Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504070040
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: COMPILED BY MARY LINN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Poplstein came to VFP from Grove Worldwide in Salem where he was general manager from 1990 to 1993. Grove Worldwide's plans to expand in Salem were canceled by its parent company. Poplstein was elected executive vice president of VFP in 1994.
He is on the steering committee for the New Century Council for the Roanoke and New River valleys and is on the board of directors and vice president of economic development for the Salem/Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce.
BANKING
At Piedmont BankGroup Inc. in Martinsville, MICHAEL R. BLEVINS has been named vice president of financial planning, PAUL J. BRINKER has been appointed senior compliance officer and BRENDA H. SMITH has been named corporate controller. Blevins joined Piedmont Trust Bank in 1983 and has worked in customer service, investor services and in the financial management and planning division of the bank. Brinker joined Piedmont BankGroup in 1993 as a senior staff auditor, working most recently as a trust auditor. Smith joined Piedmont Trust Bank in 1988 to work in the accounting department and was promoted to assistant accounting officer in 1990.
Also at Piedmont Trust Bank, LEELA CHUDAMANI has been elected discount brokerage officer and ALAN HILL has been named consumer loan officer. Chudamani has been with the bank since 1986 in various departments including operations, support services, mortgage, marketing, retail banking and investor services. Hill joined the bank in 1989, having previously worked for Webb Furniture in Galax and for IDS Financial Services in Roanoke. He was promoted to assistant consumer loan officer in 1993.
ANNE SMITH has joined Signet Bank in Roanoke as vice president in charge of the mortgage division for its western region, which includes Roanoke and Danville.
CONSTRUCTION
GEORGE PUFKO JR. has been named industrial territory manager by Roanoke Construction Specialities Inc. Pufko has been with the company four years. Also, DARLENE WATKINS has been hired as project manager in the contract department. She has five years of experience in the construction industry and is an officer in the Virginia Door and Hardware Institute and in the Roanoke Chapter of Professional Construction Estimators Association. Roanoke Construction Specialities is a distributor of doors, hardware and other specialty items with offices in Roanoke, Charlottesville and Lynchburg.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
WILLIAM A. NASH has been promoted to first vice president at Scott & Stringfellow Inc. Nash, branch manager of the Roanoke office, joined the investment firm in 1988. Before that, he worked at Wheat First Butcher Singer.
HOSPITALITY
SHERI DECKER has joined the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center as director of conference services. She will be responsible for conference planning, catering services and floor operations for the conference center. She comes to Roanoke from Galveston, Texas, where she was director of conference services at the San Luis Resort and Conference Center.
BARBARA ZIMMER has joined the hotel and conference center as human resources director. She previously worked at the Doubletree Hotel in Overland Park, Kan., and before that was human resource director at Holiday Inn properties in Orlando, Fla., and Irvine, Calif.
DAVID JOHNSON has been named controller at Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. He comes from the Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center in St. Louis, and has been in the hospitality industry for more than 15 years. Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center is managed by Doubletree Hotels Corp., of Phoenix, Ariz.
MANUFACTURING
JOYCE KEATTS has been named manager of customer service at Stanley Furniture Co. Keatts joined the company in 1972 and has held several managerial positions over the years, including supervisor of national accounts and sales service manager. Also at Stanley, ROBIN CAMPBELL has been named manager of advertising and marketing services. Campbell has been with the company since 1975, most recently as manager of marketing services.
MEDIA
JUDY PERFATER, vice president and advertising director at Roanoke Times & World-News, has been elected president of Mid-Atlantic Newspaper Advertising Marketing Executives. The organization is comprised of the principal advertising and marketing managers of major newspapers in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
MONICA TAYLOR has been promoted to personnel manager at WDBJ Television in Roanoke. She joined the station five years ago and most recently was an accounting associate. JoANN GILBERT has joined the station's marketing staff as an account executive, coming from Allstate Insurance. RON JONES has been hired as a news reporter at the station. He comes to Roanoke after spending nine years in law enforcement with the Oakland, Calif., Police Department.
NONPROFITS
The Lewis-Gale Foundation has elected new board members: TONI AUST, director of Braeburn Pharmacy; JOHN C. BERRY, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield; BEVERLY FITZPATRICK JR., director of New Century Council; J. LEE HIPP, director of horticulture program at Virginia Western Community College; G. MICHAEL PACE JR., partner, Gentry, Locke, Rakes & Moore; and JAMES M. TURNER JR., chief executive officer of J.M. Turner & Co. Inc.
The Council of Community Services has appointed CAROL S. WEBB director of the AIDS Council of Western Virginia and BETH OLDHAM as Medicaid waiver case manager.
RETAIL
GREGG A. WILSON has been appointed vice president and general manager of Home Shopping Network Inc.'s Salem fulfillment operation. For the past 10 years, Wilson has been with Victoria's Secret Catalogue, a division of The Limited Inc., most recently as senior manager of order fulfillment. Before that, he held a management position with United Parcel Service for five years.
TRANSPORTATION
DEZORA "DEE" MARTIN has been elected corporate secretary for Norfolk Southern Corp. She will succeed DONALD E. MIDDLETON, who retired March 31 after 47 years of service. Martin began her career in 1972 with Norfolk and Western Railway, a predecessor of Norfolk Southern, in Roanoke as a typist in the material management department. She has been promoted several times since then, most recently to the position of assistant corporate secretary in 1993.
Information on personnel changes of interest to people in business should be sent to this column, c/o the Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke24010.
by CNB