Newsmakers: Jan. 9-15, 2023

Agriculture
College of the Ozarks dairy students received the Missouri State Fair’s Premier Breeder award. Other state awards and those at Ozark Empire Fair tallied nearly 40 honors, including 11 first place awards for the school’s raising of dairy cattle.

Education
The Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development awarded $20 million in funding to nearly two dozen postsecondary institutions, including $2 million to Missouri State University for an Agricultural Innovation Hub project, as well as $1 million each to College of the Ozarks and Drury University through the Private MoExcels grant program. C of O’s funds are targeting entrepreneurship, work education and workforce development projects, while Drury’s are going toward a project called A Workforce Ready to Tackle the Health Care Shortage.

Health Care
Three Citizens Memorial Hospital employees were recognized with the monthly TULIP Awards for outstanding patient care: Pam Davis and Lisa Wolf, both certified nurse assistants in home care services, and Mercy Espino, a CNA at the Lake Stockton Healthcare Facility. Davis has worked for CMH for about two years, Wolf for nearly a year and Espino for roughly 12 years. TULIP stands for thoughtful, unforgettable, lasting impact on patient care, and a CMH award committee each month selects a nominated employee.

Hospitality
ConventionSouth magazine recognized several local entities as 2022 Readers’ Choice Award winners: Big Cedar Lodge; Branson Convention Center; Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau; Chateau on the Lake Resort, Spa & Convention Center; The Keeter Center at College of the Ozarks; Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau; and Thousand Hills Golf Resort. Over 400 meeting sites, hotels and CVBs in the South were selected through voting from 8,500 readers and fans.

Nonprofit
Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri Inc. hired Ken Palermo as executive director, effective Jan. 30, to succeed retired leader Maura Taylor. Palermo has spent the bulk of his career with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the Department of Social Services, holding leadership positions as deputy director of the Division of Community and Public Health and as state registrar for Missouri’s Bureau of Vital Records. He most recently served as director of refugee services for Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri, and the program resettled nearly 400 refugee Afghans in the last year. Palermo holds a master’s in management from Fontbonne University in St. Louis and a bachelor’s in political science from Truman State University in Kirksville.

Champion Athletes of the Ozarks appointed its 2023-24 board officers: President Brandon Bowenschulte of UMB Bank; Vice President Danielle Rapp of SRC Holdings Corp.; Secretary Zachary Towe of Guaranty Bank; Treasurer Jared Duckett of Duckett Ladd LLP; and Past President Michael DeArmon of Neal & Newman LLP.

Community Foundation of the Ozarks Inc. awarded $350,000 to 38 nonprofit agencies through funding by the Jeannette L. Musgrave Foundation, a private charitable foundation managed by U.S. Bank Wealth Management. The largest single grant amount, $10,000, went to these seven agencies: Care to Learn, Cents of Pride, Child Advocacy Center, Harmony House, Junior Achievement in Southwest Missouri, The Victim Center and Women’s Medical Respite.