Newsmakers

Aaron Jernigan, senior vice president of Missouri mortgage at BancorpSouth, was named No. 102 Mortgage Producer in America for 2007, based on number of mortgage loans produced, by Mortgage Originator Magazine. Jernigan received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Missouri State University and has 12 years of mortgage banking experience.

Education

Missouri State University computer information systems instructor Juan Meraz was elected to a three-year term as president of the Academy of International Business U.S. Midwest Chapter. AIB is an association of scholars and specialists in international business.

University of Missouri Southwest Education and Outreach Center received $74,895 as part of the state’s Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative. The payment was part of a $4.3 million distribution, the seventh of the initiative’s $335 million total being distributed to higher education institutions statewide.

Kent Williams was named director of Mad Science of Southwest Missouri, a children’s science enrichment center. In the mid 1990s, Williams served as on-camera meteorologist for KOLR-10; he most recently was morning meteorologist for an NBC affiliate in Georgia.

Jeff Burnett rejoined Evangel University as director of admissions for graduate and professional studies. He oversees the marketing and recruitment efforts for Evangel’s master’s and accelerated degree completion programs. Burnett has a bachelor’s degree from Evangel in communication with an emphasis in broadcasting and served as an undergraduate admissions counselor 1993–98. He also has experience in banking and real estate.

Government

Todd Parnell, president of Drury University, was appointed to the state Clean Water Commission. Parnell has a bachelor’s degree from Drury and a master’s degree in business from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Insurance

JoAnn Jones received her Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter designation from the Insurance Institutes of America. Jones is an underwriter at American National Property and Casualty Co.

Technology

Bobby Sowder joined the team of information technology consultants at KPM Technology. Sowder has seven years of experience as a systems administrator and IT consultant in Springfield and Lubbock, Texas. He assists in client/server networking, voice-over-Internet-protocol services and network administration.

Utility

Roddy Rogers, manager of water distribution, treatment and supply for City Utilities, received the George Warren Fuller Award from the Missouri section of the American Water Works Association. Rogers was selected based on his devotion to the water profession along with his civic and humanitarian work, which includes several trips overseas to assist in developing water supplies in underprivileged countries.