Newsmakers

Advertising
KSMU-FM and Ozarks Public Television were recognized with local Addy Awards for several projects. The awards honor excellence in advertising and cultivate the highest standards in the industry. OPT received five silver awards for entries: Daring to Excel, 3-2-One 30th Anniversary Campaign, Continuing the Tradition, Join Us Under the Stars, and 17th annual Wine and Food Celebration. OPT also received honorable mention awards for Quality of Water, Quality of Life, and Fixing the Bumps in Missouri’s Roads. KSMU and OPT both received honorable mention awards for their 30th anniversary testimonial advertisements.

Agriculture
Vickie Umfleet, U.S. Department of Agriculture area specialist in the Springfield area office, retired March 31 after 29 years of federal service, including 25 years with USDA Rural Development. Umfleet worked extensively with the community facility loan program and as media coordinator for the Springfield USDA office, which covers Greene, Dallas, Polk, Christian, Stone, Taney, Jasper, Barton, Dade, Lawrence, Newton, McDonald and Barry counties.

Banking
Jay Burchfield was appointed to Liberty Bank’s board of directors. Burchfield is chairman of the board of Trust Company of the Ozarks, an independent trust and investment management financial services firm. He also serves as a director with O’Reilly Automotive, Quest Capital Alliance, The Beer Co. and the Banyan Group. Burchfield was president and CEO of Boatmen’s National Bank from 1987 to 1996.

Community
Scott Miller joined the Springfield Ballet as executive director. Miller, a native of Springfield, served for the past five years as Broadway Across America’s manager and director of education. He also has experience as an instructor for Springfield Little Theatre and for Springfield Catholic High School.
The Republic Fire Department was awarded a $5,084 grant from U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Brands Inc. for the purchase of at least two new automatic external defibrillators. Republic Community Foundation will oversee the grant funds.
The Ozark Empire Fair Board of Directors announced its 2005 officers. Noel Boyd of Citizen’s National Bank is president; Larry Ellison of Kirkpatrick, Phillips & Miller, CPAs, PC is vice president; Craig Dunn of Citizen’s National Bank is treasurer; and David Agee of Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin is secretary.

Education
Sara Parker was appointed director of conservation programs at Wonders of Wildlife. Parker was deputy director of Missouri’s Depart-ment of Natural Resources and also directed the department’s Outreach and Assistance Center, where she oversaw communication and education efforts. In her new position, Parker directs WOW’s conservation education programs, the central point of which is the yet-to-be constructed conservation education center. Parker is an original member of the WOW Board of Directors.
Kathy J. Davis, director of the SMSU Academic Advisement Center, was elected to the national leadership position of chair of the Advisor Training and Development Commission of the National Academic Advising Association. She will assume the role at the association’s national conference in Las Vegas in October and serve in the position until October 2007.
Donald Hoeck, College of the Ozarks associate professor of physical education, was awarded the 2004 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. In addition to his work as a professor, Hoeck serves as the head volleyball coach and the adviser of the Physical Education Majors and Minors Club for C of O. He has taught physical education for more than 14 years.
Hubble Elementary School in Marshfield was one of two schools in Missouri to receive $1,000 from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for implementing a literacy program. Due to the program, called Literacy Teams That Work, 90 percent of Hubble’s first-graders read at or above grade level by the end of the school year.

Health care
Scott and Brian George of Mid-America Dental & Hearing Centers in Mt. Vernon spoke at the Missouri Hearing Society’s annual convention in St. Louis. They presented “HIPAA: It’s Not Over,” a discussion of upcoming Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations regarding electronic patient information records. Scott George is president and CEO of both Mid-America Hearing Centers and Mid-America Dental & Hearing Centers, while Brian George serves as information technology coordinator for Mid-America Dental & Hearing Centers.
Dr. Philip R. Brown, veterinarian with Animal Care Center, attended the 77th Western States Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas Feb. 20-27. He received advanced continuing education at the event, which was attended by 10,000 veterinarians, animal health technicians and hospital administrators.

Insurance
Barker-Phillips-Jackson added two members to its staff. Donna Sigman joined the company as a life and health producer in the Mountain Grove office. She has 10 years of insurance industry experience and received a Bachelor of Science in horticulture with a minor in sales and marketing from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Justin French also joined the company. He serves as a property and casualty producer in the Springfield office. French graduated from Drury University with a degree in business.
Lorie Downing and Carol McCulloch-Baker, both with Beimdiek Insurance Agency, received Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri recognition. Downing and McCulloch-Baker were among 70 Missouri producers recognized for their successful sales and overall business growth in 2004. Downing specializes in group sales, while McCulloch-Baker focuses on individual markets.

Networking
The Association of Contemporary Exec-utives named several new members: Mike Freyer, general manager of All Comm Technologies; Angie Mullings and Kathy Gallegos of Century 21 Ace Realty; Dawn M. Michael, executive representative of Country Bunny Bath & Body; Chris Brewer, owner of Find-A-Sign; Liesa Keck, independent consultant for Party Lite; Bobby James, owner of Alliance Services; John and Dallas Nicholson, owners of Benjamin Franklin Plumbing; Rodney Noran, a partner with Sales Tek Inc.; and Patrick Kilgore, manager of Heartland Heating & Air Inc. ACE is a group of business professionals who grow their businesses by sharing referrals.

Telecommunications
Aaron Hoadley was named administrative assistant for Russell Cellular and Satellite’s corporate headquarters in Springfield. Hoadley has been with the company since 2003, working as sales representative and accounting office assistant. He has a degree in computer information systems from Southwest Missouri State University.

Transportation
Prime Inc. announced its 2004 contractors of the year. The flatbed division contractor of the year is Archie McCourt, a Prime Inc. driver for 11 years. The tanker division winner is Veranda Wilcox-Hall, a 15-year Prime veteran. Refrigerated transports, the largest of the divisions, named Russell Antes its top contractor, while David and Barbara Call received driver team of the year honors and Herman Knight was the individual contractor of 2004.
O&S Trucking named lease-purchase driver Alvin Counts driver of the month for January. Counts, of Elkland, joined the company in December 2003.
Brian Carr was named 2004 Peterbilt/ Automotive Service Excellence Master Medium/Heavy Truck Technician of the Year during a recent ASE awards banquet in Henderson, Nev. Carr, who has been with Peterbilt of Springfield for 18 months, was selected for the honor due in part to his performance on ASE certification testing.
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