BUSINESS PEOPLE

Dr. Matthew Walter, board-certified in family medicine, recently joined the active medical staff of Northwest Health System to practice at Northwest Family Care-Eastside, 2060 Orchard St., Springdale. He has more than 15 years in practice and completed his family medicine residency at Arkansas Health Education Center Northwest in Fayetteville. His degree is from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

Ruthanne Whitehead started work recently as a commercial lender at the downtown Bentonville location of Arvest Bank. She worked as a specialist with the Special Assets Division of Arvest Bank since April 2010. From 1988 to 2003 she was a commercial lender for Arvest in Bentonville and was an assistant loan-review officer in Rogers.

She also served as a Northwest Arkansas regional manager for another bank group.

Whitehead’s bachelor’s degree in business administration is from the University of Arkansas and she earned a degree in banking from the Graduate School of Banking in Boulder, Colo.

Eleven graduates of the University of Arkansas were presented College of Engineering alumni awards at the annual banquet Saturday at the Fayetteville Town Center. Local professionals among this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award winners are:

Bill Brown, B.S.E.E. 1969, distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Arkansas;

Jeff Koenig, B.S.E.E. 1974, president and chief executive officer, retired, Upchurch Electrical Supply, Fayetteville;

C. Larry Weir, B.S.C.E. 1967, M.S.C.E. 1971, senior consultant, Hawkins-Weir Engineers Inc., Van Buren; and

Chris Weiser, B.S.M.E. 1973, owner and president, JV Manufacturing, Springdale.

Two local residents received Outstanding Young Alumni Awards to recognize exceptional professional and personal achievements of College of Engineering graduates who are 40 years of age or under:

Bryan Billingsley, B.S.I.E. 1997, president HEBCO Inc., Springdale; and

Gaven Smith, B.S.C.E.2000, director of information services, J.B. Hunt Transport Services.

The Leadership Fort Smith Alumni Association announced recipients of awards to be presented in a ceremony May 2. The Jack White Leadership Fort Smith Award will go to D. Melody Trimble, who was promoted in January from her 3-year post as chief executive officer of Sparks Health System and Summit Medical Center to president of Southern & Western Group. She now provides oversight of 26 healthcare facilities in seven states, including Sparks and Summit.

Community leadership awards will be presented in the following areas:

Business/Industry - Jason Green, vice president, human resources, Baldor Electric Co.;

Education - Dr. Jo Alice Blondin, chancellor, Arkansas Tech University, Ozark Campus;

Government - Mark Hewett, circuit judge, 12th Judicial District;

Nonprofit - Linda Kaufenberg, executive director, Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Crawford, Franklin and Sebastian counties;

Health care - Dr. Sandra Johnson, Johnson Dermatology Clinic; and

Religion - Dale Thompson, pastor, First Baptist Church of Fort Smith.

The presentation is at 6 p.m. May 2 at the Reynolds Conference Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. Tickets are available at leadershipfortsmithalumni.com or [email protected] . Information: (479) 788-7740.

E-mail: [email protected] or send your item to: Sue Morris, P.O. Box 7, Springdale, Ark. 72765. Information must be received by noon Wednesday prior to the Sunday the item is to be published.

Business, Pages 64 on 04/21/2013

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