Newsmakers: Feb. 22-28, 2021

Accounting
Abacus CPAs LLC made several promotions: Sam Shafer to adviser, Shuhan Gu and Cristian Rath to senior consultants, Sabrena Shipley to senior analyst, Shirley Hofschulte to senior client support specialist and McKenna Sweet to senior administrative assistant. Shafer, an Army veteran, joined Abacus in 2015 and supervises the tax department. Gu joined Abacus in 2017 and works in the Branson office, while Rath has worked five years at the firm in the traditional tax department. Starting her third year with Abacus, Shipley works in the traditional tax department. Hofschulte, a Navy veteran who works in the firm’s transportation division, joined Abacus in 2016. Sweet’s been on board since 2018 and provides support to the tax department and payroll services.

Joe Cotter rejoined BKD LLP as a director in the firm’s national tax services division in Dallas after stints with PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG. He started with BKD as an intern and later served as a senior accountant.

Government
Joyce Ennis, of Cassville, was appointed as the Barry County Clerk. She’s served as deputy clerk since 2018 and previously worked 25 years as an administrative assistant in the Cassville school district.

Steve Maples, of Ozark, was appointed to the Missouri Veterans Commission. He works as a municipal court security officer for the city of Ozark and as a deputy sheriff in the reserve division of the Christian County Sheriff’s Office. Previously, Maples served as director of the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Springfield and was a member of the Missouri Army National Guard for 29 years before retiring at the rank of master sergeant.

Insurance
Teresa Calhoun was hired as a marketing and multiline insurance representative for State Farm agent Clint Harris. She has 30 years of marketing and sales experience, previously working as a sales representative for the Springfield Cardinals and as marketing director for Great Southern Bank.

Marketing
Longitude partner and Chief Marketing Officer Jeremy Wells was selected to the Boutique & Lifestyle Leaders Association’s Education Committee. The 15-member committee develops educational courses for independent hoteliers.

Nonprofit
Developmental Center of the Ozarks added 2021-24 board members Caleb Hatz of Missouri State University’s Bear POWER, Erica Gaynor of Ollis/Akers/Arney, Matt Lemmon of Burrell Behavioral Health and Doug Twigger of Rich & Cartmill Inc. Newly elected executive officers are President Dan Malachowski of Baron Financial Group, Vice President Melissa Higbie of Esterley Schneider & Associates Inc., Treasurer Greg Horton of Integrity Home Health Care LLC and Secretary Lindsey Lund of Bass Pro Shops.

Court Appointed Special Advocates of Southwest Missouri added board members Amy Amason of Lead Philanthropy, Camille Knowles of HR Advantage, Kim Rippy of Mid-West Family Broadcasting and Susan Yaktine of Northwestern Mutual Insurance Life Insurance Co. Newly elected board officers are President Tony Hopkins of Springfield Builders Inc., Vice President Kim Cash of Regent Bank, Secretary Jennifer Hargis of Evans & Dixon LLC and Treasurer Jeffrey Schmitt of Hagan, Tucker, Schmitt & Gintz LLC.

Enactus hired Christopher Smith as chief financial officer to lead internal and external reporting, audit, tax and financial systems. He most recently worked as CFO for nonprofit GiveGab Inc. and as vice president of finance and corporate control for Quirky, a crowd-sourced consumer products company.