Newsmakers: March 11-17, 2024

Accounting
KPM CPAs & Advisors hired certified public accountant Mindy Teeter as controller and Shanna Cass as accounting assistant. Teeter holds a bachelor’s in accounting from Missouri State University, and Cass holds a bachelor’s in management and a master’s in administrative studies from MSU.

Banking & Finance
Fervent Wealth Management added Joe Shearrer as vice president and wealth adviser. He has 10 years of financial industry experience, most recently as a client manager with Spectrum Accounting, as well as stints as an associate adviser for Southern Bank and a financial adviser for LPL Financial. Shearrer holds a bachelor’s in finance from MSU.

Andy Stewart, a certified financial planner with Morgan Stanley, earned the credentials as a qualified plan financial consultant from the National Association of Plan Advisors. Through completed coursework, recipients demonstrate expertise to act as a retirement plan fiduciary or help plan fiduciaries manage their roles and responsibilities.

Education
Ozark Junior High Assistant Principal Amanda Sooter was appointed the school’s principal for the 2024-25 academic year, succeeding Philip Link, who was named the district’s executive director of human resources. With nearly 15 years working in education, she joined the Ozark district in 2013 and served as assistant principal since 2019. She holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Evangel University.

Health Care
Dallas County Family Medical Center and Walk-In Clinic hired certified family nurse practitioner Nicholas Locke. With 14 years of nursing experience, he previously worked at Citizens Memorial Hospital in the medical-surgical unit and emergency services department, and most recently served as a family nurse practitioner at Select Specialty Hospital in Springfield. Locke holds both a bachelor’s in nursing and a master’s as a family nurse practitioner from Cox College.

Media
Dori Grinder returned to 417 Magazine in the roles of managing editor and business editor. She previously serves as the publication’s director of marketing and promotions 2005-10, and also held stints as executive officer of the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield and local chambers of commerce, including executive director of the Ozark Area Chamber of Commerce and vice president of membership development for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

Nexstar Media Group Inc. named Chris Pruitt as vice president and general manager of its broadcast and digital operations in Springfield, succeeding Mike Spruill, who was promoted to VP and GM of Nexstar’s broadcast and digital operations in Nashville, Tennessee. Pruitt oversees Fox television affiliate KRBK, MyNet affiliate KOZL and OzarksFirst.com, as well as Nexstar’s operational agreements with Mission Broadcasting Inc. to provide services for CBS affiliate KOLR. He has nearly 30 years of experience in executive broadcast TV management, sales and marketing, most recently for the company’s media operations in Houston, Texas.

Recreation
Miracle Recreation’s Rube Goldberg Miracle Machines playground equipment won a Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design. The equipment is a collaboration of Miracle Recreation and The Rube Goldberg Institute for Innovation & Creativity, which uses Goldberg’s cartoons as inspiration in science, technology, engineering, arts and math education, particularly in historically underserved youth communities. Presented since 1950, the awards honor innovative industrial, product and graphic designs produced around the world.