Anstaff Bank, UAMS, Arkansas Spine & Pain Announce Leadership Changes (Movers & Shakers)

See more of this week’s Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.

Banking

Don Foster has been promoted to market president of Carroll County at Anstaff Bank of Green Forest, and Clint Hayes has been promoted to market president of Madison County.

J.D. Sonnier has been hired as chief risk officer at Bodcaw Bank of Stamps. Sonnier has 11 years of experience in the banking industry.

Jesse McGonigal has been promoted to Treasury management sales officer at First Community Bank of Batesville.

Lydia Frizzell has been named general counsel and chief of staff at Farmers & Merchants Bank of Stuttgart. Other new promotions are Leslie Self, to chief credit officer; Nikki Skinner, to human resources director; and Melanie Watson to director of special projects. In addition, Seth Guin has been hired as a loan assistant at the Mountain Home branch of Farmers & Merchants Bank. Guin previously worked as a post-closing review specialist and credit analyst at Cadence Bank.

Willie Cowgur has been selected as Bentonville market president at First Western Bank of Booneville.

Marc Massad and Chris Howe have been promoted to regional banking officers at Encore Bank of Little Rock. Massad will oversee branches in Texas and Colorado, and Howe will assume the expanded role of regional banking officer, overseeing operations at four branches in Arkansas along with branches across four other states, while continuing as chief lending officer.

Economic Development

Eric Heaney has been appointed to the Bentonville Advertising & Promotion Commission. Heaney is general manager of Motto by Hilton Downtown Bentonville, bringing 12 years of hospitality experience, including nine years as general manager.

Education

Ashley Booth Norse has been hired as chair of the College of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences of Little Rock.

Financial Services

Allison J.H. Thompson has been elected as the 2025 chair of the Little Rock Branch board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Thompson is the president and CEO of the Economic Development Alliance for Jefferson County. Other announced board members are Elizabeth Burns Anderson, senior vice president of Farmers Bank & Trust, and Christopher B. Hegi, president and CEO of First Financial Bank.

Cole Swede has been elected as a partner at the North Little Rock office of Sterling Seacrest Pritchard of Atlanta. Swede joined Sterling Seacrest Pritchard in November 2020 and is the youngest person at SSP to ever achieve shareholder status.

Government

DeWayne Rose, director of emergency management for West Memphis, has been named to the 2025 Public Safety & Crime Prevention Federal Advocacy Committee of the National League of Cities of Washington, D.C.

Health Care

E. Scot Davis has been named CEO at Arkansas Spine & Pain of Little Rock. In this role, Davis will oversee financial and clinical operations across seven Arkansas locations.

Osama Intikhab has been hired at Baptist Health Neurosurgery Arkansas-Little Rock.

Legal

Jennifer Smith has been hired at Wright Lindsey & Jennings LLP of Little Rock.

Samuel McLelland has been named partner at PPGMR Law of Little Rock.

Nonprofits

Ash Bhumbla, senior vice president and chief financial officer of the chicken segment at Tyson Foods Inc., has been appointed to the finance board committee at the Peel Compton Foundation of Bentonville. In addition, Kathleen Coughlin, vice president of retail social commerce at New Engen, has been appointed to the development and marketing board committee at the Peel Compton Foundation.

Wil Cheatham has been hired as the Arkansas director of Right On Crime of Austin, Texas. Cheatham previously served as an analyst in the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and later in a unit focused on terrorist financing.

Technology

Chris Johnson has been hired as a project engineer at Mainstream Technologies of Little Rock. Johnson has 18 years of experience as a systems engineer.

Utilities

Yolonda Harris, a human resources technician at Conway Corp., has earned her certified professional certification from the Society for Human Resource Management of Alexandria, Virginia.

Sam Smith has been promoted to vice president of human resources at Harrison Energy Partners of Little Rock, and Kelly Imhoff has been promoted to vice president of marketing.