Engineering
Adam Lesso, William Fellows and Nick Batker have been hired by McClelland Consulting Engineers Inc. Lesso will work with the firm’s development group in its Fayetteville office. Fellows, a professional land surveyor, will work out of the Fayetteville office. Batker has joined the Fayetteville office’s water/wastewater department. Braden Davidson has also been hired as an engineering intern for the Little Rock office. Adam Osweiler, an engineer for McClelland, has completed his exam to become a licensed professional engineer and will work in the firm’s Little Rock office. Eric Anderson, who works out of the firm’s Fayetteville office, completed his exam to become a licensed professional engineer in Oklahoma. Rick McGraw, a landscape architect out of the firm’s Fayetteville office, has completed his Landscape Architect Registration Examination to become a registered landscape architect.
Financial Services
Mark Hixson, formerly the vice president of First National Bank in Tenaha, Texas, has been named president and CEO of River Valley Community Federal Credit Union in Camden. Hixson has worked in banking for 16 years, including in positions as a loan officer, information technology officer and branch manager.
Chris Hegi has been chosen to succeed Jerry Bullard as the chief executive officer of First Financial Bank in El Dorado after Bullard retired earlier this year after 32 years of service. Hegi formerly acted as the bank’s executive vice president and has been on the First Financial Bank Board of Directors since 2002.
Media/Marketing
Cate Huff has been hired by Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods of Little Rock as a senior account executive. Huff came to CJRW from Dallas, where she worked for Publicis Hawkeye and TracyLocke, handling accounts such as Pizza Hut and T-Mobile.
John Tucker has been hired as executive director of Flex 360, a division of Arkansas Business Publishing Group. Tucker has spent more than two decades in the media industry, the past five years of which he worked as a group publisher for several newspapers and websites across Missouri and Arkansas. Robert Blake was named director of Flex 360 and will oversee the day-to-day operations.
Hospitality
Kristin Gansky, formerly the general manager at the Staybridge Suites in Hot Springs, has been hired as general manager of Home2 Suites by Hilton at Shackleford Crossings in west Little Rock.
Legal
Gordon Wilbourn, H. Watt Gregory, Randal Frazier, Jim Hathaway and Jess Askew III, attorneys with Kutak Rock LLP in Little Rock, and Terry Pool, with Kutak Rock’s Fayetteville office, were recognized by Chambers USA’s 2015 Guide to the World’s Best Lawyers. Each attorney was ranked in various practice areas from 1 to 6, with 1 being the best. Wilbourn received a 1 in municipal bonds, where Hathaway got a 2. Gregory received a 1 in corporate/commercial practice. Frazier got a 1 in zoning/land use and a 2 in real estate. Pool got a 2 in real estate. Kutak Rock as a whole got a 1 in corporate and commercial practice and a 2 in real estate.
Nonprofits
Keith Medlock has replaced Col. John Bailey as executive director of the Union Rescue Mission in Little Rock. Medlock graduated from Central Baptist College in Conway with a bachelor’s degree in leadership and ministry and has spent the last 15 years filling a variety of positions, such as campus, senior, associate and youth pastor.
Real Estate
Sherrie Kettles has completed more than 60 hours of education laid out by the National Association of Realtors to receive her Accredited Buyer Representative and Graduate Realtors Institute designations. Kettles is an associate for Baxley Penfield-Moudy Realtors in Benton.
Sign up for Daily E-news
