Springfield Public Schools received a Meritorious Budget Award from the Association of School Business Officials for its 2009-10 budget. SPS is one of four districts in the state to receive the award for six consecutive years.
The Assemblies of God Credit Union's board of directors approved a $2,000 donation to Evangel's Student Investment Management Fund. A $5,000 donation by Evangel alumnus Raymond Schmidgall recently initiated the management fund, which gives students real-world investment experience and establishes an endowed scholarship.
U.S. News and World Report named Central and Parkview high schools on its America's 2009 Best High Schools list. Central was one of six high schools in the state to achieve earned the Silver Medal designation. Parkview was one of 39 Missouri high schools to be named a Bronze Medal School.
Kickapoo High School science teacher Rick Snyder was honored as the Mid-continent Section Outstanding Earth Science Teacher for 2009 by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers.
Finance
Anita Oplotnik, wealth management and financial adviser at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Springfield was named a chartered retirement plans specialist by The College for Financial Planning. Oplotnik has 20 years of financial services experience, the last four years at Morgan Stanley. She holds a bachelor's degree in business from Missouri Southern State University and a master's degree in finance from Missouri State University.
Brooke Liggett of Kirkpatrick, Phillips & Miller CPAs PC was named a certified value analyst after five days of training and an examination by the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts.
CU Community Credit Union's Victoria Whitaker was promoted to senior member service representative at the Republic Road branch.
Health Care
St. John's Hospital appointed Michele Barker assistant director for labor and delivery. Barker is a member of the department's Performance Improvement Initiatives and Risk Management program and earned a bachelor's degree in nursing at the University of Michigan School of Nursing.
Dr. Shachar Tauber, director of ophthalmology research at St. John's Hospital, lectured at Uniformed Services University at Bethesda, Md., as part of his role as visiting professor for the ophthalmology grand rounds. The title of his lecture was "Refractive Surgery: Improving Patient Satisfaction." Tauber has trained staff at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on lasers for LASIK. He and Dr. Scott Bower, director of ophthalmology research at Walter Reed, are researching refractive surgery and corneal injury repair.
Michele Schaefer was named senior vice president of St. John's regional operations, covering regional hospitals in Aurora, Cassville, Mountain View, Lebanon and Berryville, Ark. Schaefer, who most recently was senior vice president and chief operating officer at St. John's Hospital, also is responsible for the Mercy Central Region, which includes Mercy Villa.
Jay Guffey was named St. John's Hospital's senior vice president and chief operating officer. Guffey, who has worked at St. John's for 25 years, oversees daily operations and the hospital's financial performance.
Ozarks Community Hospital Advantage Therapy hired two therapists for its Christian County clinic. Dr. Jennifer Witt earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and a doctorate in physical therapy at Missouri State University. R. Christi Eads earned a master's degree in physical therapy in 2007 and has a certificate of clinical competence in speech-language pathology.
Marketing
Clyde Helton was hired as marketing and sales manager for Slumberland Furniture's Joplin and Springfield stores. He most recently owned Helton's Florida Furniture in Bradenton, Fla. He earned a bachelor's degree in business at Missouri Southern State University.
Nonprofit
The Ozark Division of the March of Dimes appointed five members to its board of directors: Dr. John Burson of St. John's Children's Hospital; Cynthia Chiu-Pinheiro of The Goddard School; Susan Haralson of Premier Home Health Care Inc.; Chonna Patterson of Missouri Employers Mutual; and Freddie Young of Bank of America.
This installment of Springfield Business Journal’s Architects & Engineers Project Report showcases 26 endeavors by area design and engineering professionals.
