Newsmakers

Eric Griessel joined Raymond James/Liberty Investment Services as a financial adviser. Griessel is a certified public account with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and he has nearly 12 years of experience in public and corporate accounting.

Education

Five teachers in Springfield Public Schools received Turner Family Foundation Awards for Excellence in Teaching Reading. The winners: Barbara James of Kickapoo High School, Nancy Raider of Disney Elementary, Sheri Bryan of Westport Elementary, Janet Gore of Portland Elementary and Lori Benham of Robberson Elementary. Each received $2,000; half is for the teacher’s personal use, and the remainder must be spent on classroom or school needs.

Food & Drink

Hamra Enterprises promoted Richard Craig to vice president and chief information officer. Craig, who joined Hamra Enterprises in 2003 and previously served as director of information technology, is responsible for strategic research and development of new IT projects and point-of-service systems. Hamra Enterprises comprises 23 Wendy’s restaurants in Missouri and 40 Panera Bread bakery-cafés in Boston and Chicago.

Stone Hill Winery, which has a production facility in Branson, was among four Missouri wineries awarded at the Jerry Mead New World International Wine Competition. Augusta, Les Bourgeois, St. James and Stone Hill wineries all earned Best of Class gold medals, while Stone Hill and Les Bourgeois also earned Best of Varietal awards. Sixteen panels of judges tasted more than 2,200 different wines submitted by more than 500 wineries during this year’s competition.

Health Care

Drs. Priscilla Arnold and Paul Arnold both made presentations at the Annual Symposium of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery in San Francisco. Priscilla Arnold spoke on medical system reform while Paul Arnold led a panel of judges reviewing video entries on new surgical techniques and technology. Both also served as moderators for panels concerning intraocular lens implants and cataract surgery.

Insurance

Kimberly Fullerton of Beimdiek Insurance attended the Agency Management Systems Users’ Group convention. The convention included training classes and exhibits, where Fullerton learned about AMS 360, a new set of AMS software to which her company will upgrade to track real-time transactions.

Joe Patton, Lawrence County Farm Bureau agent, earned membership in the Missouri Farm Bureau Insurance Co.’s Million Dollar Club. The honor, which marks Patton’s 13th consecutive year in the club, was presented at a conference March 2–4 at Chateau on the Lake in Branson.

Amanda Robertson and Jody Ives of Hollister-based Connell Insurance earned producer licenses in commercial lines insurance. Robertson began working for the agency in 2005 and is working toward her associate’s degree at Ozarks Technical Community College. Ives started with Connell Insurance in December.[[In-content Ad]]