Newsmakers: Aug. 24-30, 2015

Automotive
Rick’s Automotive President Rick Hughlett was named Employer of the Year through the Breaking Traditions Program of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He was recognized for supporting Ozarks Technical Community College and the OTC Foundation.

Construction
Branco Enterprises Inc. ranked No. 61 among the Midwest Top Contractors based on revenue in Engineering News-Record’s July 20 issue.

CJW Transportation Consultants LLC promoted Dane Seiler to vice president and senior engineer and Jonathan Staats to project engineer. Seiler has worked 10 years as project engineer and office manager, while Staats served two years as a traffic engineer.

Education
Drury University added five members to the Drury Alumni Association governing body. New Alumni Council members are Joann Dahlke Banner, a self-employed bookkeeper; Kim McCully-Mobley, a teacher at Aurora High School; Mickey Moore, owner of Employee Screening Services of Missouri; Lori Johnson Murawski the vice president of marketing and business development at TelComm Credit Union; and James Owen, an associate circuit court judge in Webster County.

Forbes magazine ranked College of the Ozarks No. 4 on its list of 2015 Best Value Colleges, citing the school’s academics and student-work program.

Great Value Colleges placed College of the Ozarks No. 40 on its 2015 list of 100 Most Affordable Small Colleges West of the Mississippi, based on net price per student.

New Covenant Academy named Don Tuck principal for fifth-eighth grades and assistant principal of the high school. With the personnel move, Chief Financial Officer Marlys Schoenwetter and Chief Academic Officer Matt Searson took on new responsibilities related to institutional expansion.

David White joined New Covenant Academy as a counselor, allowing counselor Kimberly Petree to work in college admissions and career planning.

Jim Grabowski joined Southwest Baptist University as a development officer for the university relations department. With a bachelor’s in finance and economics from SBU, he previously worked as an assistant vice president at Bank of Bolivar.

Government
Aviation Enterprises Inc. named Lance Wilkerson as manager over general-aviation maintenance. He is a graduate of the National Aviation Academy.

NewGeography.com ranked Springfield sixth for manufacturing job growth among midsize cities. The study used five measures of growth over a 10-year period, and Springfield added 400 manufacturing jobs during the past year.

Gov. Jay Nixon selected Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams to serve on the Department of Public Safety’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission. Williams has 30 years of law enforcement experience and has served the Springfield Police Department since 2010. The commission establishes standards for officer basic training, continuing education, law-enforcement instructors and law-enforcement training academies.

Health Care
CoxHealth was named a Most Wired Hospital in the 17th annual HealthCare’s Most Wired survey by the American Hospital Association Health Forum and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. CoxHealth was recognized for taking privacy and security measures to protect and safeguard patient data.

Timothy Blanton joined Murrell Psychological Service and ProPsych of Springfield as an intern. With a master’s in counseling from Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, he is a counselor who assists with psychological testing.

Mercy Hospital Springfield received the American College of Cardiology’s Platinum Performance Achievement Award. Mercy was recognized for the treatment of heart attack patients.

Insurance
Bob Meek, insurance agent at PJC Insurance Agency LLC, attended the Missouri Association of Insurance Agents’ 2015 Joint Leadership and Young Agents Conference in Osage Beach. Meeting topics were on recruiting, optimizing workflow and procedures, cyber liability exposure and brand management.

Manufacturing
National Enzyme Co. hired Naeem Shaikh as vice president of research and innovation. He has 28 years of experience in biotechnology and previously worked for Atrium Innovations, Douglass Laboratories and HVL LLC.

Nonprofit
The Downtown Springfield Association named Brett Johnston as communications manager. The former co-owner and editor of Tag Magazine has bachelor’s degrees in journalism and broadcasting from Drury University.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks named its 2015-16 board of directors. Officers are Stephanie Stenger Montgomery, chairwoman; Rob Foster, vice chairman; Jami Peebles, treasurer; Karen Miller, secretary; Robin Walker, investment advisory board chairman; Richard Cavender, chair emeritus; and Ron Penney and Roger “Dusty” Shaw, at-large members. New board members are Jim Holt, president of the Table Rock Lake Community Foundation; Chris Neale, former superintendent of Gasconade County schools; Francine Pratt, executive director of the Multicultural Resource Center at Missouri State University; Jeff Schrag, owner of The Daily Events and Mother’s Brewing Co.; and Lynn Tynes, a community volunteer.