Newsmakers: Sept. 15-21, 2025

Accounting
Duke Johnson, a senior accountant at KPM CPAs & Advisors, earned his certified public accounting license from the American Institute of CPAs. Johnson has a bachelor’s in accounting from Missouri State University.

Banking & Finance
Guaranty Bank hired Tiffany Montgomery as vice president and private banking relationship manager. Montgomery, who has a master’s in communication from Drury University, has career experience at Legacy Bank & Trust Co. and Legal Land Title.

Andrea Sitzes, vice president for Arvest Bank’s Springfield region, was named president of the Missouri Economic Development Council. Elected to serve a five-year term on the council’s board in 2022, Sitzes’ role as president also means service as a board member for the Hawthorn Foundation and the Missouri Partnership. With a bachelor’s in public relations from College of the Ozarks, Sitzes has been  at Arvest Bank since 2021 and served as president and CEO of Show Me Christian County before that.

Engineering
Rusty Worley joined Toth and Associates Inc. as the firm’s first director of community engagement, a role through which he focuses on civic partnerships, representing the company in regional initiatives and identifying ways for employees to serve in the community. Worley previously served as executive director of the Downtown Springfield Association, where he worked for nearly two decades.

Government
Lindsey McDaniel, Misty Tollett and Mark Wheeler joined the Springfield Art Museum Board of Directors. There are nine members of the board who are appointed by the Springfield city manager. A Zone 3 resident, McDaniel is assistant director of prospect development at the Missouri State University Foundation. Tollett, a Zone 4 resident, is director of strategic planning at Ozarks Technical Community College. Wheeler, of Zone 2, is the university architect at MSU.

Law
The Springfield Police Department promoted Jeremiah Lockett to sergeant from officer. An employee with SPD for 14 years, Lockett is the first African American person to earn the role of sergeant, department officials say. Lockett, who now supervises a squad of south Springfield patrol officers, was a member of the 61st police academy. He has a bachelor’s in anthropology from Missouri State University.

Nonprofit
The Ozarks Literacy Council announced new board officers for 2025-26. They are President Sunni Nutt, owner of Essential Yoga Studio LLC; Vice President Rubecca Wilson, a special education teacher at Republic School District; Treasurer William Cologna, first vice president of digital banking at QCR Holdings Inc., parent company of Guaranty Bank; and Secretary Tracy Stout, head of research and instructional services librarian at Missouri State University.

Dr. Staci Rogers, chief transformation officer at CoxHealth, joined the Care to Learn board. Rogers, who started at CoxHealth in 2008 as an obstetrics and gynecology physician, has her undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas and her medical degree from Saint Louis University School of Medicine.