Newsmakers: Oct. 3-9, 2016

Banking
Micah Scott, Guaranty Bank senior vice president and small-business banking manager, graduated from The Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The school provides bankers advanced studies and research in banking, economics and leadership.

John Hedgpeth joined Ozark Bank as vice president and commercial lender at the downtown Ozark branch. He has worked for the Missouri Division of Finance the past five years, most recently as a commissioned bank examiner.

Education
U.S. News & World Report ranked Drury University No. 11 in the Midwest on its 2017 Best Regional Universities list. The school also was recognized among the Top 12 Midwest Regional Universities, scoring the highest percentage of international students. Drury has been in the top 15 of U.S. News’ Best Regional Universities every year for the past two decades.

ArbNet Arboretum awarded Missouri State University’s Ozarks Arboretum in Mountain Grove a Level 1 accreditation for meeting standards of professional practices for arboreta and botanic gardens.

Retired chemistry professor Rabindra Roy was inducted into Drury’s College of Natural & Mathematical Sciences Hall of Fame. In his 50 years as a Drury faculty member, Roy developed an innovative model for undergraduate research that has trained hundreds of future scientists and health care professionals, received research grants and contracts exceeding $4.5 million and published over 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Roy and his wife Protima founded the Hem Sheela Model School in Durgapur, India, with over 5,000 students enrolled.

Southwest Baptist University’s Mercy College of Nursing and Health Sciences promoted registered nurses Paul Pope and Sharon Zahn to assistant professors of nursing and RN Renay McCarley to an associate professor. The long-term Mercy employees are rolling out a new curriculum in the 2016-17 academic year.

Engineering
Trekk Design Group LLC promoted professional engineer Brandon Freeman to associate. He’s managed Trekk’s Springfield office for nearly four years and is responsible for the company’s growth initiatives. Freeman holds a bachelor’s in civil engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Government
The National Association for Court Management named the Greene County Circuit Clerk’s Office in its top 10 Court Technology Solutions Awards. The county received fourth-place nationally in the Judicial Data Transparency category for information and resources regarding the 31st Judicial Circuit on its new public website.  

Health Care
Dr. Stephen Finzo joined Citizens Memorial Hospital Southside Medical Center-Behavioral Health. A clinical psychologist for 13 years, he received his doctorate in psychology with a concentration in clinical psychology from the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology. He also served as an adjunct professor at Evangel and Southwest Baptist universities before a two-year stint as the program director/psychologist for the Central Wyoming Counseling Center.

Jordan Valley Community Health Center hired Jay Guffey as vice president of administration. Guffey worked 38 years for the Mercy health system, most recently as chief operating officer of the Springfield hospital.

Hospitality
Nicole Painter joined O’Reilly Hospitality Management LLC as director of human resources. Responsibilities include consultation with leadership and team members on employment related compensation and benefits for OHM properties throughout the country.

Law
Erica Mynarich was one of three up-and-coming trial lawyers in Missouri selected for the Lon O. Hocker Award by the Missouri Bar Foundation. A shareholder in Carver, Cantin & Mynarich LLC, she’s a graduate of Northern Illinois University School of Law and the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College in Wyoming.