People in the News

Courts

Ken Thompson was appointed to a new-ly created associate circuit judge position in Webster County. The position is created by law when the county's population exceeds 30,000 residents. He has served as a municipal judge for Seymour, Fordland and Rogersville, and he has practiced law in Webster County for 25 years.

Design

GuildMaster, a division of Decorize Inc. announced three staff changes.

Jennifer Cockrell was named advertising coordinator for all three divisions of Decorize Inc., which includes Decor-ize.com, GuildMaster and Faith Walk Designs. Cockrell is responsible for coordination of catalogs, trade advertising and press releases for the three divisions. She has been with the company for more than four years.

Rita Fry was named customer service team leader. Fry has seven years of experience in customer service and previously served the company as production scheduler.

Rick Summer was named national sales manager for Faith Walk Designs. He will continue to serve as national sales manager for GuildMaster. He has 20 years of sales experience, and he owned a wall decor and accessory company before joining GuildMaster.

Education

Webster University announced three additions to its adjunct faculty.

Donna Gloe, a clinical business analyst at St. John's Health System, will teach health services management in the even-ing.

Polly Vanden-burg, vice president of finance and administration for the Burrell Behavioral Health System, will teach interpersonal and organizational communications. Lois Zerrer, executive director of the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, will teach management in the evening master of arts degree program.

Law Enforcement

The Springfield Police Department announced several promotions.

Maj. David Nokes was promoted from the rank of lieutenant at the Springfield Police Department. His new assignment is to serve as uniformed operations division commander.

Lt. Mark Webb was promoted from the rank of sergeant and has been reassigned as patrol section commander.

The following nine officers were promoted to the rank of sergeant: Robert Brown, Brian Phillips, Roger Moore, Dennis Prince, Shawn Williams, Eric Walquist, Grant Dorrell, Mike Lucas and Mark Deeds.

Real Estate

Gary Brick joined Roy Group, GMAC Real Estate as a sales associate team member.

Brick will focus on upscale homes in the Springfield-Branson market.

He previously served as a business analyst for Dun & Bradstreet for 30 years, and he has worked in a home business and outside sales.

Utilities

Martin Penning was named director of engineering for Empire District Electric Company. He is responsible for overseeing the company's engineering, line services and transmission operations. Penning earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and has been with Empire since 1980.