Newsmakers: Oct. 30-Nov. 5, 2017

Banking & Financing
Central Bank of the Ozarks added Ryan White to its mortgage team as senior vice president and residential lending manager. White has 19 years of banking and real estate lending experience. White’s responsibilities include managing production, business development, education and processing in the real estate department.

Guaranty Bank promoted Rand Youngblood to commercial lending coordinator from construction disbursement specialist. He handles administrative duties and coordinates the disbursement process for construction loans. Youngblood joined the bank in 2015 as a teller.

Education
Springfield Public Schools inducted four alumni into its Hall of Fame: Gary Adams, a 1998 Central High graduate, is a special agent for the U.S. Secret Service; Mark Arnoldy, a 2005 Kickapoo High graduate, is CEO of nonprofit Possible, which delivers primary health care throughout Nepal; and Gary and Patricia Adams, Hillcrest High graduates in the mid-1960s, have worked 50 years in Branson’s music and tourism industry, currently as president and treasurer, respectively, of Presleys’ Country Jubilee.

Mark Lawley, director of choirs at New Covenant Academy, received the 2017-18 National Federation of State High School Associations Outstanding Music Educators Award for Missouri. His previous experience includes stints as artistic director for the Boys Choir of Springfield and director of music education at Drury University.

Health Care
Pure & Clean LLC Chief Medical Officer Dr. J.W. Buckner became a board certified wound specialist-physician and a diplomat of the American Board of Wound Management. Recipients must be licensed health care professionals with doctoral degrees and three years of wound care experience, before passing an exam on wound care. A resident of Springfield, Buckner is a retired Army colonel and a general surgeon specializing in cancerous breast surgery for CoxHealth.

Three CoxHealth employees received nominations for The Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurses, which recognizes the skill and compassion caregivers provide. Andrew Leshin works in the intensive care unit, Emily Matheson is in neonatal intensive care and Jenea Vanman works in the adult medical surgical unit.

Media
Six local Mediacom employees earned the company’s top customer service awards during a ceremony at Mediacom’s Regional Field Operations Center. Brooke Patterson, an internet technical support representative, and Charles Heflin, a customer service representative, both received the national gold-level award for outstanding sales performance. Technical support specialist Nicole Feinhold was the employees’ choice for outstanding customer service performance, while Kevin Cheek was the silver-level Field Engineering Employee of the Year. Two People’s Choice awards went to Michelle Ehlert for exemplary customer satisfaction scores and Michael Batson for exemplary work as a broadband specialist.

Municipal
Erin Hedlun, public information officer for the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management, was certified as a master PIO. She was one of 24 officers in the first class of the new, yearlong version of the Master Public Information Officer Program at the Federal Emergency Management Agency Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland. It’s the highest level of PIO training available through FEMA.

Retail
BestThingsMo.com named Christian Associates Thrift Stores’ locations in Branson West and Nixa No. 1 on its list of the 8 Best Thrift Shops in Missouri. Others recognized locally were Youth of the Ozarks Thrift Store in Springfield, at No. 2, and Golden Rule Thrift Store in Bolivar, at No. 5.