Accounting
BKD LLP’s southern Missouri practice group promoted Rebecca Barrientos and Jessica Cullen to managers; Scotti George to managing consultant; Mary Knaup to senior consultant; and Lindsay Dale, Gail Rogers and Ryan Sharp to senior associates.
Health Care
Mercy Springfield Communities hired 11 employees for area clinics: Jason Forbes at Mercy Wound Care and Hyperbarics; Jaimee McGuire and Gaylene Chapman at Mercy Clinic Women’s Oncology-Chub O’Reilly Cancer Center; Alisa Kindig at Mercy Clinic OB/GYN; Shannon Hauschildt and Elisha Snowden at Mercy Clinic Orthopedics; Lauren Divine and Ashley Hrabik at Mercy Clinic Ear, Nose and Throat-Surgery Center; Jason Hall at Mercy Clinic General and Trauma Surgery; and Stephanie Voorhis and Anjuli Williams at Mercy Clinic Family Medicine.
Daniel Good, Mercy’s regional director of pharmacy services, received the Garrison Award at the annual meeting of the Missouri Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Recognizing accomplishments in practice and development of innovative services, the honor is the top hospital pharmacy award in the state.
The Sons of the American Revolution presented Greene County Emergency Management Services Regional Manager Ryan Verch with an EMS Commendation Medal for exceptional service, community dedication and accomplishments in the field. Verch has worked as a CoxHealth paramedic for 18 years and was chosen for the award by his peers.
The Mid-America Transplant Foundation awarded $42,250 to Mercy Hospital Springfield and CoxHealth in honor of longtime board members Dr. Thomas Briggs, a neurological surgeon at CoxHealth, and Dr. Robert Saylor, a nephrologist who most recently served as the director of ethics at Mercy. Both died in December. CoxHealth received $17,250 to establish a scholarship fund for registered nurses in the fields of trauma and neurocritical care, and Mercy was given $25,000 to provide training for physicians, nurses and hospital leadership in health care ethics.
Hospitality
John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts hired Brent Parker as general manager for University Plaza Hotel and Convention Center. Parker, who also will oversee JQH’s Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites near Hammons Field, most recently worked as general manager of the Cedar Rapids Marriott hotel in Iowa.
Insurance Barker-Phillips-Jackson Inc. was named among the Top 10 fasting-growing agencies for 2015 in Missouri and Kansas by Auto-Owners Insurance. BPJ has represented Auto-Owners Insurance since 2010.
Commercial Insurance Underwriters Inc. received a five-star rating by Insurance Business America magazine, which surveyed insurance producers, customer satisfaction, premium pricing, underwriting turnaround and responsiveness, and market access.
Nonprofit
Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland named Dr. Katie Robertson McElvaine and Savannah Stepp as members at large on its board of directors. McElvaine is an optometrist and owner of Springfield Family Vision Clinic. Stepp works as a NightLight International director in Branson.
The 2016 Stamp Out Hunger food drive collected over 250,000 pounds of donated food across 14 counties for 18 pantries. The campaign beat last year’s totals by 31,000 pounds.
The National Association of Letter Carriers, the U.S. Postal Service, Ozarks Food Harvest and volunteers helped collect the donations benefitting organizations including Crosslines, Grand Oaks Mission, The Salvation Army and The Victory Mission.
Just for Kicks donated 313 pairs of shoes to schoolchildren at Robberson Elementary with the help of Bass Pro Shops and Under Armour, which offered a substantial discount on the shoes. Associates from Bass Pro Shops assisted in measuring the children for their shoe sizes.
The Department of Economic Development’s Small Business Incubator Tax Credit program awarded $75,000 in tax credits to The eFactory. Contributions to The eFactory can be made in exchange for state tax credits, with proceeds going toward the downtown business incubator’s capital and nonoperating expenses.
William Evans, a shareholder with Carnahan, Evans, Cantwell & Brown PC, was elected to the board of the Institute for Magic Education, a nonprofit led by professional magicians who teach others in the craft.
Evans specializes in taxation, corporate, real estate, business and employer/employee law.
Retail Two local Wal-Mart Stores Inc. locations made donations to Habitat for Humanity of Springfield. Store No. 2839 provided a $1,000 grant toward two critical home repair projects, and Store No. 2221 issued a $500 grant for Habitat for Humanity’s A Brush with Kindness project that assists homeowners with exterior repairs including painting, debris removal and landscaping.
This installment of Springfield Business Journal’s Architects & Engineers Project Report showcases 26 endeavors by area design and engineering professionals.
