Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations Katherine Rose Watson has joined Immotion Studios as its first public relations and social media manager. She graduated cum laude from Texas Christian University with a degree in German and is the author of Little Gabby Books, a children’s book series published under K. R. Watson.
Banking & Finance Tyler-based Heritage Land Bank opened a branch office in downtown Fort Worth with Patrick Murray overseeing the lending operations. Murray joined the bank as a loan officer in March 2013 and has more than 10 years of experience in lending, analyzing and evaluating livestock operations. He is a 2000 graduate of Oklahoma State University with a double major in agriculture economics and accounting and is a 2002 graduate of the Ranch Management Program at Texas Christian University. Allegiance Title Co. named Tim Monter as senior vice president of commercial development. Monter has 25 years of experience, including more than 20 years with Dallas-Fort Worth financial institutions. Previously, Monter was executive vice president and loan production office manager of commercial and real estate banking for Fort Worth-based Texas Exchange Bank. Michigan Mutual Inc., a full-service residential mortgage lender, hired Jon Humberger as regional sales manager in the Texas region. Humberger will be responsible for expanding Michigan Mutual’s retail division in Texas and will be recruiting and training loan officers. Humberger most recently served as national sales manager for Indianapolis-based Main Street Financial, where he recruited and managed branch managers and loan officers nationwide. Prior to that, Humberger worked as vice president at Countrywide Home Loans, vice president and regional manager at SunTrust Mortgage Inc. and a branch manager with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. New hires in the tax department at Whitley Penn’s Fort Worth office are Carlos Reyes-Garcia, Bryanca Dykes, Lesley Holbrook, Michael Noyd and Phillip Hernandez. Christopher Lott, Shane Turner, Thomas Vasquez, Kyle Mankin, Tristan Duke and Mark Brake have joined Northwestern Mutual Fort Worth’s office as financial representatives. Lott has 10 years of experience in the insurance industry. Turner received his bachelor’s degree from McNeese State University in 2010 and an MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2013. He is a Navy veteran who served in Iraq as a Fleet Marine Force Corpsman from 2002-2006. He also spent five years as a medical laboratory scientist. Vasquez joins Northwestern Mutual after having been an intern. He is a graduate of Texas Wesleyan University with a bachelor’s degree in finance and management. Mankin graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in business administration. Duke graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in journalism in 1998 and worked at ESPN in Bristol, Conn. Brake, an economics major at TCU, joined Northwestern Mutual in May 2013 as an intern. Think Finance named Craig A. Nies chief analytics officer. Nies will be responsible for all predictive analytics, including the development of new models for marketing, risk and fraud across the company’s suite of solutions. He will also lead research and development of advanced modeling techniques.
Boards & Organizations Gov. Rick Perry appointed James R. “Rusty” Reid, CEO and chairman of Higginbotham & Associates, and Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley to the University of North Texas System Board of Regents and reappointed regent Gwyn Shea to a new six-year term. Reid, a UNT graduate, is a certified insurance counselor, a member of the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas, and a member and past president of the Young Presidents Organization, Fort Worth chapter. Whitley has been county judge since 2006 and a member of the Tarrant County Commissioners Court since 1996. He is co-founder of Whitley Penn CPAs and Professional Consultants. He served in the U.S. Navy Reserve and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington. Shea, of Irving, is a former Texas secretary of state, former state representative for District 98 and former Dallas County constable. Community Trust Bank has formed a Dallas Regional Board composed of local business and community leaders, including Olivia Kearney, president of the 2011 Jewel Charity Ball. Three attorneys with Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff & Miller LLP have new appointments. Lisa Vaughn Lumley has been appointed to the State Bar of Texas’ Pattern Jury Charge Committee for Oil and Gas. Lumley is also chairman of the Business Litigation Section of the Tarrant County Bar Association and a member of the Oil and Gas Section of the Texas Bar Association. Trial attorney Sydney B. Hewlett has been named to the board of Fort Worth Business Assistance Center Education Foundation Inc. Lisa H. Jamieson, head of Shannon Gracey’s Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Group, has been named chairman of the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section of the State Bar of Texas. Southwestern Medical Foundation elected 12 new trustees to its board, including Kay Bailey Hutchison, former U.S. senator who retired in January after nearly 20 years as a public official, and Matthew K. Rose, chairman and CEO of BNSF Railway Co. He has been CEO since 2000 and chairman since 2002 and has been with the company since 1993. Rose is a board member of AT&T Inc., the Association of American Railroads and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of Business Roundtable, The Business Council and the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board, and he is on the board of trustees of Texas Christian University and the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Other new trustees are John L. Adams, Alice Worsham Bass, Nita P. Clark, Joe DePinto, Satish Gupta, David C. Haley, Harlan B. Korenvaes, Dr. Danette McNew, Howard M. Meyers and Florence Shapiro. The North Texas Commission recently announced its fifth program year of Leadership North Texas. The 2013-2014 class includes: Bruce Arfsten, Realtor, RE/MAX, and deputy mayor pro tem, town Addison; Michele Bobadilla, senior associate vice president for Outreach Services and Community Engagement/Assistant Provost for Hispanic Student Success at UT Arlington; Dana Burghdoff, deputy planning and development director, city of Fort Worth; Richard Casarez, vice president customer operations, Oncor; Vanessa Copeland, CFO, O. Trevino Construction LLC; Armin Cruz, vice president, Parking Business Unit, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport; Corey Davison, vice president, government relations, Tenet Healthcare Corp.; Dr. Laura DeFina, chief scientific officer, The Cooper Institute; Scott Donaldson, assistant coordinator, Tarrant County College District; Lynda Gearheart, manager, public affairs, Chesapeake Energy Corp.; Eric Hogue, mayor, city of Wylie; Mark Israelson, director of policy and government relations, city of Plano; Gianni LaBarba, managing partner, Venator Group; Kim Ludwig, founder, The Giving Tree; Opal Mauldin-Robertson, city manager, city of Lancaster; Wes Mays, councilmember, city of Coppell, and division engineering manager, Peterbilt Motors Co.; Tracy Merzi, publisher, Dallas Business Journal; Winjie Miao, president, Texas Health Alliance, Texas Health Resources; Cindy Milrany, CFO/CAO, Freese and Nichols; Carl Pankratz, councilmember, city of Rowlett; David Parker, vice president, external affairs, AT&T; Mary Jo Polidore, vice president, public affairs, D/FW Airport; Asusena Resendiz, president and CEO, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Kristin Reznicek, public and community relations, Crandall Independent School District; Larry Robertson, president, Texas Health Center for Diagnostics & Surgery; Dr. Liz Seymour, Medical Associates of Denton; Owais Siddiqui, mayor pro tem, city of Murphy, and vice president, Project Execution Services, Markit; T.D. Smyers, president and CEO, American Red Cross-North Texas; Charlene Stark, executive director, Hope for the Brave; Porter Taylor, vice president of operations, North Texas, Acadian Ambulance Service; Michael Thomas, executive director, My Possibilities; and Jake Yarbrough, account director, Global Prairie. The 2013-2014 class of Leadership Mansfield includes: Mike Aguillard, American National Bank of Texas; Jennifer Alt, Fabian Insurance Services LLC-Farmers; Bill Bryant, Legal Shield; Cory Chappell, Basic Components Inc.; Abigail Cloud and Jennifer Stoecker, Mansfield Independent School District; Tonya Davis, B&M Auto Specialists; Russell Farris, Tejas Technologies; Taryn Fuentes, Music Place Mansfield; Justin Gilmore, Level 5 Design Group; Angie Henley and Robby Isbell, city of Mansfield; Christine Horne, IPA Family/Health and Life Insurance; Christopher Kerschen, Sellmark Corp.; Susan Luttrell, First United Methodist Church Mansfield; Katherine McLaughlin, Klein Tools Inc.; Scott Meigs, Texas Trust Credit Union; Timothy Meyers, Mansfield Chiropractic Center; Brent Newsom, Frost Bank; Denny O’Connell, Perma-Pier Foundation Repair of Texas; A.J. Passini, Passini Hair Salon and Spa; Omar Pineda, Medical Center Arlington; Robi Siklosi, Southern Champion Tray; Lolly Waller, Old Republic Title; Teresa Washington, Wesley Mission Center; Lori Williams and Russ Wilson, Nationwide Construction; and Eric Wommack, Service First Mortgage-Wommack Group.
Education Doug White has been named vice president of institutional advancement at UNT Health Science Center and executive director of the UNTHSC Foundation. White will direct a philanthropic program to support UNTHSC’s educational, clinical and research efforts. For 13 years he had leadership roles at the Texas Health Harris Methodist Foundation, serving the last nine as president. Before that he was associate dean for external affairs at the University of North Carolina’s School of Public Health. From 1995 to1997 he was assistant vice chancellor for university advancement at Texas Christian University.
Health Care Dr. Mark Montgomery is the new chief medical officer at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest Fort Worth. He joins Texas Health Southwest from St. Joseph Health System in Bryan, where he was senior vice president and chief medical officer. Montgomery brings more than 30 years of combined experience in private practice and health care administration and is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology. He has a master’s degree in medical management from Carnegie-Mellon University, a medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, and an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University. He completed his residency at St. Paul and Parkland hospitals. Mark Miller has been appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer for LHP Hospital Group Inc. in Plano. He succeeds William J. Hibbitt, who is retiring. Miller most recently was executive vice president and CFO of Sabre Holdings, where he had worked since 1995. Texas Health Resources promoted Dr. Luis Saldaña to the position of chief medical information officer. Saldaña had been the system’s associate chief medical information officer since 2011. In the new role, he leads medical informatics initiatives at the 25-hospital system. Saldaña chairs the system’s CareConnect (EHR) Physician Advisory Committee and is a member of the Physician Leadership Council and EHR Informatics Cabinet. He previously was Texas Health’s medical director for clinical decision support. He has worked as an emergency physician on the medical staff at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas since 1997. Saldaña is recognized nationally for his contributions to the field of medical informatics. He co-authored a clinical decision support guidebook, which was recognized as the 2012 Book of the Year by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. Saldaña received his medical degree from UT Southwestern Medical School, MBA from the Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business and undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Texas A&M University. He is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Honors & Awards Faculty and staff from Tarrant County College recently were recognized for their commitment and dedication to superlative instruction. Leadership awards went to Northeast Department Chairman and Professor Marius Pfeiffer and Associate Professor Jean Maines; Northwest Department Chairman and Assistant Professor Dena Berg and Associate Professor Amy Mullen; South Department Chairman and Professor Lisa Johnson, and instructors Roni Crotty and Kristina Miranda; Southeast Department Chairman and Professor Hung Vu and instructors Carmen Goudeau and Shahdi Jalilvand; and Trinity Department Chairman and Professor Sophia Garcia and instructor Allison Silveus. Faculty award recipients include Legal Assistant Program Professor Karen Silverberg, Northeast Campus; speech instructor Carol Hunsberger, Northwest Campus; chemistry Professor Shelli Hull, South Campus; dance instructor Jamie Perrin, Southeast Campus; and Nancy Kupper, associate nursing professor, Trinity River Campus. Receiving staff recognition with excellence awards were Alisa Jones and Natalie Johnson, Access and Diversity; Margaret Lutton, Forward Thinking; XBVL Team members Robert Bauer, Daniel Lopez and Ami Dominguez, Innovation and Creativity; Ayyoub Ajmi, Service to the Community; and Southeast Student Success Team members Charles Smith, Lisa Erwin and Sonya Splane. Other exemplary teaching nominees included Northeast biology Professor Kristin Byrd and English Professor Ludwig Otto; Northwest mathematics instructor Vicky Gatewood and assistant business Professor Jaye Simpson; South assistant electronics Professor Thomas Hart and reading instructor Nancy McKenzie; Southeast government instructor Ruthann Geer and economics instructor TaMika Steward; and Trinity River history instructor Chad Wooley and associate health and physical education Professor Jason Wooten. Staff also nominated for excellence awards include: South Women’s History Month Committee and Southeast Vice President for Student Development Rusty Fox, Access and Diversity; Trinity River P3 Team and Trinity River Librarians, Forward Thinking; Southeast Divisional Dean Jerry Coats and the Southeast Historical Underground Team, Innovation and Creativity; Northeast Drama Team and Southeast Assistant Professor Regina Cannon, Service to Community; and Northwest assistant criminal justice Coordinator Scott Donaldson and South associate Professor Paul Luyster, Student Success. Kristin Courtney, communication director at Eagle Mountain/Saginaw Independent School District, won the Bayard H. Friedman HERO Award from Visions Women Expo and Score A Goal in the Classroom. In addition to being named the most outstanding school communication director in Texas, Courtney received a $1,000 honorarium from KXAS-NBC 5. Senior Citizen Services of Greater Tarrant County will honor four local leaders and programs benefiting older adults on Sept. 19. The Carlton Lancaster Legacy Award winner is Area Agency on Aging of Tarrant County. The Evelyn Siegel Vision Award winner is Patty Poma, program manager at Guardianship Services Inc. The Seniors Assisting in Geriatric Education Program at UNT Health Science Center won the Mae Cora Peterson Healthy Aging Award. The President’s Award for Service will be presented to Alene Washington, senior center director, Fellowship Corner Senior Center, for her 40 years of service. ABBA Staffing and Consulting made the 2013 Inc. 500|5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Company honorees will be officially honored at The Inc. 500|5000 Conference & Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C., Oct. 10-12. Calloway’s Nursery Inc. received the Summit Award from the Texas Nursery & Landscape Association at its recent awards banquet. The award recognizes the company’s innovation, service and ethical business practices. The neurodiagnostics lab at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth earned quality distinction for real-time monitoring of a patient’s neurological status during spinal, nerve and brain surgeries.
Hospitality The Omni Fort Worth Hotel appointed Kelly Graham as director of sales and marketing. Graham has 15 years of hospitality experience and has been director of sales at Omni Fort Worth since 2007. Prior to joining Omni, she worked her way up the ranks at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel in Fort Worth.
Law Brown PC has created an Asset Forfeiture Group that comprises veteran attorneys, certified public accountants, financial investigators and former agents from the Internal Revenue Service. The group is led by firm founder Lawrence Brown and Steve Jumes. Brown is a former trial attorney in the Justice Department Tax Division in Washington, D.C., and Jumes is a former assistant U.S. attorney and Department of Justice asset forfeiture attorney.
Real Estate Austin Goode was promoted to vice president of appraisal services for Peyco Southwest Realty, having been with the company since February 2012. He is also active in the company’s brokerage and leasing department as a licensed real estate agent. As a licensed property tax consultant, he has assisted in client representation within the property tax department. He earned a bachelor’s degree in international economics from Texas Tech University in 2010. Fred Dumlao joined Henry S. Miller Brokerage’s Dallas-Fort Worth Office/Industrial Division. Dumlao has more than five years of commercial real estate experience. He previously was the director of commercial services at Victor Myers Commercial and was an associate at Scott Brown Commercial.
Restaurants Z’s Cafe, a social enterprise that partners with Fort Worth nonprofit Samaritan House, hired Ashley Madewell as catering and events manager. Madewell works in Z’s Café’s new Hospital District location at 1116 Pennsylvania Ave.
Staffing Pro Staff, an Atterro company, elevated Sarah Green to sales director in its North Texas region. Green, with Pro Staff since 2008, has achieved Million Dollar Producer status two consecutive years and is on pace to achieve that milestone in 2013. The North Texas Pro Staff team, with offices in Irving, Fort Worth, DeSoto and Richardson, provides administrative and light industrial staffing.
Send people news to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net