Business Milestones

The North Carolina State Board of Certified Public Accountant Examiners announced that 50 North Carolina candidates, including Rebecca Anne Grizzle of Lexington, passed the Uniform CPA Examination in August.

Public sector employees from state agencies and local governments were recently recognized for completing the North Carolina Certified Public Manager Program during the program’s first in-person commencement since the pandemic. The 40th anniversary event, which was held Oct. 3 in the State Archives Auditorium in Raleigh, celebrated the current 28-member cohort as well as graduates from the past two years.

Local 2022 graduates included (both of Winston-Salem): Department of Health and Human Services, Maher M. Gendy; and Department of Transportation, Marcus K. Kiser.

2021 CPM honorees: Department of Labor, Fleda Anderson, Winston-Salem; and Department of Public Instruction, Dennis M. Hancock, Pilot Mountain.

2020 CPM honorees (both of Winston-Salem): Department of Environmental Quality, Mary Margaret Taylor Hartsfield; and Winston-Salem State University, Debra Lynn Gunter.

Dr. Russell M. Howerton, president of Wake Forest Health Network, senior vice president of clinical operations and professor of surgical sciences — oncology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, has been appointed board chairperson of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s board of governors.

Howerton has served on the PCORI board since 2016 and was recently reappointed to a second term.

The PCORI is an independent nonprofit authorized by Congress in 2010. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information needed to make better-informed health care decisions.

Hui-Kuan Lin, professor of cancer biology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, was recently elected as an academician of Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top research institute, during the 34th Academician Convocation in Taipei, Taiwan. This is the highest recognition of scientists in Taiwan, and academicians of AS are elected every two years.

Established in 1928, AS focuses on studies within the sciences and humanities fields and fosters international academic cooperation and exchanges via an array of key projects with global applications.

Anna Kolda, senior vice president of business development and partner management for Dyehard Fan Supply, has been selected by the Sports Business Journal for its Game Changers Class of 2022, which recognizes trailblazing female leaders in the sports industry.

Kolda has worked in sports for more than 15 years, beginning at ISP Sports, where she led training and development programs for sports professionals, and ultimately, became chief of staff for the multi-media company.

This week’s edition of the Sports Business Journal recognizes the 2022 Game Changers recipients, including Kolda, with a special profile, and she will be honored at the company’s annual Game Changers Conference this month.

For the fourth consecutive year, Novant Health was named a 2022 recipient of Diversity Impact Awards by the Association of Employee Resource Groups and Councils. The Diversity Impact Awards — which were announced at a ceremony Sept. 23 — honor ERGs (Employee Resource Groups), diversity councils and other people who lead and support diversity and inclusion efforts within their organizations. Along with Novant Health’s recognized business resource groups, the late Dr. Ophelia Garmon-Brown, a former Novant Health family physician, was honored with the Executive Sponsor of the Year Award for her work as the Novant Health Coexist BRG executive sponsor.

Novant Health has 14 BRGs (Business Resource Groups), voluntary groups of team members organized around an aspect of common identity such as religion, gender, veteran status, race, disabilities and more. Membership is open to all team members, regardless of whether they self-identify around the common identity. BRG members help create a welcoming, inclusive environment where team members work, belong, receive and provide care.

Out of the 14 BRGs at Novant Health, four were honored with the 2022 Top 25 ERG Award.

• Black/African American BRG recognized for providing resources each month focusing on a different core area of wellness to support team members’ holistic well-being. These tools were specific to unique experiences in the Black and African American communities and a part of the BRG’s overall “Dimensions of Wellness” initiative.
• Coexist BRG recognized for creating Coexist 101, a webinar series that featured holidays from different faith traditions. Each webinar reserved time for questions, which offered a safe space for team members to learn more about these traditions and how they can best care for patients and families who identify with them.
• Native American BRG recognized for educating our team members on the Native American population in North Carolina. This included a presentation on Indigenous People’s Day and an expanded celebration of Native American Heritage Month.
• Persons with Disabilities BRG recognized for an innovative, inclusive campaign called “You Matter. You Count.” that encouraged team members to self-identify as having a disability or not. This is one more way we are creating a safe environment that normalizes and celebrates disability as a dimension of diversity.

For the third straight year, a Novant Health leader received the Executive Sponsor of the Year Award. Garmon-Brown was honored posthumously for her work as the Coexist BRG executive sponsor.

Since 1942, sailors assigned to the U.S. Navy’s Construction Force have been building and fighting around the world. Petty Officer 2nd Class Ray Hughes, a Mount Airy native, is one of those sailors.

“The Navy was the branch for me,” said Hughes. “It is versatile and encompasses everything. I thought it was going to make me more well rounded.”

Eighty years ago, members of Navy Construction Battalions were fittingly nicknamed “Seabees,” a play on the C and B initials. They are responsible for building military bases and airfields, supporting humanitarian efforts and conducting underwater construction projects.

Hughes, a 2007 Mount Airy High School graduate, currently serves as a steelworker with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133 at the headquarters for naval construction forces in Gulfport, Miss.

“I would like to thank Trish Walker,” said Hughes. “She was my science teacher. She taught me you have to make a decision and stick with it.”

Eight former Surry-Yadkin Works interns are now working as nursing apprentices after signing commitments with Northern Regional Hospital: Gisell Hernandez Aguilera, Trista Berrier, Hannah Hall, Brianna Key, Callie Moore, Cristina Seawell, Mariela Secundino and Ashlyn Shore. Their mentors included: Patty Creed, Liz Persuad, Lisa Snody and Jenny Triplett

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• The Board of Trustees of Old Salem Museum & Gardens and the Museum of Southern Decorative Arts has named

• as president and chief executive officer. Taylor has served as interim president and CEO since June 30. Taylor had been serving in the interim role since the departure of Frank Vagnone, who left to become president of the Newport Restoration Foundation in Newport, R.I.