susan Halsey, Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce; Bob Hunt, Miller Coors; Cary Israel, Collin College District; Dan Jones, Texas A&M Commerce; Vistasp Karbhari, University of Texas at Arlington; Elizabeth Killinger, Reliant Energy; Michelle Miller, Verizon Wireless; Regina Montoya, Children’s Medical Center; Rosa Navejar, The Rios Group; Clay Phillips, city of Coppell; Steve Polasek, city of Keller; Dev Rastogi, URS Corp.; Terry Reininger, Composite Technology Inc., United Technologies; Brian Riordan, Capitol One; Dan Waldmann, Tenet Healthcare Corp.; Sarah Walls, Cantey Hanger; and Marty Wieder, city of Colleyville. New ex-officio board members are Maurine Dickey, Hope for the Brave; Mike Eastland, North Central Texas Council of Governments; Steve Love, DFW Hospital Council; and T.D. Smyers, American Red Cross-North Texas Region. Athlon Energy appointed Mark A. Stevens as an independent director for an initial term that will expire at the 2016 annual meeting of stockholders. Stevens is a tax consultant for Morningstar Partners. He previously was senior vice president of taxation at XTO Energy Inc. for 22 years until his retirement in 2010. Prior to joining XTO, Stevens was an accountant at Meridian Oil and Pennzoil Corp. He also serves on the board of HomeBank Texas. Stevens received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Harding University and is a certified public accountant.

Energy Leah King is the new senior vice president of marketing and communications at national land service company Holland Services. Previously, King was the senior director of public affairs for Chesapeake Energy Corp. in the Barnett Shale. She spent 15 years with RadioShack Corp., where she had various sales, marketing and public relations responsibilities. King serves on the boards for the Child Study Center Foundation and Communities in Schools of Greater Tarrant County and is a founding member of the United Way of Tarrant County’s Women’s Leadership Council.

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Health Care Specialty pharmaceutical company ZS Pharma hired Cynthia Smith as chief commercial officer. She will be responsible for marketing, sales, market access and other activities to support the commercialization of the company’s initial asset, ZS-9. Previously, Smith was vice president of market access and commercial development at Affymax and had leadership positions at Merck, including most recently executive director of Healthcare System and Medicare Strategy. Smith served in the White House Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton administration. She earned an MBA in finance from the Wharton School, a master’s degree in public policy from Rutgers University and a communications degree from the University of North Carolina. NorthStar Anesthesia named Chris Riopelle as CEO. The company’s co-founders, Dr. Phillip W. Eichenholz and Neil Dwayne Neal, remain as senior members of the company’s management team as president and executive vice president, respectively. Riopelle has nearly 20 years of experience in the health care industry. Prior to joining NorthStar, he spent 10 years as a senior executive with DaVita and also was chief operations officer of La Vie Care Centers.

Honors & Awards David and Tonyia Ondieki, owners of Rainbow International of south Tarrant County and Grand Prairie, received the Top Gun Award from Rainbow International during The Dwyer Group International Conference Sept. 29-Oct. 3 in San Antonio. This award goes to franchise owners who achieve sales and operation benchmarks. The Top Gun recipients represent the top 10 percent of Rainbow International franchise owners across North America. Downtown Fort Worth Inc. received a Pinnacle Award from the International Downtown Association for Operation: Grackle. The program dramatically reduced the number of these large blackbirds in downtown and was recognized for innovation, effectiveness and replication in downtown leadership and management. The Economist ranks the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University No. 1 in the world for faculty quality and the overall MBA program No. 35 in the United States and No. 61 in the world, up 10 places from last year. That makes it one of the fastest-rising MBA programs on the worldwide list. The Neeley School is one of the top business schools in the nation for earning an MBA, according to The Princeton Review’s Best 295 Business Schools: 2014 Edition. The Neeley School ranks No. 9 for Most Competitive Students. At the 13th annual American Gaming Association Communications Awards, Fort Worth-based Concussion was recognized with two Gaming Voice Awards for communications excellence. Concussion won two of the 15 award categories Best Website for Konami Gaming Inc.’s Fortune Chaser microsite and Best Print Advertising Campaign for Gasser Chair Co.’s Gasser Dazzles campaign. Methodist Mansfield Medical Center has received Cycle IV Chest Pain Center Accreditation from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care, an international organization that focuses on transforming cardiovascular care by helping facilities create communities of excellence that bring together quality, cost and patient satisfaction.

Law Derek Carson, law clerk for U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means of the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, for the past three years, has joined Cantey Hanger LLP as an associate. He will focus his practice within the firm’s general litigation section. Carson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Union University and received his law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. He is admitted to practice in Tennessee and Texas and before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Brown PC added tax attorney Cynthia Cook as senior counsel. Cook specializes in representing clients in civil and criminal tax cases, IRS audits and appeals, and business and employment tax matters. With more than two decades of experience, she provides counsel in matters before the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, U.S. district courts, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Internal Revenue Service. In addition to her law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law, Cook earned her master of laws in taxation from the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. She received her undergraduate degree from Wichita State University. A former director of the Tarrant County Trial Lawyers Association, Cook currently is a Fellow of the Tarrant County Bar Foundation. Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff & Miller LLP hired Cynthia L. Hill as partner in its Labor and Employment Practice Group in Fort Worth. She advises private sector clients on human resources, employment litigation and labor law issues, counseling on matters involving discipline, discharge, employee layoffs, disability and reasonable accommodation, family and medical leave, and employment policies. She also provides legal counsel for public and private schools, school districts, community colleges and universities. A graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, Hill is admitted to practice before all U.S. district courts for Texas and Oklahoma, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. She is a certified school board trainer with the Texas Education Agency and a member of the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance. Cantey Hanger LLP has hired five attorneys with Dallas-based Smith & Moore PLLC, known for its representation in the aviation industry. The attorneys are members/owners Charles H. Smith and J. Michael Colpoys, and members Stephanie L. Millett, Bryan S. David and David V. Denny. Their expected start date is Jan. 1. Smith’s practice is focused on litigation and business transactions. A 1974 graduate of Southern Methodist University School of Law, he obtained certification as a pilot, flight instructor, ground instructor and airframe and power plant mechanic. He is also a Federal Aviation Administration accident prevention safety counselor and a member of the International Society for Air Safety Investigators. Smith has memberships in the State Bar of Texas, American Bar Association, Dallas Bar Association and Lawyer-Pilot Bar Association. He is a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators, The Wings Club, Texas Association of Defense Counsel, National Business Aviation Association and the American Board of Trial Advocates. Colpoys’ 34 years of experience as a civil trial lawyer include the trial of aviation, transportation, product liability and insurance coverage disputes. He graduated in 1978 from Baylor University School of Law and is a member of the Dallas Bar Association, State Bar of Texas, American Bar Association, Texas Association of Defense Counsel and the Defense Research Institute. Millett, a litigation attorney, represents defendants and plaintiffs in product liability, aviation and general negligence cases. Millett’s aviation practice includes defense of personal injury and wrongful death claims made against owners, operators and lessors of general and commercial aviation aircraft, including manufacturers’ products liability claims involving airplanes and helicopters. Millett, a 1996 graduate of South Texas College of Law, has taken general aviation pilot ground school, flown simulator aircraft and attended client-based aircraft and product schools. David, a trial lawyer, focuses on commercial litigation and tort actions ranging from litigation involving aircraft accidents to government contracts, aircraft transactions and indemnity actions. He is certified as a commercial pilot and flight instructor. He also has had aerobatics training and emergency maneuvers training. David received his law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law in 2001. Denny, also a trial lawyer, has in recent years focused on wrongful death and commercial cases for aviation clients, including improper engine repair by a foreign repair station, lender-liability, helicopter accidents, fixed-wing aircraft accidents, e-commerce copyright litigation, breach-of-contract and tort claims, trade-secret cases regarding aircraft-design information and indemnity claims. He graduated from the University of Houston School of Law.

Nonprofit Organizations CASA of Tarrant County named Rebecca Farrow as its new executive director. Farrow has helped victims of crime for more than a decade, including working for SafeHaven of Tarrant County, Greater Texas Community Partners and most recently Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Suzanne C. Radcliff joined the American Paint Horse Association as the new counselor at law, succeeding Frank Cain after 22 years. Radcliff is the office managing partner vice chairman for the Cozen O’Connor firm’s Dallas office. She brings years of experience in equine law and regularly writes about the topic at Subrogation & Recovery Law Blog. She received her bachelor’s degree in 1997 from the University of Oklahoma, where she played on the school’s polo team. She earned her law degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 2000. Volunteers of America Texas appointed David Woody III as chief program officer. Woody will oversee the organization’s statewide programs – addiction treatment, prevention and recovery services; intellectual and developmental disabilities services; community re-entry services; and support services – in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. He will also be a key member of the organization’s executive leadership. Previously he was director of program services for The Salvation Army DFW Metroplex Command. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a doctorate in social work, Woody has more than 15 years of experience in program management and clinical social work, and more than seven years of experience in program leadership for The Salvation Army and Catholic Charities, Diocese of Fort Worth. He has taught social work as an assistant and adjunct professor at the university level for more than 10 years.

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Real Estate & Construction Fort Worth-based Trademark Property announced that Daniel Goldware is the new vice president of leasing. Goldware will be working initially on Waterside, Trademark’s 63-acre master-planned, mixed-use development being built in Fort Worth, as well as Victory Park in downtown Dallas. He joins Trademark from Weingarten Realty Investors, where he was a leasing executive in both Dallas and Houston for seven years. Prior experience includes retail sales for Sun and Ski Sports in Houston, where he was also responsible for developing e-commerce for the company. Goldware graduated from the University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Send People items to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net