Newsmakers: Nov. 12-18, 2018

Accounting
Hannah Kirkland of Duckett Ladd LLP earned designation as a certified public accountant. She interned at the firm for three years before accepting a full-time position as an auditor after graduating from Missouri State University in 2017.

Duckett Ladd named Ryan Hatch a partner. He was appointed chief audit technician in 2016 and is an active mentor in the College of Business Corporate Mentor Program at MSU.

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ADsmith Marketing & Advertising appointed Ken Taylor as president after being hired in January as senior vice president of marketing strategy. He previously worked for 16 years at Noble Communications Co. Taylor succeeds ADsmith founder Angela Smith, who retains full ownership of the company and is not retiring.

Architecture
Tanner Wilkinson joined Esterly, Schneider and Associates Inc. as an architectural intern. With a master’s in architecture from Drury University, he works with the design team on local and national projects.

Education
The MSU Board of Governors elected St. Louis resident Gabriel Gore as chairman and Springfield resident Craig Frazier as vice chairman. Gore is a partner in the St. Louis law firm of Dowd Bennett LLP and a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri. Frazier, currently a board member of Springfield Innovation Inc., has held a variety of positions in health care management and the insurance industry for the last 20 years. The board also re-elected MSU Chief Financial Officer Steve Foucart as board treasurer and Kristan Gochenauer as the full-time secretary to the board of governors.

Law
Independent general practice attorney Amanda Brown received the 2018 Missouri Bar Pro Bono Publico Award at the Missouri Bar Foundation and Public Service Awards in St. Louis for her work on behalf of victims of domestic violence.

The Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association Tour de Courts program was one of four recipients of this year’s E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award. The award recognizes programs and projects contributing to the advancement of professionalism among lawyers.

Nonprofit
The Ozark Area Chamber of Commerce promoted Anna Evans to executive director from marketing and event coordinator. She succeeds Andrea Sitzes, who now leads the Show Me Christian County regional economic development group. Evans has a bachelor’s in communication studies from Evangel University.

Real Estate
The Greater Springfield Board of Realtors selected eight real estate agents for its 2019 Leadership Academy: Darin Peterson of Century21 Peterson Real Estate, Griffin Bobbett of One Source Realty LLC, Doug Collins of Re/Max House of Brokers, Kelley Jacobson and Liz Lawyer of Murney Associates LLC, Yvonne Burdette-VanCamp of Southwest Missouri Realty LLC, Sara Brodersen of Coldwell Banker Vanguard and Blake Cook of Century 21 Integrity Group.