Armor Bank, CHI St. Vincent, Craighead Electric Announce Hires & Promotions (Movers & Shakers)

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

Banking & Investments

Bryan Wagner has been named Jonesboro market president at Armor Bank of Forrest City. Wagner is a native of Blytheville and has more than 15 years of banking experience.

Gary Hudson, a member of the board of directors of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Stuttgart, has been appointed chairman of the board of trustees at the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business in Dallas. Hudson, a former president and CEO of Farmers & Merchants Bank, is a graduate of Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville.

Shane Knoernschild and David Thielke have been hired as advisers at Touchstone Wealth of Scottsdale, Arizona, a subsidiary of MassMutual of Springfield, Massachusetts. Knoernschild and Thielke are based in Russellville.

Tina Jones has been hired as a loan officer at Stone Bank of Mountain View.

Education

Susan D. Emmett, an associate professor of otolaryngology and epidemiology and founding director of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Center for Hearing Health Access, has been invested in the Thomas McGill Chair in Otolaryngology by the UAMS College of Medicine in Little Rock. Emmett is the inaugural holder of the endowed chair.

Health Care

Christi Whatley has been appointed to market vice president of ancillary services for Arkansas at CHI St. Vincent of Little Rock.

Simon Mears, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in hip and knee joint-related conditions, has been hired at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences of Little Rock.

Insurance

Jake Sparrenberger has been hired by First Community Bank of Batesville as an insurance producer in the community insurance division. He will work at the Chenal location in Little Rock and will focus on commercial insurance.

Legal

Thomas G. Williams, a managing member of Quattlebaum Grooms & Tull PLLC of Little Rock, was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers of Newport Beach, California.

Nonprofits

Jill Herrin, a fifth-grade and sixth-grade science teacher at Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School of Jacksonville, has been named the 2025 Ag in the Classroom Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the Arkansas Farm Bureau of Little Rock.

Matt Matusiak has been awarded the Tom Castellano Award by the Midwestern Criminal Justice Association of Chicago. Matusiak is the associate dean for faculty, technology and accreditation in the College of Business, Health & Human Services at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Norm DeBriyn has been awarded the 2025 Legends Award presented by the Brandon Burlsworth Foundation of Harrison. DeBriyn, who spent 33 years as the head coach of the University of Arkansas Razorback baseball team, will be the 16th recipient of the award.

Shae Hughes, marketing and community engagement manager at the Little Rock office of JLL of Chicago, has been elected to the board of directors of the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Little Rock. Other newly elected board members include Meredith Hale, senior public relations account executive at Stone Ward of Little Rock; Marshunda Jones, a customer service manager at the Benton office of Entergy of New Orleans; and Sara Neal, director of patient care services at Arkansas Children’s Hospital of Little Rock.

Shaneil Ealy has been hired as executive director at the Women’s Leadership Network of Conway. Ealy has more than two decades of leadership and experience in higher education and community engagement.

Real Estate

Dylan Qualls, an asset manager at Haag Brown Commercial of Jonesboro, has earned his Certified Property Manager designation from the Institute of Real Estate Management of Chicago.

Utilities

Justin Etter has been named CEO of Craighead Electric of Jonesboro. Etter joined Craighead Electric in July 2011 and since September 2016 has been the vice president of member services for the cooperative.

Si Anthony has been promoted to journeyman lineman and training coordinator in the electric department of Conway Corp. Employees who received Class 1 wastewater treatment certifications from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality of North Little Rock are Jason Huskey, a plant maintenance worker, and Sean Oates and Nate Tarkington, plant operator apprentices.