Newsmakers: Aug. 21-27, 2017

Accounting
Magazine Accounting Today named The Whitlock Co. LLP as one of the 2017 Best Accounting Firms to Work For. This is the eighth year the company has been honored.

BKD LLP held the No. 12 spot for the fourth year on Inside Public Accounting’s Top 100 Firms list. The firm was ranked by net revenue of $564.4 million and 4 percent annual growth. On the IPA 300 Firms, KPM CPAs PC ranked 217, dropping 13 spots on $15.7 million in net revenue last year.

Banking & Finance
Arvest Bank hired Carolyn Kennedy as executive director of its treasury management division. She has 20 years of related experience and most recently led specialized sales consulting for SunTrust Banks Inc. in Atlanta.

Civic
PGA Tour sponsor Web.com selected Bryan Properties, owned by Bryan Magers, as a 2017 recipient of the inaugural Web.com Small Business of the Tournament Award at the PGA’s Price Cutter Charity Championship. One business from each U.S. Web.com Tour tournament is recognized for its community involvement and partnership.

Education
Evangel University’s Allison Newport was selected among 15 students nationwide to serve on the Enactus Student Advisory Committee during the 2017-18 school year. A junior management major, she will take on the committee role of information director to help Enactus connect students and business leaders internationally through entrepreneurial projects.

Government
The National Association of Counties acknowledged Greene County in its 100 Brilliant Ideas at Work awards, celebrating innovations in county government. Greene County won in the Civic Education and Public Information categories for its Great Game of Government program, a spin-off of Jack Stack’s Great Game of Business open-book management concept.

Health Care
The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants recognized CoxHealth’s Dustin Bartlett, an assistant in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, for becoming the only physician assistant in Missouri to earn a certificate of added qualifications in the specialty since the program’s inception in 2011. He met licensure, experience and continuing medical education requirements and passed a national exam.

Five Citizens Memorial Health Care Foundation long-term care facilities and two assisted living care centers earned 2017 Excellence in Action awards from national researcher NRC Health. Based on resident and employee satisfaction scores that rank within the top 10 percent of NRC’s product database, the centers are in the communities of Ash Grove, Bolivar, Buffalo, El Dorado Springs and Stockton. CMH was recognized among 29 facilities in Missouri and 809 nationwide.

The Missouri Department of Labor’s On-Site Safety and Health Consultation Program named Bill’s Quick Mart, in Rogersville, as the newest member of the state’s Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program.

Law
Spencer Fane LLP hired Rodney Nichols as partner to join its banking and financial services practice. He has 20 years of experience assisting lenders with structuring, documenting and enforcing complex commercial and real estate loans.

Douglas, Haun & Heidemann PC added Kenny Beck as an attorney. He earned his Juris Doctor from University of Missouri and was admitted to the Missouri Bar in 2015. Beck is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the eastern and western districts of Missouri.

Municipal
The city of Springfield promoted Brendan Griesemer to assistant director of planning and development from a planning and development manager. He joined the city in 1996 as a senior planner and today serves as the professional development officer for the Missouri Chapter of the American Planning Association and the vice chairman of Community Partnership of the Ozarks’ Transportation Collaborative.

Security
Atlas Security Service Inc. renewed its Five Diamond Monitoring Center designation from The Monitoring Association. The designation is granted annually to monitoring centers with a high degree of responsibility.