People in the News: Sept. 12, 2022

People in the News: Sept. 12, 2022

People in the News: A roundup of new hires, promotions and awards in West Michigan.

 

MANUFACTURING

  • UFP Industries has appointed Allen Peters as its executive vice president of innovation, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Peters’ new responsibilities will include directing the Innovation Accelerator and Innov8 Fund teams at UFP. Additionally, as president of UFP Retail Solutions, Peters will drive the ambitious new product and technology required for quick iterative improvements throughout the business. He will continue to cooperate on initiatives in the e-commerce/distribution/fulfillment domains as part of his new duties.

 

CULTURAL ARTS

  • Opera Grand Rapids has chosen Miranda Krajniak as its new development director. Krajniak will re-envision, design, and lead strategies to sustain and increase the donor base for the  professional opera company. Krajniak has worked in the arts since 2007, and joins Opera Grand Rapids from the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (UICA), where she was the executive director. During her nine-year term, she collaborated with an active community-centered committee to engage diverse communities, expanding both audience and artist diversity through creative programming. She also served as the team’s leader during UICA’s merger transition with Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University.

 

HEALTH CARE

  • Trinity Health Medical Group has named Dr. Lisa Kinsey Callaway as its chief medical officer, effective Sept. 12. Kinsey Callaway replaces Dr. Thomas Foster, who is returning to a clinical role in internal medicine and pediatrics. Kinsey Callaway is a practicing physician and the medical director of the hospitalist program at Trinity Health Saint Mary’s in Grand Rapids, where she has worked for the past 11 years. Her 22-year health care career includes working as an internal medicine physician at Grand Valley Medical Specialists PLC and as a hospitalist at University of Michigan Health-West. She holds a medical degree from Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine.
  •  Ascension Borgess has named Natalie Ryder as administrator of the health system’s Pipp Hospital in Plainwell. As well, Ryder will continue in her role as administrator at Ascension Borgess-Lee Hospital in Dowagiac. After serving in the U.S. Army for nine years, Ryder began her health care career as a school nurse in 2013 in Germany and became the administrator of Lee Hospital in 2018. She is a registered nurse and an active member of the Michigan Center for Rural Health Critical Access Hospital Planning Committee.
  •  BHSH System — formed earlier this year by the merger of Spectrum Health and Beaumont Health — has named Tracie Morris as its new chief people officer, effective Sept. 11. In the role, Morris will help develop strategies to inspire the health system’s workforce and champion programs affecting learning, development, recruitment, retention, culture and well-being. Morris comes to BHSH from BMO Financial Group, where she served as senior vice president, chief human resources officer and chief inclusion officer since 2019. “The future of work is evolving and it is exciting to be on the BHSH System team to envision new ways of working and preparing for how to best support talent in the integrated delivery of health care and coverage,” Morris said in a statement.

 

FINANCE

  • Grand Capital Management LLC has hired Mark Fellwock as chief operating officer. The Grand Rapids-based operational accounting firm founded in 2018 specializes in creating timely and actionable financial data for owners and operators across a variety of industries. The company provides in-house and out-of-house bookkeeping, payroll, financial statement preparation and tax preparation. In his role, Fellwock will help GCM grow internally while offering new services to clients. His background includes financial business management in established companies and startups in the food and beverage, event and manufacturing industries. Fellwock obtained a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2008 from Hope College.

 

ENERGY

  • Jackson-based utility Consumers Energy has named Chris Laird as vice president of electric operations to replace Guy Packard, who will retire after 37 years at the company. Laird, who joined the company in 2000, will oversee the construction, operation and maintenance of Consumers’ electric system, which services 1.8 million customers. He previously served as the executive director of operations and low voltage distribution. Laird holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ferris State University and a master’s degree in business administration from Grand Valley State University. Consumers also announced that David Hicks has been named vice president of renewables development and enterprise project manager, a newly created position, effective Sept. 21. Hicks joins the company from Indeck Energy Services Inc., where he served as vice president of business development since 2014.
  •  Lansing-based policy consulting firm Public Sector Consultants has hired two new directors for the firm’s energy and environment team. Joel Howrani Heeres will serve as director of climate and sustainability, while Colin Seals has been named director of energy. Howrani Heeres previously served as director of the city of Detroit’s Office of Sustainability, and in his new role will help clients and organizations meet sustainability targets. Seals most recently worked as the economic affairs officer for the U.S. Department of State, serving as a subject matter expert on energy, mining and health policy issues between the U.S. and Canada.

 

BANKING

  • United Federal Credit Union has made several key hires to its Grand Rapids-based mortgage team. Jonathon Izenbart will lead the team as mortgage production manager. For more than 14 years, he has worked in the mortgage and financial sector. Joining him as mortgage advisers are: Anthony Gardner, who has more than 12 years of lending and banking experience throughout the Grand Rapids area; Eric Hofmann, who has more than nine years of real estate and loan expertise; Brent Dean, who has spent 20 years in real estate finance; and Erik Ledezma, who has seven years of finance and real estate expertise. 
  •  ChoiceOne Bank has promoted Lysh Curnett as a mortgage loan officer for its west market. Curnett has 24 years of banking experience, rising through the ranks in marketing, personal loans and mortgages. Curnett operates out of the Fremont and Newaygo branch offices, originating mortgage loans for clients and assisting them in purchasing and refinancing their houses. ChoiceOne also promoted Kimberly (Kim) Jolin as the new Armada branch manager. Jolin has served as assistant branch manager in Armada since 2020. In her new role, she will supervise the branch office’s day-to-day operations as well as provide personal and commercial financial services.

 

SPORTS

  • The Muskegon Lumberjacks have hired Parker Burgess to serve as the team’s associate head coach ahead of the 2022-23 season. Burgess joins Muskegon after spending the previous two seasons as head coach and assistant general manager of the Janesville Jets of the North American Hockey League (NAHL). Burgess led the Jets to a Midwest Division title in his first season in Janesville, with a 31-13-4-0 regular-season record, earning him the Midwest Division Coach of the Year honor. Burgess also served as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for his alma mater, the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

 

— Compiled by Andy Balaskovitz and Danneisha McDole.