ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 16, 1997 TAG: 9703140012
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: NAMES & CHANGES
SOURCE: COMPILED BY MARY LINN
ELLEN FIRKINS has been promoted from assistant vice president-campaign to director of major gifts at the United Way of Roanoke Valley. In her new position, she will focus on major individual contributions as well as remaining the quality program coordinator.
Firkins joined United Way three years ago as a campaign associate, a position she held for two years before becoming assistant vice president-campaign.
KATIE S. RENNARD has been hired as the organization's new assistant vice president-campaign. She was campaign director with the United Way of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County for two years.
ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS|
DONALD R. SUNSHINE of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech has been named a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. Sunshine is one of four Virginia architects named to the 1997 class of Fellows. He was recognized for his efforts in reorganizing architecture school curricula to bridge the gaps between professional education and actual practice. Sunshine was president of the Virginia Society AIA in 1996.
BANKING
MICHAEL R. BEAVERS has been named assistant vice president and managing officer of First National Bank of Rocky Mount's Peters Creek Road office in Roanoke, which is scheduled to open March 28. Beavers, a native of Tazewell, has more than 20 years of banking experience.
JAMES M. WELLS III, president of Richmond-based Crestar Bank since 1988, has been named to the additional role of chief operating officer. Wells, who oversees Crestar's consumer and commercial banking business, will also assume responsibility for Crestar's technology and operations activities. Crestar has offices in Roanoke and Western Virginia.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
CHARLES E. MINTZ, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Scott & Stringfellow Financial Inc., has been named director of retail markets for its subsidiary, Scott & Stringfellow Inc., a regional brokerage firm with offices in Southwest Virginia.
HEALTH CARE
DR. C. ALAN HENRY of the Breast Care Center of the Blue Ridge in Roanoke has been elected secretary/treasurer of the American Society of Breast Surgeons.
DR. GORDON JENNINGS, a Wytheville optometrist, has been elected first vice president of the Southern Council of Optometrists. He was second vice president of the organization in 1966, is a past president of the Virginia Optometric Association and in 1996 completed a four-year term as a gubernatorial appointment to the Virginia State Board of Optometry.
HENRY L. DUKE JR. has joined Roanoke-based Benefit Plan Administrators Inc. as executive vice president and principal. Duke brings 30 years of experience to the company which specializes in managing self-funded employer-sponsored health plans for clients in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY|
ROBERT J. EVELEIGH has been named vice president of finance, treasurer and chief financial officer of Metro Information Services Inc. The Virginia Beach-based company, which has operations in Roanoke, provides information-technology consulting and custom software development services to customers in the United States and Puerto Rico.
LAW
J. ALEXANDER BOONE and JAMES K. COWAN JR. have joined the Roanoke law firm Flippin, Densmore, Morse, Rutherford & Jessee as associates. Boone, who practices in the areas of commercial litigation, business organizations and commercial transactions, comes to the firm from Center for Employment Law. Cowan, who most recently was with Woods, Rogers & Hazlegrove, continues his practice in the areas of labor and employment, commercial litigation, telecommunications and Internet and technology-related litigation.
MEDIA
DEBBIE BURKE has been named sales director for roanoke.com, the on-line division of The Roanoke Times. Burke comes to the position from The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, where she worked for 17 years in sales and marketing positions, most recently as distribution manager. Both newspapers are owned by Landmark Communications Inc. of Norfolk.
RETAIL
KYLE ATKINS, formerly of Lawrence Transportation Systems Inc., has joined Furniture Medic as repair and restoration manager. The Roanoke company offers on-site furniture repair and kitchen cabinet refacing in addition to extensive repairs and furniture refinishing. Atkins, who has nine years of furniture refinishing expertise, specializes in repairing and restoring antiques.
RAY SIGMON has joined the sales team of WaterWorks of Roanoke Inc. Formerly with National Pools of Roanoke Inc., Sigmon has more than 10 years of experience in the pool and spa industry.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
BARBARA FORD has been promoted to human resources manager of Cox Communications Inc. in Roanoke. Ford has been with Cox since 1992, first in a marketing division as pay-per-view coordinator and later in a customer service and leadership trainer position.
TRAVEL AND TOURISM
MEL LUDOVICI, president of Martin Travel Inc. in Roanoke, has been elected chairman of the board of Commonwealth Business Travel Group, a consortium of travel agencies in the United States and England.
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 : 114 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Firkins, Rennard, Beavers, Jennings, Duke,by CNBBoone, Cowan, Burke, Atkins, Sigmon, Ford, Ludovici.