BUSINESS PEOPLE

Knight Weis of Tontitown was promoted recently to president, Northwest Arkansas, of Signature Bank. He will supervise Signature Bank’s executives in the Northwest Arkansas market and assist them in developing strategies for gaining market share, customer retention and loan portfolio oversight. He has been with the bank since its inception in 2004 and has 24 years of experience in the industry. He holds a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in finance and banking from the University of Arkansas.

John Spencer of Springdale was promoted to president, Springdale, at Signature Bank, after joining the bank in 2004. He earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Arkansas and attended the Consortium International University for International Business Studies in Paderno, Italy.

Bo Bittle of Fayetteville was promoted to president, Fayetteville, at Signature Bank. He joined the company in 2004. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

Melody Martens of Bentonville has joined Signature Bank as its president in Bentonville. She has 20 years of banking experience, ranging from lending and retail to business development and public relations. She was most recently on the management team of Community First Bank in Pea Ridge.

John C. Eichler of Eichler-Williams Insurance, qualified for the 2013 Million DollarRound Table. The honor recognizes top producing agents. Less than 1 percent of all agents qualify. Eichler qualified for the award 40 consecutive years.

Jerry B. Adams has been appointed to the board of directors of the VIC Technology Venture Development in Fayetteville. He is the president and chief executive officer of the Arkansas Research Alliance, an economic development nonprofit organization with offices in Conway. The alliance supports university research and innovation with potential for creating and expanding business and highpaying jobs. He has 34 years of experience with Acxiom Corp., retiring in 2007 as corporate external relations leader. He was chairman of Accelerate Arkansas - a statewide group of leaders focused on advancing a knowledge-based Arkansas economy - and the EAST initiative - a technology-based, project learning, secondary school program active in more than 200 schools in Arkansas and six other states.

Wendy Williamson was named a vice president and promoted to treasury management manager for Arvest Bank of Benton County, replacing Joe Ruddell, who took a position with Arvest Private Banking. She started with Arvest in 1999 as a transit check processor. She has been serving business clients as a treasury management adviser since 2005. She is a Rogers High School graduate and attended NorthWest Arkansas Community College.

Debbie Johnson, R.N., joined the staff of North Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Harrison as special projects and outreach coordinator, responsible for developing, planning, organization, implementing and coordinating a variety of activities related to health outreach and special events. Projects include health promotion programs, quality management initiatives and disease management initiatives. She worked for the Arkansas Department of Health for 35 years, where she started the first Hometown Health Coalition in Arkansas in the Boone County area. Her nursing degree is from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

Kyle Thornton started April 15 as group administrator for Sparks Clinic in Fort Smith to oversee day-to-day operations for more than 40 specialty clinics in the Sparks system, including Summit Medical Center clinics in Van Buren. He has more than a decade of experience in the health-care industry, previously working as an administrator for multispecialty practice groups in North Carolina, Florida and Texas. His bachelor’s degree in finance and his master’s degree in public health, emphasis in health-care administration,are both from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Charlie McMurtry of Bella Vista was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 20th annual awards banquet of the Sam M. Walton College of Business. The University of Arkansas event was held April 18 at the Fayetteville Town Center. McMurtry received a bachelor’s degree in business administration in marketing in 1970. He retired in August 2012 as a senior vice president in Hewlett-Packard’s Information Technology Division. He started his 40-year career in a sales position with NCR in Little Rock, working in the company’s newly formed computer sales division. As an account executive responsible for Wal-Mart, he helped NCR gain its first foothold with the retailer. He joined Wal-Mart in 1987.

Ann Bordelon was presented the Outstanding Service Award by the Walton College of Business, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and computer information systems in 1989. Bordelon was appointed senior vice president and chief financial officer for Wal-Mart Asia in February 2013. She joined Wal-Mart in 2003 as assistant controller, moving to several finance positions, most recently as senior vice president and chief financial officer of Sam’s Club. She also worked as a senior manager at Ernst & Young’s Assurance and Advisory Services Business and in several finance roles with Tyson Foods Inc.

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