Newsmakers

Architecture

Chad Bruning joined Pellham Phillips Architects and Engineers as a project architect. Bruning earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Arkansas and is responsible for project management.

Banking

UMB Bank promoted Lisa Balmas to community bank president for the Monett market. Balmas is responsible for developing business, supervising the commercial team and managing community relations. Balmas has 27 years of banking experience, most recently as UMB’s senior vice president of commercial loans.

Shelly Payne joined UMB Financial Corp. as district manager for the bank’s south central region. Payne has 15 years of banking experience, most recently serving as vice president at Bank of America in Springfield.

Community

Community Partnership’s Continuum of Care committee received $752,759 in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The money supports transitional and permanent housing services for the homeless provided by The Kitchen, Ozarks Area Community Action Corp., Salvation Army and Housing Authority of Springfield.

Stanley D. Whitehurst, of Marshfield, was appointed to the Missouri Community Service Commission. Whitehurst is Webster County clerk and has a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Tulsa.

Richard L. Dawe, dean of work education at College of the Ozarks, was appointed to the Missouri Workforce Investment Board. Dawe has a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology from Southern Illinois University, a master’s degree in financial management from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a doctorate in public policy analysis and administration from St. Louis University.

Construction

Conco Quarries Inc. received the National Stars of Excellence Award from the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association. The award, one of seven given, is presented to operations earning two or more NSSGA awards during a five-year period. Conco received the 2003 Environmental Excellence Gold Award and the 2007 Excellence in Community Relations Award.

Missouri Department of Transportation received Owner of the Year honors from the Design-Build Institute of America for design-build work in the transportation field. The award recognizes MoDOT’s contributions in advancing awareness, understanding and use of design-build project delivery through its first three projects: the Interstate 64 reconstruction project in St. Louis, the kcICON project in Kansas City and the statewide Safe & Sound Bridge Improvement Program.

Flintco Cos. received the ABC Accredited Quality Contractor designation from Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. This is the fifth consecutive year Flintco has received the designation, which recognizes firms for construction quality, safety, employee benefits, training and community relations.

Economic Development

Sabrina Drackert joined Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce as economic development marketing manager. She will be responsible for marketing activities related to business retention, expansion and attraction efforts for the chamber and the Springfield Business & Development Corp. She previously worked as a development officer with the Rainbow Network and has a degree in marketing from Missouri State University.

Education

Evangel biology professor Glenner Richards received the 2008 Orville & Jewel Mills Young Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award recognizes professors under 45 who have fewer than 10 years of teaching experience. Richards joined Evangel in 2004 after earning a Ph.D. in food science and technology from the University of Georgia.

College of the Ozarks humanities professor Stephen Barnes was selected as a J. William Fulbright scholar grantee to Latvia. The Fulbright scholar program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year where they lecture and conduct research. Barnes will teach American literature at Daugavpils University for the 2008–09 school year.

Brian Hubbard was named director of Title I programs for Springfield Public Schools, while Benjamin Hackenwerth became executive director of elementary education. Hubbard has been with the district since 1997, including six years at Fairbanks Elementary and two years as McGregor Elementary principal. Hackenwerth has been an elementary school principal in Ozark for five years and summer school coordinator for three years.

MSU biology professor Daniel Beckman received the 2008 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award is based on effective teaching and advising, innovative course design and delivery, service to the university community, and commitment to high standards. Beckman earned his doctorate in marine science from Louisiana State University in 1989.

Finance

Freedom Financial Group Inc. named Kevin Maxwell chief financial officer and treasurer. Maxwell, a certified public accountant and MSU graduate, had been serving as interim CFO since January and previously spent five years as the company’s controller. He also spent 11 years as vice president, chief financial officer and controller for Hamra Enterprises.

Government

The city of Willard has sworn in five members of its Board of Aldermen. New members are former Mayor Joe Cosby; Dale Duvall, the first woman to serve on the board in more than 20 years; Paul Hood; Richard Simpson; and Bryan Vincent.

Becky Jungmann, director of emergency communications for Springfield-Greene County 911, was appointed to the state Advisory Committee for 911 Service Oversight. She has a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from Greenville College and oversees a staff of 46 employees running the county’s 911 system.

Insurance

Julie Allwardt, customer service representative of PJC Insurance in Springfield, received certification from the Society of Certified Insurance Service Representatives.

Law

Emily J. Fairall, an associate at Carnahan, Evans, Cantwell & Brown PC, passed the Missouri Bar Exam. Fairall was already a member of the New York Bar Association. She practices in the estate planning practice group and concentrates in estate planning and administration, estate, gift and income taxation, and probate.

Ryan M. McNew joined Neale & Newman LLP. McNew graduated from University of Central Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree in economics and from the University of Tulsa College of Law. He practices in business law, estate planning and real estate transactions.

Law Enforcement

Greene County Bank acting President James Holstein, of Springfield, was elected to serve a second term as secretary of The Missouri Association of State Troopers Emergency Relief Society. The organization established and maintains a fund to provide financial aid for a trooper’s immediate surviving family if the trooper is killed in the line of duty.

Transportation

Two Springfield-based FedEx freight drivers were among the 259 recognized for driving at least 20 years without a preventable accident. The two local honorees are Mark Poynor, of Strafford, and Donald Higdon, of Willard. [[In-content Ad]]