Newsmakers

Agriculture
Lane Baxter, a Greene County grain farmer, was elected to a two-year term on the Missouri Farm Bureau Board of Directors during the organization’s annual meeting at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Banking
Empire Bank named Jim Hodge a commercial business sales officer. Hodge sells financial products and services, and he has worked for 25 years in business consulting, most recently as an independent consultant.

Education
Jerry Cash and Shara Cash of Cash Family Orthodontics donated $15,000 to the OTC Foundation, the fundraising arm of Ozarks Technical Community College. The donation will help fund dental programs, and OTC named a dental classroom in Lincoln Hall after the family business.

Insurance
Luke Logan joined Connell Insurance as a consultant in family and commercial lines. Logan worked previously for Premium Home Loans and RE/Max Associated Brokers in the Branson area.

Nonprofit
Holly Hunt was named Boys & Girls Town of Missouri’s emergency shelter services manager at the Ozarks Family Resource Center.

Hunt, who worked in a variety of roles for the organization since 2006, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in counseling from Missouri State University.

The Arc of the Ozarks elected three members to its board of directors: Laura Murney, assistant administrative director of radiology services at CoxHealth; Jeff Layman, principal chief investment officer at BKD Wealth Advisors LLC; and Rebecca Woodard, a physical education professor at MSU.

Real Estate
Stephen Critchfield, broker and partner at Commercial One Brokers LLC in Branson, received the certified commercial investment member designation from the CCIM Institute. Critchfield was among 348 real estate professionals awarded the designation at a recent meeting in Phoenix.

Sales
Tactical equipment manufacturer and distributor Dark Ops Holdings named Julia Miller vice president of commercial and international sales. Miller, who received her bachelor’s in psychology from MSU, worked previously for the company as its national sales manager and vice president of sales.[[In-content Ad]]