Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
BUSINESS PEOPLE
Brett Biggs, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Walmart Inc., was named to Pepperdine University’s Board of Regents. Biggs joined Walmart in 2000 and has been chief financial officer for Walmart International, Walmart U.S., and Sam’s Club and was senior vice president of international strategy and mergers and acquisitions, of corporate finance, and of operations for Sam’s Club. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Harding University and a master’s of business administration from Oklahoma State University.
Nycole Oliver is now seeing patients at Sparks Plaza Family Practice, 1500 Dodson Ave., Suite 195 in Fort Smith. She began her career as an emergency room technician at Sparks Regional Medical Center in 2001. Oliver earned her doctor of nursing practice from the University of South Alabama in 2015. She most recently worked in the emergency room of Sparks Medical Center – Van Buren and served as a hospitalist in the Fort Smith hospital.
Eddie H. Walker Jr. of Walker, Shock & Harp PLLC in Fort Smith was recently inducted into the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. The academy limits membership to 500 fellows from the United States.
■ Students from the University of Arkansas School of Journalism and Strategic Media won first and second place in the 2017-18 Collegiate ECHO Marketing Challenge.
RedTop Media, the UA undergraduate team winning gold, consisted of students Hillary Frank, Amanda Millan, Sydney Richardson, Emily Todd and Sarah Van Doorn. The team also won honorable mentions in the categories of marketing strategy, visual summary and video commercial.
Arkie Agency, the silverwinning undergraduate team, was made up of Brooke Borgognoni, Emily Langenfeld, Julia Wright and Jeffrey Wilson. The team also won an honorable mention for creative strategy.
Lighthouse Marketing made it to the semifinals of the competition. That team included Clarissa Bustamante, Carley King, Andrew McLaughlin, Morgan Moody and Elise Parker.
The teams were advised by Ignatius Fosu, associate professor of advertising in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.
Caden Burden and Casey Burden, both of Summers, are new junior members of the American Angus Association. Junior members of the association are eligible to register cattle in the American Angus Association, participate in programs conducted by the National Junior Angus Association and take part in Association-sponsored shows and other national and regional events.
Members of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce’s 2018-19 Leadership Fayetteville Class XXXII are: Tina Archer-Cope, Fayetteville Town Center; Kael Bowling, Friday, Eldredge & Clark; Diana Brown, Walton Arts Center; Becky Carter, Centennial Bank; Darren Clark, First National Bank of NWA; Francisco Cortez, Arvest Bank; Sarah Farnet, Star Shopper; Amanda Foster, Bank of Fayetteville; Kyle Garen, Lindsey & Associates; April Harp, Signature Bank of Arkansas; Dee Hastings, Cox Business; Brandon Humphries, Arvest Bank; Amanda Jacobson, University of Arkansas, Walton College; Shaila James, The Eye Center; Monica Jannati, Fayetteville Town Center; Sheri Koch, Signature Bank of Arkansas; Megan Laraway, Courtyard by Marriott; Rick McGraw, McClelland Engineers; Tanya Mims, Arvest Bank; Janet Mobley, Ozark Regional Transit; Josh Moody, Washington County Juvenile Detention Center; Matt Mozzoni, Sage Partners; Tim Proksel, Black Hills Energy; Josh Raney, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute; Halsey Richardson, Flake & Kelley Commercial; Chris Rittelmeyer, Simmons Bank; Stan Rodgers, First Security Bank; Ryan Sheets, Walton College; Will Sneed, B-Unlimited; and John Strack, Nabholz Construction. Emily Fisher, Children’s Safety Center, is chairwoman.
Valerie Sharp joined the Bentonville office of Weichert, Realtors — The Griffin Company as a Realtor.
Brock Denton joined the Fayetteville office of Weichert, Realtors — The Griffin Company as a Realtor
Dr. Quoc-Anh Thai, board certified neurosurgeon, recently joined Northwest Health’s Neurosurgery Center at 601 W. Maple Ave., Suite 505, in Springdale. His was division chief of Johns Hopkins Neurosurgery, National Capital Region, and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Maryland. Thai received his medical education at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and completed a general surgery internship and neurosurgery residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Briefs are for people in Northwest Arkansas who are new hires, were promoted, received an award from outside their organization or received a certification. Email: cswanson@nwadg.com or send your item to: Christie Swanson, P.O. Box 7, Springdale, AR. 72765. Information must be received by noon Wednesday prior to the Sunday the item is to be published.