Newsmakers

Davis, Lynn & Moots PC hired Matt Wallace as a staff accountant performing audit services. The firm also promoted Debbie Underwood and Rebecca Friedrich to senior accountants after they passed the certified public accountant exam.

Community

The Rev. Jim Oman was appointed vice president of development for The Rainbow Network. Oman served as senior pastor at Campbell United Methodist Church for three years. Oman oversees The Rainbow Network’s operations in the United States. The Rainbow Network is a not-for-profit, Christian organization that works with Nicaragua’s rural poor.

Education

Missouri State University President Michael Nietzel was selected to serve on the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Commission on Presidential Leadership and Global Competitiveness. The commission of AASCU presidents and chancellors works to assess and project the impact of global economic, political and technological changes on America’s public universities.

Fair Grove High School students Christina Hartman and Correy Ritter attended the Missouri Chamber of Commerce Leadership in Practice program at Stephens College in Columbia. The students were sponsored by Big Boy’s Steel Erection Inc. and the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Three local high school students participated in Missouri Business Week. Blake Tucker of Fair Grove High School; Christana Bode of Ozark High School; and Lydia Gratton of Parkview High School participated in the program sponsored by the Missouri Association of Realtors and the University of Missouri’s Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business.

Health Care

St. John’s Clinic-Hospitalists hired Drs. Cheikh Ould Ethmane, Emmanuel Ugbarugba and Paresh Patel. Ethmane received his medical education from the University of Cairo in Egypt. Ugbarugba received his medical education at the University of Benin College of Medicine in Nigeria. Patel received his medical education from B.J. Medical College/Gujarat University in Ahmedabead, India.

St. John’s Clinic-Lebanon hired Dr. Emmanuel Obafemi-Ajayi, work in Internal Medicine & Pediatrics. He received his medical education from Indiana University School of Medicine.

Lake Regional Health System hired Drs. Shari Neill and James Neill to practice pediatric and family medicine at the Camdenton Medical Center. Shari Neill’s practice will serve adolescents of all ages. James Neill will treat patients of all ages with an emphasis on preventative health care.

Insurance

Melissa Marrs was elected president of Insurance Association of the Ozarks, an affiliate of the National Association of Insurance Women and Men, International. Marrs is regulatory compliance analyst for American National Property And Casualty Co.

The 2008–09 National Association of Insurance & Financial Advisors-Springfield installed new officers and directors May 16. They include Brian Dixon, president; Alan Lockhart, president-elect; Janet Blair, vice president; Chad Page, secretary/treasurer; Roy Kern, national committeeman; and Steven Heintzelman, past president. The board includes Torrey Amstulz, Deborah Coulter, John Claude Osborn, Bob Price, Jeremy Tyler, Stacey Douglas and Jean Harmison.

Real Estate

Kathleen Hammock and Tammy Lockhart, associates with Bryan Properties, attended the National Apartments Association conference in Orlando, Fla.