Newsmakers

U.S. Cellular named Nathan Waddell director of sales in its Missouri service areas. Waddell, who has been with U.S. Cellular since 1999, plans and directs all sales and customer service activities, including customer satisfaction programs.

Community

Springfield Dillons Stores’ annual hunger relief campaign “Bringing Hope to the Table” raised $5,000 for Ozarks Food Harvest. Ozarks Food Harvest is a food bank that serves 29 counties in southwest Missouri.

Design

Greenlawn Funeral Homes Inc. hired Randy Wesley as in-house artist/director. Wesley, from Bolivar, has more than 14 years of experience in the monument industry and 30 years as an established artist specializing in illustration and design.

Education

Veronica Lowe, business development manager for Ozarks Technical Community College’s Center for Workforce Development, received the Harlan “Mac” McGinnis Workforce Professional Award during the recent Governor’s Conference on Economic Development. The award is presented to exceptional work force development professionals.

Missouri State University Small Business Development Center named Russell Wyrick as SBDC Coordinator for the West Plains campus. Wyrick, who earned his bachelor’s in business administration in management from Northwood University, has 14 years of small-business ownership experience and various technical certifications.

Southwest Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt announced that MSU will receive a $353,252 grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will allow researchers to acquire a Superconducting Quantum Interference Device magnetometer, which measures extremely weak signals, such as subtle changes in the human body’s electromagnetic energy field.

Assembly of God Theological Seminary named Dr. Stephen Lim academic dean for the 2007–08 school year. Lim has 30 years of experience in pastoral ministry in multicultural settings, as well as seven years as professor of leadership ministry at AGTS. He earned his bachelor’s from the University of California-Berkley and a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. He succeeds Dr. Joseph Castleberry, who resigned in May to become president at Northwest University of the Assemblies of God in Kirkland, Wash.

Engineering

Cameron Smith joined Olsson Associates in Springfield as a landscape architect. Smith has eight years of design experience, having worked on parks, greenway trails, downtown revitalizations, streetscapes, land planning, master planning, land development storm-water corridors, golf course design, grading and drainage. He is also a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and serves as a representative on the Christian County Planning and Zoning Board.

Food Service

Phil Stocker was elected cooperative president for the Ozark McDonald’s Co-op. Stocker will oversee 65 McDonald’s stores throughout southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas.

Health Care

Dr. Nathan Kim, a St. John’s radiation oncologist, received a research grant from the CyberKnife Society. Kim along with Dr. Frank Schmidt, a St. John’s cardiac/thoracic surgeon, and Dr. Robert Sonnemaker, a St. John’s nuclear medicine physician, will study the maximum Standard Uptake Value in PET scans of CyberKnife patients treated for lung cancer. Their research seeks a better method for measuring tumor metabolic activity and the likelihood of disease recurrence.

Ash Grove Healthcare Facility, a Citizens Memorial Healthcare Facility, received the Step I Quality Award from the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living. The award is presented for improvements in residential care, healthcare innovations, business practice and employee recruitment and retention.

Insurance

Pam Tucker-Howard was named manager of the quarter at American National Property and Casualty for the second quarter of 2007. Tucker-Howard is a manger of underwriting systems development and projects for the company’s Springfield office.

Two American Family Insurance agents received the Distinguished Insurance Agency Award from J.D. Power and Associates: Ozark-based agent Alan Humphreys and Buffalo-based agent Dave Willingham. Willingham was recognized with the J.D. Powers Award for the second straight year. Agencies that perform in the top 20 percent of all agencies nationwide based on customer satisfaction surveys are eligible to receive this honor.

Susan McCall joined American Family Life Assurance Co. as an independent insurance agent representing southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas. McCall, who is licensed in Missouri and Arkansas to sell life and health insurance, attended the AFLAC Associate Training Program.

PJC Insurance was named to the Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co. President’s Club as a top agency for the company. The recognition means that PJC Insurance ranks among the company’s Top 50 agencies for outstanding production and profitability during a five-year period.

Real Estate

Shelby Bowgen joined Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realtors. Bowden is involved with various organizations including Greater Springfield Board of Realtors, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, the Home Builders Association and the Greater Ozarks Building Systems Association.

Sales

Phil Fortune of McQueary Bros. Drug Co. received the Terry Mungle Excellence in Sales Award from McKesson Corp. and the Missouri Pharmacy Association. The association gives the award in recognition of excellence in pharmaceutical sales. Fortune retired from McQueary Bros. in June after 47 years in the pharmaceutical sales industry.

Springfield Breadsmith was named Franchisee of the Year at the annual Breadsmith Franchising Inc. conference in Galena, Ill. Breadsmith bakes European-style artisan breads and sweets made with no additives or preservatives.