Arts
The Association of Midwest Museums honored Sarah Buhr with the 2016 Promising Leadership Award for organizing and leading projects with a local and national scope. She has served as curator of art at the Springfield Art Museum since 2013.
Springfield Ballet Inc. welcomed six new board members to its roster of 19: Andrea Brady of Great Southern Bank, Will Carter of Central Bank/Central Trust, entrepreneur Dan Cobb, Michael Miller of Lowther Johnson Attorneys at Law, Kay Osborne of LKO LLC and Caitlin Vincel of Bio-Kinetic Clinical Applications.
Banking
Guaranty Bank hired Wendy McCurdy as a mortgage loan officer. With 21 years of banking experience, she previously served as a mortgage loan officer and senior vice president at Bank of America.
Arvest Bank hired Felicia Morgan as business banking manager. She previously served as operations market manager for 26 locations of Bank of America in Springfield, Columbia and Kansas City.
Communications
Dickerson Park Zoo hired Joey Powell as public relations and marketing director. Powell has worked for Schilling/Sellmeyer & Associates Inc. and as a choreographer and instructor at The Springfield Little Theatre.
Education
Missouri State University appointed Michele Smith as assistant vice president for student affairs. Previously in MSU’s College of Education, Smith assumed the duties of Juan Meraz, who moved to the department of diversity and inclusion.
Drury University welcomed five new members to its alumni council: Joel Alexander of City Utilities of Springfield, Michele DuvallBoswell of Collegiate Awards, Gail Fredrick of Fredrick & Rogers PC, and Kaitlyn McConnell and Kayce Morton of CoxHealth.
Government
The National Federation of Independent Business recognized Sen. Mike Parson for a 100 percent voting record on issues affecting small business in the 2015-16 legislative session. Matters included workers’ compensation reform, small-business tax reduction, unemployment benefits reform, tort reform, withholding tax changes and labor law reform.
Health Care
Cox Medical Center Branson’s Pharmacy Clinical Coordinator Ethan Osborn received certification as a pharmacotherapy specialist through the Board of Pharmacy Specialties.
Among some 300,000 licensed pharmacists nationwide, the Board of Pharmacy Specialties has certified only 25,000.
CoxHealth hired 22 physicians: Dr. Rachel Archer of Family Medical Care Center; Drs. Justice Arhinful and Mehdi Tajouri of Springfield Inpatient Physicians; Dr. Cesar Artiles of Ferrell-Duncan Clinic Pulminology-Branson; Drs. Scott Ballmann, Sridevi Durga, Uma Edupuganti, John Garner, Sarah Hossain and Srikant Nannapaneni of Ferrell-Duncan Clinic; Drs. Michelle Davis, Khushbu Shukla and Joy Wen of CoxHealth Newborn Medicine Specialists; Dr. Melissa Gaines of Cox Senior Health Center South; Drs. Dayna Jett and Jessica Standeford of Cox Family Medicine Residency; Drs. David Lemons, Robbie Mangalasseril and Carrisann Woods of CoxHealth Branson; Dr. Jaclyn Pohlers of CoxHealth Center Republic; Dr. Sangita Trivedi of Pediatric Critical Care & Pediatric Sleep Center; and Dr. Justin Nowlin of Family Practice & Obstetrics of Monett.
Travel
Travel and Leisure World’s Best Awards named Big Cedar Lodge as the top resort in the Midwest. The new category considered 11 states and was voted on by readers.
