ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 12, 1997 TAG: 9701110008
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: COMPILED BY MARY LINN
President named for ITT center
ITT Defense & Electronics, a subsidiary of ITT Industries, has appointed PAUL GRALNICK, former chairman and chief executive officer of Grimes Aerospace in Urbanna, Ohio, as president of ITT Gallium Arsenide Technology Center in Roanoke County.
Gralnick succeeds DENNIS FISHER, founder of the center, who will retire later this year. Fisher will continue as a senior staff member until his retirement.
Before joining Grimes Aerospace, Gralnick was senior vice president of total quality operations at AlliedSignal Aerospace in Torrance, Calif., president of the Air Transport Avionics Division (formerly Bendix Avionics) and before that, director of engineering at Bendix Avionics in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
ITT's Gallium Arsenide Technology Center is in transition from a research-focused operation to a more sales-oriented business.
BANKING
Signet Banking Corp. of Richmond has elected MALCOLM S. McDONALD chairman and chief executive officer and T. GAYLON LAYFIELD III president and chief operating officer as part of a management transition resulting from the retirement of former Chairman ROBERT M. FREEMAN. Earlier last year, WALLACE B. MILLNER was named vice chairman in addition to his role as chief financial officer.
RONNIE PILSON, president of Pilson Brothers Lumber Co., has been elected to the board of directors of The First Bank of Stuart in Patrick County.
COMPUTERS
JENNIFER LIND has joined ExecuTrain of Roanoke, a computer training company, as educational services manager for Southwestern Virginia. She previously was a marketing coordinator for ExecuTrain of Miami and later was employed as an educational services manager for ExecuTrain of Columbia, S.C.
CONSTRUCTION
RALPH L. JONES has been promoted to vice president of John T. Morgan Roofing and Sheet Metal Co. Inc. in Roanoke. Jones, who joined the company in 1987, has been a service manager and an estimator.
HEALTH CARE
SUSAN SISLER BOYES, a licensed professional counselor, has joined the Manassas Group in Roanoke. Boyes formerly was in private practice of mental health counseling with Affiliated Counseling Therapists in Lexington and was also the director of counseling services at Southern Virginia College. Additionally, she is the coordinator of the internship program for the mental health technology department at Virginia Western Community College.
DR. CATHERINE L. FERGUSON has joined Columbia Lewis-Gale Regional Cancer Center in the practice of radiation oncology. Ferguson is board certified by the American Board of Radiology and will join the practice of Dr. David M. Ran-dolph, medical director of radiation oncology at the cancer center.
DR. GEORGE R. SHUMATE, a board-certified surgeon, has joined Columbia Alleghany Regional Hospital. Shumate has relocated his practice to the Alleghany Highlands Medical Center in Low Moor. He comes from Lewis-Gale Hospital in Salem, now Columbia Lewis-Gale Medical Center, where he began practicing general, vascular and thoracic surgery 20 years ago.
HOSPITALITY
DEBRA ANN RUSS has been appointed catering manager at Roanoke Airport Marriott hotel. She comes from Charlotte, N.C., where she worked in guest services, marketing and sales for the Morehead Inn.
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
MARK J. KNOPF has joined National Micrographics Systems Inc. as area account executive for Roanoke and Southwestern Virginia. Based in Silver Spring, Md., NMS is a full-service document imaging systems dealer with sales and service offices in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
MORTGAGE BANKING
MARY LYNCH has been hired as an account executive at the The Mortgage Co. of Virginia's office in Christiansburg. Before joining the mortgage company, Lynch was a Realtor for eight years and is on the board of directors of the New River Valley Association of Realtors.
NONPROFITS
WILLIAM R. VAN VELZER has been appointed director of education at Virginia's Explore Park in Roanoke County. A member of Explore Park's historical interpreter team since April, Van Velzer has taught in Roanoke City and Botetourt County public schools and has worked as a seasonal interpretive ranger for the National Park Service at Five Forks Battlefield, Petersburg. In his new position, he will supervise an education staff of 12 historical interpreters and be responsible for Explore Park's on-site interpretive and off-site outreach education programs.
ORGANIZATIONS
JOHN R. LIGHT of Commonwealth Door & Hardware recently was elected president of the board of directors of the Better Business Bureau in Roanoke. Other officers are JAMES C. WILSON of Dragon Corp., vice president; GILBERT W. McGEORGE JR. of Fuel Oil & Equipment Co., secretary; JAMES B. LEE of Brown, Edwards & Co., treasurer; and KEVIN P. ODDO of Flippin, Densmore, Morse, Rutherford & Jessee, legal counsel. New board members are R. M. DANIEL, Business Management Systems Inc.; ROBERT H. FETZER, Building Specialists Inc.; JULIAN D. HARDY JR., Christiansburg First National Bank; A. CRENSHAW REED III, Crestar Bank; C. EUGENE SWARTZ, Travelmasters Inc.; and MITCHELL V. WHEELER, Fast Service Laundry & Cleaning Inc.
Six new members have been appointed to the board of directors of the Blue Ridge Small Business Development Center Inc., the nonprofit corporation under which Roanoke's business "incubator," The New Century Venture Center, operates. Appointed to three-year terms effective Jan. 1 were: RON BLUM, president of Innotech Inc.; LOIS DAVIS, business development manager at Sybron Chemical Inc.; MARK EMICK, assistant to the president at Virginia Western Community College; TIM FITZGERALD, chief professional officer at the Safety Council of Southwest Virginia; WALLY J. NELSON JR, vice president of Chas. Lunsford Sons & Associates; DANIEL S. "BUD" OAKEY, chief lobbyist at Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce; and MARY FRANCES STEPHANZ, executive director of the Better Business Bureau.
WHOLESALE
DAVID L. HUTCHINSON SR. of Valley Distributing Corp. in Salem has been elected to the board of directors of the Virginia Beer Wholesalers Association. The association's immediate past president is ROBERT A. ARCHER, general manager of Blue Ridge Beverage Co. Inc. of Salem.
Information on personnel changes of interest to people in business should be sent to this column, c/o The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010.
LENGTH: Long : 128 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshots - Gralnick, Pilson, Boyes, Ferguson, Russ,by CNBKnopf, Lynch, Light