Newsmakers

Elliott, Robinson & Co. added Kevin Yount, Nick Layman and Jeff Robinson as staff accountants. Yount, who joined the firm as an intern in January, has a master’s degree in accountancy from Missouri State University. Layman, also previously an intern with the firm, earned a bachelor’s degree with a double major in accounting and marketing/management from Southwest Baptist University. Robinson graduated from MSU with a bachelor’s degree in marketing management.

BKD LLP promoted Amy Bilyeu and Juli Pascoe to senior accountants and Susan Ryan to senior consultant. Bilyeu graduated from Drury University in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master of business administration. Pascoe has a bachelor’s degree from Drury in business administration and accounting. Ryan graduated from Missouri State University with a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems and accounting and a master of accountancy degree.

Michael A. Babcock, president of Financial Planning Advocates, attended the Garrett Planning Network Retreat at the Marriott Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. More than 175 financial planners and colleagues attended sessions on asset allocation, socially responsible investing, charitable planning and investing with low-cost index and exchange-traded funds.

Architecture

Sam A. Winn & Associates Architects PC added four staff members. Mindy Holland is an administrative assistant. She graduated from MSU in 2002. Jessica Mueller is an architectural intern. She’s an architecture student at Drury University and will graduate in spring 2007. Kristin Rushing was hired as an administrative assistant and graduated from Missouri State in May. Jill Ryan, also hired as an administrative assistant, has 10 years of experience with the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers.

Sapp Design Associates Architects PC hired Alan Purvis as a designer and project manager. Purvis is a Missouri registered architect with 15 years of experience in education, civic, municipal, single-family, multifamily and retail projects. He received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Kansas State University and a master’s degree in advanced architectural design from Columbia University. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Drury University’s Hammons School of Architecture.

Banking

Great Southern Bank added Linda Johnson to its East Battlefield Road residential lending department as a residential lending originator. Johnson has more than 20 years of experience in banking and lending, including nine years as a mortgage advisor for PHH Mortgage.

Citizens National Bank promoted Bonnie Murdock to vice president of compliance. Murdock is responsible for all aspects of the bank’s compliance with state and federal laws and regulations and is the bank’s main contact with compliance auditors. She also performs several regulatory audits per month.

Community

Springfield City Council appointed Tom Finnie to the Board of Public Utilities. Finnie served as city manager for 15 years in Springfield before retiring from full-time duty in April. He continues to serve the city part-time as a consultant on downtown development issues.

Trudy Pischer, senior director of institutional advancement for Boys & Girls Town of Missouri, earned the professional designation of certified fund raising executive. Individuals who receive the credential have met a series of standards set by CFRE International, including tenure in the profession, education and professional achievements.

Education

U.S. News & World Report named College of the Ozarks No. 29 on its list of the Midwest’s Best Comprehensive Colleges. The listing judges institutions based on peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving. C of O also was named to The Princeton Review’s list of the Best 361 Colleges, which uses an 80-question survey asking students about academics, administration, campus life and the student body.

MSU named Chris Craig as acting associate provost. Craig, who came to the university in 1994, has been the associate dean of the College of Education since 2000. He also was the director of the School of Teacher Education and a faculty member in the education department. He earned a doctorate from George Peabody College for Teachers at Vanderbilt University in 1994.

The Missouri Community Service Commission awarded $145,458 to the Republic R-III School District for its kindergarten through fourth grade tutoring program. The program, called Republic Reading Coaches, provides intervention in reading for students identified as needing assistance.

Engineering

Colvin Jones Davis LLC hired Jacob Nelson as a project engineer, handling mechanical and electrical systems design for commercial, health care and industrial construction. Nelson has a master’s degree in architectural engineering from Kansas State University.

Health Care

Valley Hope Association appointed Brent Jackson as lead counselor and community liaison for its Springfield outpatient substance abuse treatment facility. Jackson has practiced for more than 12 years in the mental health field, counseling individuals, groups and families suffering from substance abuse and behavior disorders.

St. John’s Health System added three new employees. Karen Braun, previously outreach and volunteer coordinator for KSMU and Ozarks Public Television, joined St. John’s Clinic as marketing coordinator.

Larissa Weatherall, former media relations intern for the Springfield Cardinals, was hired as a marketing assistant.

Brian Denton joined the system as radiology manager in its St. Francis Hospital in Mountain View.

Karen Gupton, group administrator for St. John’s Clinic – Orthopedics, was re-elected as a vice president for the Bones Society, a national society of orthopaedic administrators.

She also gave a presentation on interviewing techniques at the society’s national conference in Phoenix.

Insurance

Ollis & Co. hired Christina Davis as an account manager associate, assisting in the personal lines and select commercial departments.

Davis is a licensed Missouri insurance agent and previously spent nine years with the Rod McMullan Agency in Albuquerque, N.M.

Law

Eight new members were elected to The Missouri Bar Board of Governors. H. Lynn Henry, of West Plains, is the new representative from southwest Missouri. He joins Edward Hershewe, of Joplin, who was re-elected to the board.

Marketing

Noble & Associates hired Linda Bortis as a vice president responsible for leading the company’s new Integrated Communications Group.

ICG includes traditional and new media, public relations, interactive and one-to-one marketing.

Bortis has 25 years of experience in database marketing, interactive strategy development, online advertising, account management, field marketing and public relations.