Newsmakers: June 3-9, 2024

Banking & Finance
Arvest Bank in Springfield promoted Catherine Luikart and Rhonda Sorensen. Luikart, who has a bachelor’s in business management from Missouri State University, has been elevated to private banking adviser from the role of executive assistant. With more than 27 years of banking industry experience and a bachelor’s in business administration and management from Columbia College, Sorensen was promoted to private banking manager and senior vice president for the Springfield region.

John Baxter joined OMB Bank’s commercial lending team as vice president and loan officer. He has around two decades of banking experience, most recently as vice president of commercial lending for Simmons Bank.

OMB Bank hired Robin Rees as vice president and Community Reinvestment Act officer. With more than 30 years of industry experience, Rees most recently served as vice president of CRA at OakStar Bank.

Communications
Mediacom was named in the U.S. Best Managed Companies program, sponsored by Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal. Mediacom has been on the list for four years in a row.

Education
Evangel University honored professors Debbie Bicket and Preston Kness for excellence in service to students and the school. Bicket, assistant professor of psychology, received the E.M. & Estella Clark Award for Excellence in Teaching, Scholarship and Service. Kness, assistant professor of history, was awarded the Orville & Jewel Mills Young Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, Scholarship and Service.

Kimberly Church, director of the School of Accountancy at Missouri State University, received the J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook/Deloitte Foundation Prize from the American Accounting Association. The prize is the highest national accounting educator award bestowed on a working academic.

Engineering
Bartlett & West Inc. was named among the top 500 design firms nationwide by Engineering News-Record. The company this year ranked No. 258, up 32 spots from last year.

Health Care
Local health systems recently were included in the nonprofit Leapfrog Group’s spring hospital safety grades list. Leapfrog analyzes metrics such as rates of preventable errors, injuries and infections. Receiving A grades were Citizens Memorial Hospital and Mercy Hospital Springfield. Cox Medical Center Branson scored a B grade, with Cox Medical Center South and Mercy Hospital Lebanon receiving C grades.

Manufacturing
Springfield bike rack company Kuat Racks won a Red Dot Design Award for its IBEX truck bed rack. Awards are based on four principles of design: the quality of function, the quality of seduction, the quality of use and the quality of responsibility.

Nonprofit
Community Foundation of the Ozarks Inc. awarded $220,000 in grants in partnership with the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation and Commerce Trust. The Coover Regional Vibrant Communities Grants, made to 14 organizations, are intended to address loneliness and social isolation statewide. The grant recipients, in alphabetical order, are Aurora Youth Empowerment Project, $14,000; Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks, $13,017; city of Cassville, $20,000; Code 1 Wellness, $20,000; Community Betterment Foundation Inc., $20,000; Community Senior Citizens Inc., $17,236; Elkland Lions Club, $15,000; Glenwood Elementary, $20,000; Heart of the Ozarks United Way, $14,107; Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau, $10,000; It Takes a Village – SEMO, $15,000; Ozarks Regional YMCA, $10,000; Sarcoxie R-II School District, $20,000; and SingerHill Music & Arts Inc., $11,640.