Business & People Notes
Arvest Bank welcomes Donna D. Allen as a new mortgage loan officer at its 71st Street and Sheridan Road branch, 6560 E. 71st, in Tulsa. Allen joins Arvest Bank with a number of years of experience in the mortgage banking industry. Her primary role will be to originate mortgage loans while her additional responsibilities will include facilitating homebuyer seminars as an extended service to the community.
Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, has named Oliver S. Howard the “Tulsa Best Lawyers Litigator of the Year” for 2009. Best Lawyers compiles its annual list of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The 2009 edition of The Best Lawyers in America is the 15th edition and is based on more than 2.5 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.
Rich & Cartmill has named Scott Selman vice president and shareholder. He joined the company in 2002 following his graduation from University of Oklahoma with a bachelor of business administration in finance with highest honors. He is the youngest shareholder at Rich & Cartmill at 29 years old. Selman is a commercial insurance agent and will now serve in a managerial role for the company working on mergers with existing agencies and agents around the country.
Rex Public Relations has announced it has hired Steve Rex as its digital director to lead its new interactive division. The move fully-integrates under one roof all aspects of interactive communication services with public relations, marketing, special events, graphic design and copywriting. Steve Rex brings more than 10 years of digital industry experience to his position.
Tracie O’Banion, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., but an Oklahoman the past 26 years, recently was added to the staff at the Jenks Chamber of Commerce, where she will serve as Director of Member Services. O’Banion’s experience includes media, community relations and sales. She was formerly with the Tulsa World and has a daughter, Caitlin, who is a freshman student/athlete at Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton.
Robyn Ewing, senior vice president and chief administrative officer at Williams, was recently honored by The University of Tulsa’s Collins College of Business as the 2009 Outstanding Alumna at the Annual Honors and Awards Banquet. She was honored for her professional achievements and leadership skills. Ewing was named senior vice president of strategic services and chief administrative officer at Williams in 2008.
Danielle (Dani) K. Miller has joined Oklahoma Blood Institute (OBI) Tulsa Center as a Blood Program Consultant. Crystal Farrimond, Executive Director of OBI Tulsa Center, says Miller will recruit, schedule, and manage more than 20 blood drives a month in Tulsa and surrounding northeast Oklahoma counties. Prior to joining OBI, Miller worked for eSolutions in Olathe, Kan. During an internship with American Royal, a Kansas City, Mo., non-profit organization, Miller helped raise over $300,000 in scholarship funds for area youth. Miller is a graduate of Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Alva, where she was consistently recognized on the President’s and Vice-President’s Honor Rolls.
American Bank and Trust Co. announces the following organizational changes effective April 1, 2009: Frank X. Henke, IV was named president and Greg W. Rusco was promoted to executive vice president and chief lending officer. Henke, an attorney, has been with American since 1999, serving most recently as vice president of lending and as a director of the bank. Rusco previously served as senior vice president and chief lending officer, having been with the bank since 1984. Also, Charles G. Meckfessel was elected vice chairman of the board. Meckfessel, an accountant, has been with the bank since 1982, most recently as president, and has been in the banking industry for 37 years. Frank X. Henke, III will remain as chairman of the board.
The Oklahoma State University Foundation announces the addition of Jacob Longan and Cody Murphy to its staff and the promotion of Diane Wolfe and Shane Crawford.
Longan, a Stillwater native, serves the Foundation as a communications specialist. He provides creative assistance to marketing and development teams, generating a variety of publications for internal and external audiences, ensuring proper publicity, and developing messages through a variety of mediums.
Longan comes to the Foundation from the Stillwater NewsPress, where he worked the past 10-plus years. He started as a sportswriter before receiving promotions to assistant sports editor and then news editor. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from OSU in 2005 and is working toward a master’s in mass communication there. He is a third-generation Cowboy with several family members having attended the university
Murphy is also from an OSU family. In fact, both Longan and Murphy had grandfathers who taught at the university.
Murphy, a Glen-coe native, is the Foundation’s scholarship coordinator. He will handle scholarship donor and recipient correspondence, review spending policies and manage the President’s Distinguished Scholars/Distinguished Graduate Fellowship programs. He worked as a MetLife financial services representative the past three years, handling investments and insurance sales.
Crawford moves up to associate vice president for corporate and foundation relations. He had been on the Foundation’s Athletic Develop-ment team since December 2003.
Wolfe has been promoted to director of accounting. She has worked in the accounting department since January 1993.
Karen Burgess, Nurse Consultant at Brown Mackie College in Tulsa was honored as “Nurse of the Day” during the Oklahoma legislative session on March 17.
Representative David Derby and Senator Randy Brogdon of the Houses of the Oklahoma Legislature introduced Burgess and awarded her with certificates of appreciation for her service. The Oklahoma Nurses Association is the professional organization for registered nurses in Oklahoma and sponsors the Nurse of the Day program. The program serves as an effective advocacy tool for nurses across the state to talk one-on-one with legislators.
Updated 04-20-2009
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