Shop Talk

George Ghanem, Al Rothel and Jeremy Stutzman, all of Creative Events & Rentals, earned Certified Event Rental Professional designations from the American Rental Association (ARA).

Captivating Interiors’ Tina Chaphe is now a LEED-accredited (Leader-ship in Energy and Environmental Design) professional with an emphasis in interiors.

Storm Smart Industries was included in the "Southeast 500" section of the yearly "Inc. 500" list, compiled by Inc. magazine.

The physicians of Retina Consultants of Southwest Florida were ranked among the "Best Doctors in America" for 2007-2008 by Best Doctors Inc., which compiles its list from a survey of more than 40,000 physicians nationally.

Kevin B. Lewis, CEO of Southwest Florida Addiction Services, was honored by the Lee County Board of County Commissioners as the Paulette Burton Citizen of the Year for providing outstanding civic contributions to the community.

Naples businesswoman Cynthia Mitchell was appointed vice president of public affairs for Equal Voice, a national program that promotes the education of voters about women’s equanimity in the public sector.

Westcoast Structural Concrete & Masonry donated time and materials to complete concrete work for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial located at the foot of the Fort Myers side of the Veterans Memorial Bridge.

McCormack Architect Inc. president Carlos Urzola was appointed to serve as a member of Lee County’s Hispanic Affairs advisory board.

Attorney Robert L. Klucik Jr. of Roetzel & Andress was elected to a three-year term as a board member of The West Point Society of Naples. Attorney Douglas A. Lewis of the same firm received a BV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, a high rating in the peer-review system.

Fort Myers Toyota dealership donated a 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid for use by the president of Florida Gulf Coast University, Wilson G. Bradshaw.

Trustees of the Naples Children & Education Foundation and founders and hosts of the Naples Winter Wine Festival distributed grant checks totaling $17.3 million to Collier County children’s charities.

The National Association of Home Builders’ Institute of Residential Marketing elected Steve Mackey to the IRM board of trustees.

Michael Spreckelmeier of Progressive Builders Inc., Fort
Myers, earned first place for a renovation submitted in the National Association of the Remodeling Industry’s 2008 West Coast Remod-eling Awards "Residential Addition over $250,000" category.

Beasley Broadcast Group’s B103.9 raised more than $10,000 to aid The Humane Society Naples after its building was robbed of new computer equipment.

Don Newman, J.K. Hobbs, Joy Runyon and Kimberly Maloney of Bonita Bay Group Realty were named 2007 Multi-Million Dollar Producers.

Norman Love Confections’ Bun-nies for Babies drawing raised $2,500 for the Ronald McDonald House.

Compass Construction has
donated $11,000 toward the construction of a playground at Redeemer Luth-
eran Church in Fort Myers.

Dorothy Williams, director of design for the Bonita Bay Community Association, was designated an Asso-ciation Management Specialist by the Community Association Institute.

Compass Construction Inc. has announced that Kevin Cook received certification as a LEED-accredited professional.

Mathew Ross, a board member of the Chuck Ross Foundation, pledged $10,000 to help fund the Art of the Olympians Foundation Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the artwork of Olympic Athletes.

Creative Events & Rentals won the Presidents Image Award from the American Rental Association.

NOISE communications agency won 19 Gold awards, 23 Silver awards and Best of Show (print) at the 2007 Southwest Florida Addy Competition, sponsored by the American Advertising Association.

The News-Press Market Watch donated $3,776 to the Newspapers-In-Education program.

Lee County jewelry designer Mark Loren was featured in the recently published Gemstones Masters: Major Works by Leading Artists by Lark Books/Sterling Publishing Co. as one of 39 of the world’s top jewelry artists.

Jeff Cooper, SRA, of Cooper Appraisal Corporation, completed specialized training in quality assurance in residential appraisals.

career moves

financial services

Hillcrest Bank Florida appointed Michael R. Norris as senior vice president, senior lender.

First American Bank appointed Donna Percival as vice president of commercial lending for the bank’s
Fort Myers location and Monica Brown as assistant vice president for its commercial lending division. Also, Todd Rinehart was promoted to senior vice president of commercial lending.

Jacqueline Gregory joined the Naples-based Legacy Wealth Group, where she assists in portfolio monitoring and construction.

The Royal Palm Bank of Florida announced the appointment of Minesh Dodia and Thomas DiBernardo as vice presidents of commercial lending. Also appointed were John Harper, senior vice president and senior lending officer; Patrick Philbin, executive vice president and chief operating officer; and J. Greg Murphy, president and CEO.

Talisha Faber was appointed as assistant branch manager/branch officer of the Florida Gulf Bank’s new Coconut Point banking center.

Lisa Rose, Terry Cala and Chona May are now vice presidents, private bankers for Regions Bank’s new Morgan Keegan Private Banking unit in Naples.

The following physicians joined the staff at Lee Memorial Health System: Norris Allen, M.D., obstetrics/gynecology, at Family Health Centers; Edward Marineau, M.D., obstetrics/gynecology, at Lee OB/GYN Asso-ciates; Raymond Santucci, M.D., pulmonary medicine, at HealthPark Pulmonary Specialists; Margaret Thirston, M.D., anesthesiology; Charles D. Talakkottur, M.D., hospitalist, at Inpatient Consultants of Florida; Donald Swanson, D.O., family practice; and Moses Shieh, D.O., general/bariatric surgery, at Suncoast Surgical Associates.

The Human Performance Longevity Center and HP Cosmetic has added Jennifer Sassi to assist with cosmetic injectable procedures.

Mary Feichthaler joined Radiation Therapy Services Inc. in the new position of director of corporate taxation.

Dawn Clark was appointed director of adult outpatient services at South-west Florida Addiction Services.

The David Lawrence Center has added Dr. Oscar Villaverde to its physician medical team.

real estate and development

Downing-Frye Realty Inc. hired Linda H. Roberts, Patricia Hanes and Ross Valenza as sales associates.

Premier Properties of Southwest Florida Inc. added the following agents: Rita Nobles to its vacation rental division; Jeffery DeAngelis, broker associate, to its sales team at Bonita Bay; Brian Nelson to its Promenade office; Karen Lee-Grosso to its Vanderbilt office; Roe Tamagni and Geoff and Kathie Fahringer to its Marco Island office; and Wendy L. Hayes in its Village on Venetian Bay office.

The following joined Michael J. Frye’s Re/Max Realty Group as residential associates in its sales office in Fort Myers: Sher O’Leary, Dick Yadon, Jim Herndon, Karen Wojnar, Ruby Perkins and John Giaccone. Steve Spinosa, commercial associate, joined the Frye Commercial Group team.

Stock Development named Claire St. Cyr director of events and concierge services at Paseo, a resort community in Fort Myers.

Heather Weiss Dockweiler was appointed director of creative design for The Lutgert Companies.

engineering

RWA Inc. hired Randall Hendra as project manager for its Naples office surveying division.

Fox Electronics hired Curtis Horton as an engineering technician.

Odle McGuire Shook added Annette Filer as a project manager in its Bonita Springs office.

other industries

Commercial litigator C. Richard Mancini joined Henderson Franklin law firm in its Bonita Springs office.

Marc Farron is now president of TD Information Technologies.

Jim Finnigan was hired to oversee development and operation of Big Cypress Winery at Big Cypress Market Place on East Tamiami Trail.

Jim Whitmore is now general manager of Magnolia Landing Golf and Country Club in North Fort Myers. Also, Ashlee Heine, membership director of the community’s golf club, was appointed activities director.

Jorge Diaz was promoted to the rank of battalion chief of the Lee County Port Authority’s Airport Rescue and fire fighting department.

The Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club named Judy Kilkenny director of catering and conference services.

Contractor’s Choice Supply promoted Bob Hanley to its division sales manager.

Michael Thomas has joined Neighborhood America’s leadership team as director of customer relationship management.

Kate Galloway and Tom Pletcher joined AdSource, a full-service advertising, graphic-design and marketing firm, as account managers.

Kathleen Taylor joined Lee County Electric Cooperative as public relations coordinator.

Walt Tiburski was appointed market general manager of Alpine Broadcasting Corp.’s WAVV 101.1.

Florida Gulf Coast University has named Ronald Toll provost and vice president for academic affairs.

The Naples Art Association at The von Liebig Art Center added Abigail Miles as manager of education.

business moves

Big Cypress Winery, at Big Cypress Market Place on East Tamiami Trail, is partnering with Gordon Skrede, owner of the Garden of Eaten in Naples, to develop a demonstration vineyard. Also participating are Rudy and Sandy Zahorchak, owners of Time to Make Wine in Cape Coral.

Gora/McGahey Associates in Architecture provided architectural design and construction administration services for Olio Restaurant, the dockmaster’s facility, and administrative offices for Benchmark Hospitality, all at the new Naples Bay Resort on Fifth Avenue South.

Honc Septic and Grading Inc., a leader in the septic and site work industry in Southwest Florida, cele-brated its 10-year anniversary and its transformation to Honc Indus-tries Inc.

Downtown Fort Myers’ Bennett’s Fresh Roast café celebrated its grand opening at 2011 Bayside Parkway.

Florida Gulf Bank opened its Coconut Point banking center, which is the bank’s eighth location since its inception in 2001.

Interiors by Patricia, a 29-year-old local flooring company, has become part of the nationwide Abbey Carpet & Floor network.

Juan and Bibiana Paez, owners of Vista Intermedia Corp., launched a Spanish-English bilingual parenting magazine called Parents on the Go.

Ottenstein Marketing launched RE-SU-MÉ, a new division specializing in writing resumes, professional biographies and cover letters.

Mahalo Salon and Spa in Bonita Springs was named the official spa and salon for Tarpon Cove Yacht & Racquet Club members.

Stephen Sposato and Brian Smith, principals of the Fort Myers-based planning and design firm DBS Consulting, have changed the company name to Ensite.