Newsmakers: Aug. 12-18, 2024

Banking & Finance
Elan Adams joined Cadence Bank as a mortgage loan officer, focusing on purchase, refinance and construction loans in the Springfield area.

Skyler Whitworth was hired by KPM Wealth Advisors as a financial associate. She has a bachelor’s in finance from Missouri State University.

KPM Wealth Advisors was recognized by industry publication Accounting Today as one of the top 150 firms nationwide by assets under management.

Education
The Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, the embedded seminary of Evangel University, honored Greg and Sandra Mundis with the Pillar of Faith honor, recognizing individuals who have dedicated their lives to ministry, missions and pastoral training. The Mundises were Assemblies of God world missionaries to Austria beginning in 1980, and they established Vienna Christian Center. Greg Mundis also served as executive director of Assemblies of God World Missions.

Roy Blunt, Norma Champion, Chris Chinn and Annie Malone were selected for induction into the Missouri State University Public Affairs Hall of Fame. Blunt is a former U.S. senator who first was appointed to public office in 1973. Champion’s career started in the 1950s, hosting a children’s television show on KY3, and she worked for decades in politics, including as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives and Senate. A fifth-generation Missouri farmer from Clarence, Chinn has led the Missouri Department of Agriculture since 2017. The late Malone was an entrepreneur, community leader and philanthropist.

Nonprofit
Child Advocacy Center Inc. hired Erica Harris as development director. She has more than 20 years of leadership experience in education, health and community-based nonprofits, including work at Care to Learn, CoxHealth and Community Partnership of the Ozarks Inc.

Harmony House reached a milestone of more than 100,000 hotline calls answered. The nonprofit, which provides shelter and support services to domestic violence survivors, started taking hotline calls in 1978, and last year answered more than 4,100 calls.

The Rotary Club of Springfield announced its 2024-25 officers and directors. New officers are President Lisa Bakerink of Springfield Sister Cities Association; President-elect Eric Atkinson, retired from Morgan Stanley; Past President Matthew Suarez of Central Trust Co.; Secretary Deanna Adams of Croley Insurance and Financial Inc.; and Treasurer Steve Bach, retired from Bach Medical Supply. New directors are Michael Bishop-Jones, retired software engineer; Abby Glenn of Central Bank in Springfield; Darron Hemann of Wells Fargo; and Trudy Smith of KVC Missouri.

Real Estate
Rolling Oaks Group of Cos. LLC promoted Sabine Schmidt to chief financial officer from vice president of finance and accounting services. With a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Wuerzburg in Germany, Schmidt has more than two decades of experience in hospitality management and over a dozen years of experience in property management accounting.

Murney Associates, Realtors hired Collin Wray as marketing director. Previously a real estate agent with Murney Associates, Realtors for 20 years, he spent the past five years as communications director for Central Assembly of God.