Agriculture
Mark Martin, a strategic account manager for Applied Industrial Technologies in Fayetteville, has been named the 2013 Sales Representative of the Year by The Poultry Federation of Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Martin has been in the poultry industry for more than 30 years, including 20 with Applied Industrial Technologies.
Education
Brenda Scisson has been named executive director of development for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ College of Nursing in Little Rock. Scisson formerly served as director of the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Foundation Fund.
John Dominick Jr. has been elected chair of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Foundation Fund’s board of directors. Sheila Castin has been elected vice chair. Mark Pollack, Wade Partridge, Jane McKinney and Don Overton have also been elected to serve on the board.
Brandon Tittle will assume the role of assistant dean of students at Harding University in Searcy on Aug. 1. Tittle previously served as the director of spring break missions, director of Harding’s Uplift summer youth camp and assistant editor for TC Magazine.
Engineering
Roger Yin has been hired as a project engineer at Robbins Engineering PLLC in Little Rock. Yin has more than 20 years of engineering experience.
Financial Services
Ernie Drost has been hired as a client adviser at Arvest Bank in Hot Springs. Drost has more than 30 years of investment experience. He formerly served as a financial adviser at U.S. Bancorp Investments. Bryan Spriggs has been hired as a client adviser and investment specialist at Arvest Bank in Little Rock. Spriggs has more than eight years of experience in financial advising. He formerly served as a financial adviser at Merrill Lynch.
Health Services
Dr. Christian Hester has joined the Little Rock Eye Clinic as an ophthalmologist specializing in cornea and exterior disease surgeries. Hester recently completed a fellowship in cornea, refractive and anterior segment surgery at the Cullen Eye Institute at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Rosi Smith has been promoted to vice president of government relations for Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. Smith has served as the director of government relations at the hospital since 1999.
Drs. Thirumal Reddy Dubbaka, Kate Howard and Marcus Chu have joined St. Vincent Health System. Dubbaka, who earned a fellowship in geriatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and is board-certified in family medicine, began seeing patients at the Longevity Center at St. Vincent West in Little Rock on July 1. Howard, a graduate of UAMS who is board-certified in family medicine, began seeing patients at the St. Vincent Medical Clinic in Scott on July 15. Chu, who has a master’s degree in public health and a medical degree from UAMS, will begin seeing patients at St. Vincent Medical Clinic at Hot Springs Village on Aug. 1.
Nonprofits
Dina Wood, Suzanne “Suzi” Navarra, Barbara Tillman and Chad Alligood have joined the staff of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art at Bentonville. Wood, most recently senior director of development and external relations for the J. William Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, is the museum’s new director of development. Navarra, most recently an account manager for Stephens Insurance Co. in Fayetteville and previously the client services director for Principal Financial Group’s sales offices in Dallas and Indianapolis, has a new job as manager of the museum’s guest services team. Barbara Tillman, most recently the director of sales at the Holiday Inn Pinnacle Hills at Rogers, has joined the special events staff as outside sales manager. Chad Alligood, a Georgia native with degrees in art history from Harvard University and the University of Georgia, has been named assistant curator for special projects.
Eric Hutchinson of Conway and Angela Shirey of Helena have been elected to the board of Arkansas Community Foundation of Little Rock. Hutchinson is the founder of Hutchinson Financial Inc. of Little Rock. Shirey is a loan specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.