Newsmakers: July 11-17, 2016

Accounting
Tucker & Co. PC hired Mike Wilson and Samantha Gaston as staff accountants. Both staff members have accounting degrees from Missouri State University, and Wilson has 15 years of experience as a small business owner.

Advertising
Revel Advertising hired Shelby Greninger as marketing and accounts coordinator. Previously serving as part-time marketing coordinator, she joined full time after graduating from Missouri State University.

Architecture
Sapp Design Associates Architects PC hired Brandon White, Julia Hartman and Danny Loza as full-time architectural designers, while adding Jonas Gassman as an intern and Nick Casertano as an architectural student designer. White, Hartman and Loza each have a master’s in architecture from Drury University.

Banking & Finance
Systematic Savings Bank added D.J. Robertson as senior vice president to manage the expanded mortgage department. She has 24 years of local banking experience.

Guaranty Bank hired Charles Puls as vice president and chief lending officer. He has 23 years of banking experience and the last nine years served as Regions Bank’s senior vice president and market president in southeast Missouri.

UMB Bank promoted Jody Crowe to private banking client manager in its wealth management office. He has 14 years of industry experience, most recently as financial center manager for UMB in St. Louis.

Education
Evangel professors Heather Kelly and Geoff Sutton provided results on “Healing and Counseling Outcomes” at the 2016 International Conference of Christian Association for Psychological Studies. The study focused on how aspects of a person’s faith contributes to their success in Christian counseling.

MSU honored alumni and former staff for their accomplishments at the 60th anniversary Bears of Distinction dinner and awards ceremony. Honorees were Ron Richard as Outstanding Alumnus; Lincoln Hough as Outstanding Young Alumnus; Steven McDonald, recipient of the award for Excellence in Public Affairs; John Brinkmann, as Volunteer of the Year; and Julie Ebersold, recipient of the award of Appreciation. James Bass, Michael Fulton, Leland Gannaway, Audrey Kimes Garard, Donald Shook and Cindy Wilson were named as inaugural Bears of Excellence, recognizing alumni from diverse academic, professional and personal backgrounds.

Shonna Crawford, an assistant professor of education at Evangel University, received the Orville & Jewel Mills Young Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, Scholarship and Service. The award recognizes outstanding professors who are less than 45 years of age, and it includes an unrestricted cash grant.

Erin Buchanan, an associate professor of psychology at MSU, received the National Academic Advising Association Outstanding Advising Award in the faculty academic advising category.

Health Care
Michael Murrell of Murrell Counseling Service LLC completed training required to provide clinical internships for students pursuing master’s degrees in counseling.

Compassus appointed Dr. Brian Duff as medical director for the hospice program in the Springfield area. Duff, who serves as a CoxHealth family practice physician in Nixa, also oversees Compassus’ protocol for pain and symptom management.

Cox Medical Center Branson received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award. The hospital demonstrated commitment and success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.

Insurance
Commercial Insurance Underwriters Inc. received a five-star rating from insurance producers in the latest report by Insurance Business America.

Wealth Management
Private wealth adviser Paula Dougherty of Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. qualified for the company’s Circle of Success annual program, joining the company’s top advisers by demonstrating exceptional commitment to financial planning and superior client service.