Newsmakers: May 12-18, 2025

Accounting
KPM CPAs & Advisors placed among the top firms in the Midwest in Accounting Today’s annual ranking. The list of firms in the Midwest comprises 28 companies in seven states.

Chambers of Commerce
The Ozark Chamber of Commerce presented Patty Quessenberry with its Chamber Star honor at an awards banquet in February. She was recognized for her service to the Ozark chamber and community. Quessenberry has served as a board member for the Ozark chamber, which she joined this year as a part-time operations assistant.

Michelle Glenn, membership development director for the Table Rock Lake Chamber of Commerce, won a Sales Contest award for business development from the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. Glenn earned first place in the category for organizations with under $500,000 in dues income, based on the total value of new sponsorship and advertising sales.

Education
Craig Carson, assistant superintendent of learning at the Ozark School District, was honored as Outstanding Assistant Superintendent in the southwest region by the Missouri Association of School Administrators. Carson has held the assistant superintendent role at the Ozark district since 2012.

Bernard Kitheka, a Missouri State University associate professor in the School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability at the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, received a 2025 Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship from the Institute of International Education. Through the fellowship, he will work at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania, for 90 days later this year. Kitheka joined MSU in 2016.

Kunal Patel, a seventh-grade student at Branson Junior High, won the Association for Children’s Educational Sponsorship Regional Missouri Spelling Bee for the second straight year. After correctly spelling “peony” at the Rolla competition in March, he’ll head to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., at the end of May.

Branson High School seniors Clara Dean and Alexandra Garner received honors through the Missouri Scholars 100 program. Dean was named one of the top academic students in the state through the program, and Garner received honorable mention. Organized by the Missouri Association of Secondary School Principals, the Missouri Scholars 100 program recognizes 100 students across the state for their academic accomplishments.

Government
Willard resident Marjorie Shelton was honored with a proclamation for her 71 years as a Greene County election judge. Shelton, 96, has served as an election judge since 1954. A 1946 Willard High School graduate, Shelton worked at Lily Tulip and as a travel agent.

Nonprofit
Hospice Foundation of the Ozarks hired Justyn Pippins as engagement director. Pippins received a bachelor’s in communication and media studies from Indiana State University and a master’s in communication and media studies from Butler University.

Transportation
Strafford-based over-the-road trucking company Wilson Logistics was named on Truckload Carrier Association’s inaugural TCA Elite Fleet list. The program evaluates companies based on safety, operations, compensation, benefits, quality of life and technology.