Newsmakers

Springfield Little Theatre was chosen for the Missouri Arts Council’s 2006 Missouri Arts Award in the category of Arts Organization. The awards honor groups and individuals in Missouri for their works in the arts. Gov. Matt Blunt and First Lady Melanie Blunt will present the awards in a Feb. 8 ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda.

Banking

Janet Weber is the new vice president for the Springfield region of Regions Bank. Weber, who also works as a private banker out of Regions’ Battlefield Road branch, has 13 years of experience in bank marketing. Her new job responsibilities include business development and growing the company’s customer base.

Joe Swisshelm was promoted to business banking relationship manager for Regions Bank’s Springfield region. Swisshelm, who earned his finance degree from the University of Missouri in 2003, has worked for two years as a Regions financial services representative.

Regions Bank appointed Charles Vandivert as commercial relationship manager for the Springfield region, working out of the Glenstone Street branch. Vandivert’s previous financial experience includes positions as a credit analyst, a senior loan officer and a regional manager of financial services for a manufacturing firm. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Northwest Missouri State University.

Michael Bell was named vice president of commercial lending for Liberty Bank. Bell, a Missouri State University graduate, has more than 30 years of banking experience in southwest Missouri and specializes in commercial real estate and construction lending.

Communications

Millennium Communications Inc., which has offices in St. Louis and Springfield, received a 2005 Clarion Award from the Association for Women in Communications for its work on the Show Me You Care: Defeat Amendment 1 campaign. Millennium Communications handled media relations for the campaign designed to defeat the legalization of gambling on rivers besides the Mississippi and Missouri.

Rylan Rydberg joined Telec Inc. as a customer service advocate and systems trainer. Rydberg has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and special education and a master’s degree in education. His background includes service with the U.S. Navy as an electronics technician repairing communication equipment.

Community

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce named seven directors to serve three-year terms on its board. The new members are: Robert Hammerschmidt, Commerce Bank president; Andrew Lear, BKD LLP partner; Robin Melton, Environmental Works Inc. president; Michael Nietzel, Missouri State University president; Jim O’Neal, O&S Trucking Co. president; Barby Pohl, Great Southern Bank vice president of branch administration; and Tom Rankin, Rankin Co. LLC owner.

The Automated External Defibrillator Center of Excellence, a four-year-old nonprofit organization under the Springfield Fire Department, received a grant from the Cox Foundation to purchase electronic equipment. The equipment will be used to assist staff with education and presentations in the community about the importance of lifesaving AED programs.

The 2005 FedEx Freight MS 150 Bike Tour, a two-day event in September, raised nearly $500,000. The money raised will go to research the cause of multiple sclerosis and to programs for people who live with the disease. More than 750 cyclists gathered in Springfield to participate in the event.

Education

Two senior students and four faculty members from Evangel University presented papers at the 2005 International Conference of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies held in Dallas. Students Laura Comtois and Allison Moeckel, along with professors Geoffrey Sutton and Donna Washburn, presented the results of research on personnel factors that may affect referrals to faith-based agencies. Sutton and psychology graduate student Eloise Thomas also presented a review of research on forgiveness and restoration.

Dan Beckman, MSU professor of biology, received an $18,335 grant from the city of Springfield to study the ecological health of urban streams throughout the metropolitan area.

Southwest Baptist University received a $1 million check during its Oct. 11 board of trustees meeting. The gift, from former Interim University President Wayne Gott and his wife, Betty, will be used for future development.

Two Springfield Public Schools teachers received honorable mention in the eighth-annual All-USA Teacher Team, USA Today’s recognition program. Parkview High School science teacher Stephanie Blake and Delaware Elementary third-grade teacher Patsy Summers were the only Missouri teachers selected for the honor. USA Today ran a story about the group Oct. 13.

Michelle Bowe, MSU assistant professor of biology, and Colette Witkowski, MSU associate professor of biomedical sciences, received a $51,430 grant from Beckman Coulter Inc. The grant will fund the purchase of a Beckman Coulter genetic analyzer to advance DNA and genetics research in the biology and biomedical sciences department.

Monika Moskal, MSU assistant professor of geography, geology and planning, was awarded a $9,268 grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation. The grant will be used to examine the economic impact of impervious surfaces on storm water management in Platte County.

Insurance

Casey Chastain of Sentry Insurance Dealer Operations was ranked as one of the Top 5 account managers of the company’s nationwide sales force. The award takes into consideration new business premium growth, client retention rates and customer service.

Beimdiek Insurance employees Misty Graff, human resource and safety consultant, and LeRoy Hill, vice president, recently attended the Missouri Employers Mutual Work Comp Workshop at the Clarion Hotel in Springfield. The workshop covered upcoming changes to workers’ compensation laws that take effect Dec. 14. Other topics of the workshop included loss prevention and return-to-work programs.

Law

Neale & Newman LLP added Jennifer A. Brodersen to its staff. Brodersen graduated magna cum laude from Southern Methodist University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science in psychology and received her law degree from University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law in 2005. Brodersen has a general litigation practice and provides assistance in estate planning.

Evelyn Mangan joined Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin’s Springfield office. She is a partner in the corporate department, practicing in the areas of estate planning, trusts and estates. She has nearly 20 years of experience from her own practice, including drafting of wills, trusts and family limited partnerships; probate and trust litigation; and the administration of the estates of minors, decedents and the incapacitated.

Aaron D. Jones of Hulston, Jones & Marsh in Springfield was elected as a member of the executive committee of the Missouri Bar Young Lawyers’ Section. Jones, a 1995 Drury University graduate with a juris doctor from University of Missouri-Columbia in 1998, maintains a general business practice with an emphasis in employment law. He also works part time as an assistant city prosecutor for the city of Springfield.

Missouri Lawyers Weekly selected Shari L. Lockhart, an attorney for Evans & Dixon LLC, as one of seven up-and-coming lawyers in Missouri. Lockhart practices workers’ compensation defense out of the firm’s Springfield office.