On the move: 10/12/11

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Accounting

Darcy Geffen has been promoted to manager in the tax department of Ellin & Tucker, in Baltimore. Her responsibilities include tax planning and preparation. Geffen has an MBA degree in accounting from Loyola University Maryland and is a certified public accountant.

Architecture

Lee Hyden has been promoted to director of interiors by Ayers Saint Gross, of Baltimore. She is a registered architect and certified interior designer. Hyden also has been senior interior designer and project manager at Patrick Sutton Associates, interior designer at Hugo Farley Architects, and project manager and director of interior design for The Glave Firm.

Awards

GlobalNet Services’ Google Search Solutions has been recognized as KMWorld’s “Trend Setting Product of 2011.” GNSI, of Rockville, has been providing Google Search Solutions to commercial, academic, nonprofit and government organizations since 2000, and is a certified Google Enterprise Professional partner.

The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center received a Federal Women’s Program Award for Activity Most Supportive of FWP Goals during the Women’s Equality Day awards program at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The award recognizes APG employees and organizations that are exemplary in their support of the Department of the Army objective of achieving a civilian workforce in which women are employed at all grade levels and in all occupations equal to the relevant civilian labor force.

The 2011 Maryland Hispanic Business Conference presented the following awards Sept. 6 during its 10th annual conference: Chair’s Award: GOYA Foods; American Dream Award: Alberto Lacaze, Robotics Research; Latina Powerhouse Award: Elda Devarie, EMD Foods; Business Advocate Award: Manuel Hidalgo, Latino Economic Development Corp.; Corporate Award: Wells Fargo; A Decade of Business Growth: Fredy A. Diaz, Telecel Marketing Solutions; Rising Hispanic Leader: Alicia Escoto, student, University of Maryland; Young Entrepreneur: Carolina Peña, Generación Latina; Maryland Public Servant: Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown; Founding Chair: William (Bill) Villanueva; Excellence in Seminar Planning Committee: Anthony Ruiz, Small Business Administration.

Ann Sober, director and founder of Special Beginnings Birth & Women’s Center, of Arnold, received the American Association of Birth Centers’ Jamie E. Bolane Lifetime Achievement Award for her commitment to the development and promotion of quality care of women’s health, pregnancy and childbirth through her work with midwives, doctors, regulators, policymakers and insurers at local and national levels. Sober is a registered nurse and a graduate of the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Since she founded Special Beginnings in 1997, the center has provided care for 4,000 families, averaging 360 births a year.

Carrie Poore, a scientist with the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center’s Directorate of Program Integration CBRNE Support team at Aberdeen Proving Ground, recently received the Enterprise Adaptation Award from the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School. Poore, who has a doctorate, works on programs for training soldiers to recognize and deal safely with improvised explosive devices.

Boards

Clean Air Partners has named Leta Mach the chair and Mahlon (Lon) Anderson the vice chair of its board of directors. Mach was elected to the Greenbelt City Council in 2003 and has represented the city on the National League of Cities Human Development Steering Committee and the Maryland Municipal League Communications Committee; she is secretary of the Prince George’s Elected Municipal Women. Anderson is managing director of public relations and government affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. He has served on the Transportation Technologies Advisory Committee and the Virginia Task Force on HOV Enforcement.

Brian White recently was appointed chair of the board of directors of Leadership Through Athletics, a not-for-profit charity dedicated to helping young people in Baltimore reach their potential athletically and academically. White is founder and president of Creative Print Group, a commercial printing business. Leadership Through Athletics has a gym that serves as a community space for youth and adults.

Three professionals recently joined the board of directors of GBMC HealthCare Inc.: Kara King Bess is a principal and CPA with King, King & Associates; Theda Kontis, M.D., is a private practice physician in Pikesville; Anthony Milando is vice president of global operations of Stanley Black & Decker, in Towson. Herbert J. Belgrad, Tuck Maddux, Robert A. Shelton and Mary B. Wieler were re-elected.

United Cerebral Palsy of Central Maryland, which serves developmentally disabled people throughout the state, recently named three new members to its board of directors: Vanessa T. Jones is a credentialing assistant program manager for the Office of Child Care of the Maryland State Department of Education; she has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Coppin State University. Penny Lynch is a special education resource teacher for Carroll County Public Schools; she also serves on the Character Education Committee and Student Assistance Team. Ellen S. Milles is vice president and controller for Kennedy Krieger Institute; she also serves as a staff member for the Audit and Finance Committee and is a certified public accountant.

Consulting

Pam McNicholas has been named a supervising environmental scientist in the Baltimore office of Parsons Brinckerhoff, a global infrastructure strategic consulting, engineering and program/construction management organization. McNicholas, who has 16 years of experience as an environmental planner/scientist, including various phases of transportation projects, received a master’s degree in environmental science from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree from Frostburg State University. She is a Certified Professional Wetland Scientist with the Society of Wetland Scientists.

Credit Unions

John Bratsakis has been appointed president and CEO of the Maryland and District of Columbia Credit Union Association. Bratsakis previously was senior vice president of Baxter Credit Union. He has been on the Illinois Credit Union League and Service Corporation board of directors for 10 years, serving as chair from 2008 to 2010.

Education

Nancy S. Grasmick has been appointed to the board of directors of the Maryland School for the Blind, in Baltimore. Grasmick, who recently retired as Maryland State Superintendent of Schools after nearly 20 years in the position, began her career in education as a teacher of deaf children at the William S. Baer School in Baltimore. Over the next 30 years, she served as a classroom and resource teacher, principal, supervisor, assistant superintendent, and associate superintendent.

Gladys Graham has been named by The Children’s Guild as chief operating officer of charter schools overseeing Monarch Academy, which has a charter school in Anne Arundel County and another in Baltimore City. In addition, she will design and conduct staff development and training for The Children’s Guild charter and special needs schools. Graham previously was the mid-Atlantic regional field director of Expeditionary Learning, overseeing schools in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. She worked for Expeditionary Learning for 11 years.

Health Care

The Tyanna O’Brien Center for Women’s Imaging, in the Weinberg Center for Women’s Health and Medicine at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, has received accreditation from the American College of Radiology as a breast imaging center of excellence. The certificate recognizes breast imaging centers that achieve excellence by seeking and earning accreditation in all of the American College of Radiology’s voluntary breast imaging accreditation programs, which include mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy and breast ultrasound, including ultrasound-guided breast biopsy.

Hospitality

Michelle Valvano has been hired as vice president of sales and marketing by Parkway Hospitality Management, of Baltimore. Valvano has been responsible for strategic marketing and budget development for one of the largest golf resorts in Florida. She was managing partner for TCRM Partners, and vice president of sales and marketing for its subsidiaries.

Investing

Clay T. Henry has been named managing director by PNC of its Greater Maryland asset management group. Henry most recently served as executive director of Graystone Wealth Management and Private Bank; he also has been executive vice president of First National Wealth Management and executive vice president of Millennium Wealth Management. In his previous career with PNC, Henry served in the asset management group as director of investment services and marketing, and director of strategic planning and acquisitions. He has a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, and an MBA, and is a certified financial planner.

Marketing

Planit, of Baltimore, has added three staff members: interactive designer Brittany Barr previously was a senior designer and developer for Adventure Web Productions; she has a bachelor’s degree from Towson University. Art director Jason Drumheller previously worked at MGH Inc. as senior art director; he has a bachelor’s degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Public relations account executive Amber Valero previously worked at Nevins & Associates, a boutique marketing and public relations firm.

Renae Olver has been hired as operations manager of Observation Baltimore. The division of The Research Group is a spa-like, technology-friendly focus group facility near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Olver has 20 years of project management and analyst experience in the marketing research industry; she most recently was the AVP of marketing research and analytics with Sandy Spring Bank. She also has been project manager and account executive with Hollander, Cohen and McBride, and senior analyst with Migliara Kaplan and Associates.

Media

Paul Nesterovsky has been promoted to vice president-tax of Sinclair Broadcast Group. He joined Sinclair in 1999 and had served as tax director since 2006. Nesterovsky previously worked in the tax department of Wolpoff & Co., and the accounting department of Genesis Health Ventures. He is a certified public accountant, and has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Towson University and master’s degrees in taxation and in finance from the University of Baltimore.

Nonprofits

Donald W. Biles has been named chief financial officer of The Arc Baltimore. Biles has spent his career in finance and accounting, primarily for organizations in the health care and community service fields. He previously was budget director for a hospital and a school system, controller and CFO for an ambulatory health care system and two mental health providers; most recently, he was chief operating officer for a prosthetic and orthotic company and a credit union. Biles, a certified public accountant, has a degree from the University of Baltimore.

Susanne Sinclair-Smith recently was appointed executive director of the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, which provides permanent and transitional housing, emergency shelter and supportive services. Sinclair-Smith oversees the day-to-day operations of the MCCH and its affiliate, Coalition Homes Inc. As founding executive director for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, she coordinated lawyers who provided pro bono assistance to men and women in shelters. Sinclair-Smith also served in the D.C. Program and National Policy offices at the Local Initiatives Support Corp. and as director of leadership and policy development with the Fannie Mae Foundation. Most recently, Sinclair-Smith oversaw the William S. Abell Foundation’s Strategic Initiative to End Chronic Homelessness in D.C. Last year she was a consultant on homelessness at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Halle Van der Gaag has been appointed executive director of Blue Water Baltimore, a nonprofit organization focused on improving Baltimore’s watersheds and protecting its water resources. Van der Gaag has held management positions with the Trust for Public Land and the Parks & People Foundation. More recently, she was executive director of the Jones Falls Watershed Association and was instrumental in merging the JFWA with four regional water quality organizations to create Blue Water Baltimore. Van der Gaag had been deputy director of Blue Water Baltimore since its creation in 2010.

Payroll Processing

Payroll Network, of Kensington, recently promoted Nicholas Holcomb from manager of information technology to vice president of technology and product integration, and Mark Paulochik from tax analyst to manager of tax filing services. Also, John B. Werth was named major accounts manager.

Real Estate

St. John Properties, a Baltimore-based real estate development and management company, has promoted two executives: Lori Rice is now vice president and controller. She will continue to oversee accounting and financial reporting of the firm’s commercial office, R&D/flex, retail and warehouse real estate portfolio. Rice has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Mount St. Mary’s College and is a certified public accountant. Jacqueline Pfeiler has been promoted to vice president, finance. Pfeiler will continue to oversee the firm’s financing activities. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Todd Eckert has returned to his original broker, Hyatt Commercial, of Annapolis, as a senior sales and leasing associate after spending two years with Innovative Properties. Eckert specializes in commercial office, retail and industrial properties throughout the Baltimore/Annapolis region.

Staffing

The BOSS Group, a niche staffing provider for interactive, creative and marketing professionals, of Bethesda, recently won the VOICE Communications Crystal Award in the independent class, and honors for Excellence in Company Identification and Company Web site, and merit for Social Media presence, from the American Staffing Association.