See more of this week’s Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers-Shakers.
Architecture & Engineering
Shannon Powers has been promoted to vice president of finance and administration at Allen Engineering Corp. of Paragould. Additionally, Josh Whitaker has been hired as director of operations.
Banking & Finance
Brandi Joplin and John Hale III have been appointed to the board of Southern Bancorp Inc. of Arkadelphia. Joplin is the former CFO of Sam’s Club of Bentonville, while Hale is CEO of the Cornerstone Group of Washington, D.C.
Mark Buergler has been hired by Grand Savings Bank of Grove, Oklahoma, as market president for the bank’s Fort Smith market.
Greg Connell has been named president and CEO of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Stuttgart. Connell has been with the bank since 2008.
JaLeah Bones has joined Stone Bank of Mountain View as a customer service representative and teller. She will work at the bank’s Little Rock branch. Kaila Keller has also been hired as customer service representative and teller and will work at the White Hall branch.
Jill Golding has been promoted by United Federal Credit Union of St. Joseph, Michigan, to senior market development manager in the Arkansas region. In this role, she will focus on member acquisition, corporate partnerships and community engagement.
Rory Hartley has joined Crews & Associates of Little Rock as senior vice president for public finance and institutional sales. He brings more than four decades of investment banking and capital markets experience to the role.
Savannah Gann has been hired by Alcoa Community Federal Credit Union of Benton as marketing and business development director. She is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Education
Andrea Duina, a biology professor at Hendrix College in Conway, has been appointed associate editor of Genetics, a publication of the Genetics Society of America, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.
Fen Yu has been promoted to vice chancellor for institutional research, effectiveness and planning at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. Yu joined the university in 2020 and was promoted to associate vice chancellor in 2022. Amanda Nickerson has been hired as vice chancellor for enrollment management. She previously worked in the admissions offices of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and the University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. Philip Johnson has joined the university’s College of Veterinary Medicine as professor and associate dean for professional education. He will oversee the college’s doctorate of veterinary medicine curriculum. Dr. Scott Reiners will serve as teaching associate professor of equine practice.
Michelle Gray has been named chief financial officer and vice chancellor for finance and administration at Arkansas State University-Beebe. A former state legislator, Gray has more than 15 years of higher education and health care finance experience.
Energy
Amy Schlesing has been hired as region communications manager for northwest Arkansas at Southwestern Electric Power Co. of Shreveport. She previously served as war correspondent for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette of Little Rock, where she reported from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Government
Charles E. Brown Jr., a retired Air Force brigadier general, has been named the new director of military affairs at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, headquartered in Little Rock. Brown will work to sustain and strengthen military installations in Arkansas to drive economic growth in local communities.
Health Care
Ashton Ferrell, a doctor of nursing practice, has joined Baptist Health of Little Rock as a provider. She will work at the Ellsworth Road location of the health care system’s family clinic in Fort Smith. Dr. Tyler Knapp has joined Baptist’s Otter Creek clinic in Little Rock. His specialties include internal medicine, pediatrics and primary care. Crystal Rose, a nationally certified nurse educator, has been named dean of nursing at Baptist Health College Little Rock.
Cambre Horne-Brooks has been appointed executive director of WelcomeHealth of Fayetteville. She previously served as executive director of the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation for 12 years.
Dr. Cody Thompson and Dr. William McEver have joined Washington Regional Medical System of Fayetteville. Both received their medical degrees from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. Georgia Mulkerins, an advanced practice registered nurse, has joined Washington Regional’s PACE of the Ozarks program. She specializes in geriatrics and primary care. Hannah Smith, an advanced practice registered nurse, has joined the hospital system’s gastroenterology clinic in Fayetteville. She received her master’s degree in nursing from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Dr. Richard Chastain has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences as a family medicine physician at the UAMS Health Family Medical Center in Fayetteville. He previously worked at CHI St. Vincent of Little Rock, where he was the sole provider in the hospital’s Transition of Care Clinic in Hot Springs. Brandon Robinson has joined the office of general counsel at UAMS as managing associate general counsel and chief legal counsel for UAMS Health. He has more than 15 years of legal experience and most recently worked for BJC HealthCare of St. Louis.
Legal
Caitlin Campbell has been hired as an associate at Jones Jackson Moll McGinnis & Stocks PLC of Fort Smith. Her practice areas include civil litigation, business and corporate law, commercial transactions, debtor-creditor law, real estate law and bankruptcy.
Nonprofits
Kyle Leyenberger has been named executive director of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership. He joined the partnership in 2022 as director of marketing and was promoted to deputy director in January.
Lena Rocole has joined the Harrison Regional Chamber of Commerce as director of economic and workforce development. Rocole, an honors college graduate of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, is a Harrison native.
Zoe Maddox has been appointed director of the maternal and child health center for policy and practice at Heartland Forward of Bentonville. She previously worked at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s Division of Economic Development and Walton College of Business.
Update: The information about Greg Connell in this article was updated on Oct. 1.
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