Posted: October 28, 2011

Banking & finance

Paul W. Muse has joined 1st Advantage Federal Credit Union as chief executive officer and president. He most recently was vice president of retail at 1st Advantage. He has more than 10 years of leadership experience working with financial institutions in the Hampton Roads area.

TowneBank promoted the following individuals:

Rusty Parker has been promoted to vice president. Parker is a mortgage lender with Towne Mortgage and is based in Virginia Beach. He has been with Towne Mortgage for six years and has been recognized as a Chairman's Club recipient. He is a graduate of San Diego State University where he received bachelor's and master's degrees. He is a member of Tidewater Mortgage Bankers Association and Virginia Mortgage Lenders Association. Parker supports Surfer's Healing as well as An Achievable Dream School.

Robin McCabe has been promoted to vice president. McCabe is a sales manager with Towne Mortgage and is based in Virginia Beach. She has been in the mortgage banking industry for 27 years and joined Towne Mortgage in 2007. She is a graduate of the University of Florida and holds a National Mortgage License, as well as a North Carolina Mortgage Loan Originators License. McCabe is a member of Tidewater Mortgage Bankers, Virginia Mortgage Lenders Association, Tidewater Builders Association, Realty Alliance and the United Way Women's Leadership Council.

Addison Pock has joined Witt Mares Financial Vision LLC as a Wealth Strategy Associate. Pock was previously an intern with this division of Witt Mares PLC. He holds a degree in finance from Virginia Tech. While at Tech, Pock was a member of the Financial Management Association and participated in the Gamma Beta Phi Honor and Service Society.

Joseph Collins has joined Sullivan, Andrews & Taylor PC as a staff accountant. Collins, a certified public accountant with field experience in both the public and private sectors, served in the United States military with military operations in Norfolk. He holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Virginia Commonwealth University and a master's degree in accounting from Liberty University. Collins is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Law

Richard Warren, corporate lawer at Hunton & Williams LLP, has been promoted to counsel.

Warren, who joined the firm in Richmond in 2007, primarily represents public and private companies in domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Hunton & Williams, Warren practiced at Goodmans LLP in Toronto and remains licensed to practice law in Ontario. Warren advises clients in the areas of corporate finance, corporate governance and general commercial matters. In addition to his corporate practice, Warren works on pro bono cases and community projects.

He received a BA from McMaster University, JD from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and LLM from the University of Virginia School of Law.

David M. Gettings has joined Troutman Sanders LLP as an associate in its Financial Services Litigation practice group in Virginia Beach. Previously, Gettings was a judicial law clerk to Mark S. Davis, U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia. His practice will focus on consumer law, business disputes and complex commercial litigation and will include the representation of clients in both federal and state court. Gettings received a BA from the College of William and Mary and a JD from University of Virginia.

Lisa A. Bertini from Bertini O'Donnell & Hammer PC has been inducted into the Litigation Counsel of America, which includes induction into the Trial Law Institute and Diversity Law Institute.

Health care

Don Martin of Optima Health has been promoted to the director of Optima EAP. Martin has been employed by Sentara Healthcare, the parent company of Optima Health, for more than seven years. His experience includes administrative and clinical supervision of staff clinicians.

Martin is a Licensed Professional Counselor and has a background in managing outpatient substance abuse treatment, as well as serving as the director of EAP for Williamsburg Community Hospital in 1999.

Martin holds a bachelor of arts in social studies from Eckerd College, a master of divinity in theological studies from San Francisco Theological Seminary, a master of education in counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University, and he is a certified employee assistance professional and an approved trainer for individual crisis intervention and peer support and group crisis intervention.

He was the clinical manager of Optima EAP from 2005 to 2011. In this role he provided administrative and clinical supervision to staff clinicians and oversaw an extensive affiliate network. In the past year, his his work has supported the growth of the product and integration of the department into Clinical Care Services.

In his new role, Martin will oversee all operational and clinical aspects of Optima EAP. He will develop strategic plans for the services on a statewide basis. Martin will also manage the department budget and oversee marketing initiatives.

Optima EAP provides services to almost 300,000 covered lives in Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina.

Eva-Maria Klenner has joined Tidewater Orthopedic Associates as chief executive officer. Klenner was formerly CEO of Hampton Roads ENT-Allergy. She is a graduate of the William and Mary School of Business Administration and obtained the designation of Certified Medical Practice Executive through the national Medical Management Association.

In addition to leading Tidewater Ortho's operations in Hampton and Williamsburg, she will serve as administrator for the Careplex Orthopaedic Ambulatory Surgery Center.

Education

Doug Shipman has been named the Theresa A. and Lawrence C. Salameno director of education program development for Colonial Williamsburg. Shipman is responsible for Colonial Williamsburg's education outreach programs including Teacher Institute, the Electronic Field Trip series, the digital high school history/civics education curriculum, The Idea of America, as well as partnerships with major elementary and secondary education publishers to create innovative classroom history and civics curricula.

He earned a bachelor's degree in politics from Washington and Lee University and was commissioned into the U.S. Army. He served five years active-duty and continued his army career through 30 years of active and reserve duty, retiring at the rank of colonel in July of this year.

In 1987, while completing a master's degree in secondary education at the College of William and Mary, Shipman worked as a costumed interpreter and school and group services specialist for Colonial Williamsburg. He later worked for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation as an outreach teacher and supervisor, eventually promoted to director of outreach education and special services, responsible for serving more than 90,000 students through an outreach education program. He was also responsible for training and staff development, group reservations, volunteer services, security and visitor research.

Insurance

Willis of Virginia Inc. made the following annoucements:

Carrie Burns has been named manager of operations and training and regional operations leader for the Atlantic and Northeast regions for the National Human Capital Practice of Willis North America. Previously, Burns was national employee benefits resource coordinator for Willis' Human Capital Practice and senior account executive for Willis of Virginia Inc.

Melissa Hoar has been named director of sales and marketing. Previously, Hoar was communications manager for Willis of Virginia's Human Capital Practice. Prior to joining Willis, she held various marketing, communications and project management positions for Children's Hospital of Richmond, Market Design Inc. and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Museum

Crawford Alexander Mann III has joined the Chrysler Museum of Art as the Joan and Macon Brock curator of American art. Mann, a specialist in 19th-century American art, will build and reinterpret the museum's collection of pre-1945 American art.

This year Mann will complete a Ph.D. in the history of art at Yale University. He holds a master's degree in the history of art from Yale, as well as a bachelor's degree in art history and religious studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He has lectured at Yale, Princeton University, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, and at international conferences and symposia in New York, Richmond, Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago and Rome.

Most recently Mann spent two years doing curatorial work at the Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design. He served as a guest lecturer and critic for a variety of studio courses and organized exhibitions for the museum's Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs.

Architecture & engineering

H&A Architects & Engineers announced the following:

Robert Baxter PE has been named the program manager of integrated facilities services at H&A's Glen Allen office. Baxter is a Certified Energy Manager and a Certified Commissioning Authority with experience in commissioning multiple large facilities. He managed the installation of Building Automation Systems projects throughout the Southeast region as a senior major system project manager with Johnson Controls, and coordinated several new construction projects at Fort Lee Army Base in Virginia. He joins H&A from HC Yu and Associates in Richmond, where he worked as a senior project manager. Baxter graduated from Michigan Technological University with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering. He is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

Jessica Williams has been named an interior designer at H&A's Virginia Beach office. Williams joins H&A from Jacki Arena Interiors Inc., a hospitality firm in Palm Harbor, Fla. She has worked with international hospitality brands Marriott, Hilton and InterContinental Hotels Group. Her design experience includes space planning, furniture specification, finish selection, construction documents and site visits. She has contributed custom artwork packages to various hotel and restaurant projects from locations in Washington, D.C., to South Florida. Williams graduated from the International Academy of Design and Technology with a bachelor of science in interior design. She is a member of the International Interior Design Association.

Nonprofit

Michael Bucher, Native American musician, Stephen "Black Bear" LaBoueff and Patrick Doyle, co-created YANAN, a nonprofit social media website, www.youarenotalonenetwork.org, to combat the high rates of Native youth suicide.

Retirement

James E. Gehman, who has led real estate development activities at Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority for the past eight years, will retire Dec. 31.

Gehman joined NRHA in 2001 as director, Design and Construction, coming from TranSystems Corp. He was appointed chief development officer in 2002. Previously Gehman served as chairman of Norfolk's Design Review Committee and president of the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects.He serves as vice president of the board, Virginia Association of Housing and Community Development Officials.

Gehman guided NRHA's role in developing East Beach into an award-winning new urbanist community; land assembly and infrastructure installation for Old Dominion University Village; property acquisition for The Tide light rail system; establishment of NRHA Builders and Designers Guild to improve customer service and design quality; as well as revamping the land inventory system.

Boards, commissions & associations

Dr. Pamela C. Kloeppel and Flossie L. Bridgeford were elected as chair and vice chair of the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority's Board of Commissioners.

David K. Edwards, senior vice president of W R Systems Ltd. and division director for the Engineering Services Division in Norfolk, has been elected to the Virginia Ship Repair Association board of directors.

Edwards served in the U.S. Navy and has held project manager positions involving critical Inertial Navigation and other mission-critical maritime systems. He chartered the Engineering Services Division of WRSystems.

He is chairman of the Advisory Board for Old Dominion University's Batten College of Engineering and Technology, where he serves on the executive committee. He is on the board of directors for Technology Hampton Roads and was charter advisory board member of the Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center. He is a member of the Greater Norfolk Corp., Virginia Maritime Association, International Propeller Club, Tidewater Association of Service Contractors, Institute of Navigation, Navy League, and the Joint Navigation Consortium, where he is a recurring session chair.

The following have joined Financial Executives International Virginia Chapter board of directors:

Mark Mikuta, president, Estate Settlement Solutions; Donald F. "Dan" Marker, vice president, Franklin Federal Savings Bank; David F. Hall, treasurer, Chemtreat Inc.; F. Daniel "Dan" Pharr, immediate past president, succession and transition committee, Pharr Valuation and Business Services LLC; Lawrence A. "Larry" Wilson, national liaison and professional development chair and sponsorship chair, Lansing Building Products Inc.; Alfred M. "Al" King, programs chair, Marshall & Stevens; Janet Perlowski, membership and retention committee; Robert F. "Bob" Warren Jr., succession and transition committee, Virginia Credit Union; Charles F. "Chuck" Catlett III, committee members, Central Virginia Bankshares Inc.; Richard T. "Rich" Reinecke, Fahrenheit Finance; Robin Hogge, chapter administrator, Preferred Management.

Karen R. Wilds, executive director of the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority, has been appoinged by the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials to a two-year term on its Community Revitalization and Development Committee. Wilds is a past president of the Virginia Association of Housing and Community Development Officials and serves on the Governor's Housing Advisory Committee.

Chris Stuart, vice president for client relations and business development at Top Guard Security, has been appointed chairman of the Port Protection and Emergency Response Committee by the Virginia Maritime Association.

A member of Hampton City Council, Stuart is a Virginia Maritime Association board member and a member of the Virginia Ship Repair Association. He has previously served on the Commonwealth of Virginia's Division of Criminal Justice Services Advisory Board and is the past president of the Virginia Security Association.

T. A. "Ted" Grell Jr., president and CEO of Fulton Bank's Southern Division, has been named chairman of the Children's Health Foundation of Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.

Grell has been in the banking industry for 40 years, has served as chairman of the Virginia Association of Community Banks and serves on the board of directors of the Planning Council. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Old Dominion University, and is a graduate of the Graduate School of Retail Bank Management at the University of Virginia and the Wachovia Senior Management Development Program at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

John R. Lawson II, president and CEO of W.M. Jordan Co., has been named chairman of CHKD's Children's Health System. Lawson began his career with W. M. Jordan as a field engineer in 1975 after graduating from Virginia Tech. Under his leadership, the company has become one of the largest general contractors in Virginia, with annual revenues of $500 million and a ranking in Engineering News Record's Top 400 Contractors in the United States for the past 28 years.