Tiffany Wilkerson Named GM of the Arkansas State Fair (Movers & Shakers)

Elexus Jordan

Tiffany Wilkerson has been appointed as the first woman and first African American general manager of the Arkansas State Fair in Little Rock. She is also the youngest general manager in the history of the fair. 

Elexus Jordan has been named director of development at Mid-America Science Museum of Hot Springs. Jordan will oversee and work to expand fundraising events, grant opportunities and donations to the museum.

Leo Cummings III has been promoted to senior vice president of development at the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce. Cummings joined the chamber in 2016 as director of membership engagement and previously served as the chamber’s director of sales and membership engagement. He will now oversee the directors of development at the chamber.

Members of the Arkansas Economic Developers & Chamber Executives have elected its board of directors. James Bell will represent the 3rd Congressional District. Bell is the vice president of economic development at the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce and Bentonville Economic Development. Robert Birch, director of development for the city of North Little Rock, has joined the board representing the 2nd Congressional District. Allison Hestand has joined the board as an at-large board member. She is the CEO and director of economic development of the Paragould Regional Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corp. of Paragould. Candice Lawrence has joined the board as an ex-officio member and will also serve as the AEDCE’s executive secretary/director. Lawrence is the vice president of programs and partnerships for the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas. Hugh McDonald, Arkansas secretary of commerce and leader of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, has joined the board as an ex-officio member. Jack Thomas has joined the board as an at-large board member and state director of the Southern Economic Development Council. Thomas is the vice president of economic development at the Little Rock Regional Chamber. Ashlee Vaughan, economic development coordinator for the Arkadelphia Regional Economic Development Alliance & Area Chamber of Commerce, has joined the board representing the 4th Congressional District. 

Matuschka Lindo Briggs has been promoted to senior vice president, regional executive at the Little Rock Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Briggs will be responsible for representing the bank with business leaders, bankers, local government officials and stakeholders. She joined the bank in 2015 as a relationship manager.

Daniela Dehaghani has been hired as a treasury management sales officer at Relyance Bank of White Hall. Dehaghani has several years of management experience.

Stone Bank of Mountain View has promoted three executives: Joe Dunn, senior vice president and senior lender, is now chief lending officer; Blake Fletcher, senior vice president and senior lender at the bank’s Little Rock location, is now Little Rock market president; and Sandy Straessle, senior vice president of retail banking, is now chief retail banking officer.

David Erstine has joined the board of directors at Farmers & Merchants Bank of Stuttgart. Erstine is a native of Stuttgart and a senior vice president at CBRE of Dallas.

Jason Gambrell has joined the Arkansas Federal Credit Union of Little Rock as the client relationship officer for treasury management, responsible for the implementation, direction and evolution of the credit union’s treasury management department.

Richard Hughes has been hired as executive vice president and treasurer at Simmons Bank, a subsidiary of Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff. Hughes will be responsible for financial planning and analysis and budgeting and forecasting, as well as all of the bank’s corporate treasury activities. He most recently served as executive vice president, treasury division, at BBVA USA of Birmingham, Alabama.

Jim Templeton has joined First Security Finance of Little Rock as a business developer, devising sales strategies and solutions for clients. He has 21 years of experience and holds his Series 6 and 63 licenses.

Jessica Woodhull has been hired as vice president, secondary mortgage originator, at the Chenal branch of First Community Bank of Batesville. Woodhull, who has 25 years of experience in the banking industry, will educate, advise and guide potential borrowers through the loan application and mortgage processes.

Joy Hapeman has been hired as senior manager of lending programs at the Arvest Opportunity Fund of Fayetteville. Hapeman has 25 years of industry experience, and her new role will consist of ensuring training and providing support to Arvest employees involved with the fund. Alex Sanchez has been hired as the fund’s education project manager. He will be based in Fort Smith and lead day-to-day implementation, evaluation and reporting related to Arvest’s financial education efforts.

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