Newsmakers: Feb. 22-28, 2016

Accounting
KPM CPAs & Advisors was accepted into The Leading Edge Alliance, an international association of 220 accounting, financial and business consulting firms. Membership offers peer–to–peer advice, professional development, education and best practices.

Banking and Finance
Arvest Bank promoted Mitch Wilkins to mortgage lender. He’s worked for Arvest for four years and has a bachelor’s in economics from Missouri State University.

Lester Evans, Doug Russell, Rusty Shadel, David Waugh and Brian Esther were elected to Commerce Bank’s Springfield region advisory board. Evans, a rancher, has served as presiding commissioner for Laclede County; Russell is president of The Durham Co.; Shadel is the owner of Shadel’s Colonial Chapel; Waugh is secretary/treasurer of Independent Stave Co. LLC; and Esther is president for Commerce Bank’s Lebanon market.

Guaranty Bank President and CEO Shaun Burke was named to the Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council, a regional board that provides information and recommendations to the Federal Reserve System. In a three-year term, Burke joins colleagues from seven states in the region, one of 12 councils nationwide.

Education
Carly Pierson was hired as a full-time instructor in the MSU marketing department. Pierson, who has taught night classes for years, received a bachelor’s and an MBA from MSU. She previously worked as marketing coordinator for Ollis/Akers/Arney insurance company.

College of the Ozarks ranked fourth in U.S. News & World Report’s 10 Colleges Where Graduates Have the Least Debt. The report found the average debt load for the class of 2014 was $7,808, and 8 percent of students borrowed money for education.

Kelly Malone, associate professor of intercultural studies at Southwest Baptist University, published “City Church: Working Together to Transform Cities,” a book on the church, outreach and evangelism in cities.

Government
State Rep. Jeff Messenger, R-Republic, was named chairman of the 24-member policy development caucus, which develops policy goals of the Missouri House Republicans.