NEW HIRES/PROMOTIONS
Sarah Morgason has joined Tucker Publishing Group as a senior graphic designer. The native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and University of Cincinnati graduate previously worked as a graphic designer for Shoe Carnival in Evansville, and she completed internships with BestReviews, HBO, and Purposeful Networks.
Welborn Baptist Foundation has named Travis Johnson and Tyler Stock members of its inaugural class of board fellows. Johnson is a senior analyst at Mead Johnson Nutrition Co., while Stock is executive director of Talent EVV at the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership.
Hafer has hired Isaac Grounds and Jacob Vezensky as architectural graduates in the firmโs Evansville office. Both are graduates of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
Brycen Moore is the new Evansville Otters general manager, the eighth person to hold that role in the teamโs 30 years. At 24, heโs also the youngest general manager in Otters history and will oversee all day-to-day operations, including all baseball and non-baseball events at Bosse Field. He started with the Otters as a group sales intern in 2021 before becoming assistant director of operations and then director of operations and food and beverage.
Deiona Clayton is the new executive director of Carver Community Organization, replacing David Wagner, who was in the position for 35 years. Clayton has served in a variety of roles with Carver Community Organization for 26 years, including director of the Early Childhood Center since 2004.
Amy Rhodes is the new executive director of Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve. The Noblesville, Indiana, native is an alumna of the University of Evansville and Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, and returned to Evansville in 2020. She most recently was an agriculture and natural resource educator for Purdue Extension in Posey County and served as sustainable living manager at Seton Harvest.
Suresh Immanuel has been named Schroeder Family Dean of the University of Evansville College of Business and Engineering. Since joining UE in 2009, Immanuel has had several duties, including as associate dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Science and associate provost for academic partnerships.
David Kiely has joined the law firm Danks & Danks. Kiely was a judicial officer in Vanderburgh County for 26 years, first as a magistrate for Circuit Court, then as a Superior Court judge, and finally as Circuit Court judge before retiring on Dec. 31, 2024. He was in private practice with his father, James, before becoming a judge. With Danks & Danks, Kiely will join litigation teams handling personal injury, criminal defense, and family law matters.
Shelly Blunt has been appointed provost, Rashad Smith was named assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions, and Jina Platts was promoted to assistant vice president for finance and administration and assistant treasurer at the University of Southern Indiana. Blunt joined USI in 1999 and most recently was interim provost. She has held numerous administrative and teaching roles, including dean and interim dean of Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education. Smithโs more than 20-year career in higher education brought him to USI in 2016, when he was hired as director of undergraduate admissions. Platts, a USI graduate, has had a 24-year career with USI where she served as director of university accounting and assistant controller.
Zachary Weinberg is the new University of Evansville head volleyball coach. He comes from Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, where he was on the volleyball coaching staff for seven years and the associate head coach since 2021.
Christy Lewis has been appointed vice president and general manager of Atlas World Group International. Lewis joined Atlas in July 2019 as director of commercial operations, and she has more than 20 years of experience in management and operations.
AN HONOR
Gymnastics coach Breasha Pruitt earns Musial Award.
By Maggie Valenti
Breasha Pruittโs star continues to rise, most recently as a Musial Award recipient.
The owner of Breasha Pruitt Elite Gymnastics received the sportsmanship honor, named for late St. Louis Cardinals baseball star Stan Musial, on Nov. 23 in St. Louis, Missouri. The awards were broadcast Dec. 29 on CBS.
The awards noted Pruittโs tenacity as a former gymnast as well as her grace and devotion to her athletes as a coach while modeling the treatment she wished she got as a young athlete.
She became a Musial Award winner alongside Emmy-winning sportscaster Bob Costas and former Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr. Pruitt was nominated by Cindi Schmidt Nicholson, the mother of her student Natalie Nicholson.
โThe award itself, the honor is huge. … Itโs shocking that people are noticing on a national platform,โ Pruitt says. โI had calls and emails from people all over who saw the awards on CBS. … Itโs been amazing experience.โ
The Henderson, Kentucky, nativeโs attitude and commitment earned her the Positive Coaching Aliceโs 2022 National Double-Goal Coach of the Year Award. That same year, she was named a Kentucky Colonel by Gov. Andy Beshear.
DEPARTURES
Randy Moore has retired after 45 years in Evanvsille television, including the last decade at Channel 14 WFIE-TV. The Evansville native is a graduate of Harrison High School and Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, and his numerous professional honors include earning a regional Emmy Award and being named Best Local TV Personality by Evansville Living readers in 2022 and 2023.
AWARDS/RECOGNITIONS
Three Deaconess Health System facilities received โAโ hospital safety grades from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit that acts as a watchdog in the health care industry. Deaconess Midtown Hospital, Deaconess Henderson (Kentucky) Hospital, and Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center in Jasper, Indiana, were awarded the recognition based on more than 30 measures of errors, accidents, injuries, and infections, and systems hospitals use to prevent them.
Ballyโs Evansville has collected nine first places in the Strictly Slots Magazine Awards, including Best Overall Casino. The other honors were Best Overall Gaming Resort, Best Reel Slots, Casino Where You Feel Luckiest, Best Hosts, Best Penny Slots, Best Quarter Slots, Best Slot Club, and Best Slot Club Promotions.
The Henderson Tourist Commission picked up honors at the Kentucky Travel Industry Associationโs annual Traverse Awards, including an award of distinction for its Songs of Summer marketing campaign and multiple bronze, silver, and gold awards for various projects.
The D-Patrick family of vehicle dealerships announced recent charitable contributions. D-Patrick Honda Helping Kids donated $1,500 to The Hope Gallery and Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden; D-Patrick Ford/Lincoln presented $2,500 each to the Santa Clothes Club and Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ohio Valley; and D-Patrick Boonville Ford contributed $1,000 to the Warrick County Community Foundation and $1,000 to the Greater Kentucky and Southern Indiana Chapter of the Alzheimerโs Association. Additionally, the D-Patrick Porsche Club hosted a Christmas toy drive for Warrick County Child Services.
The University of Evansville received a $41,000 gift from the trust of alumna Joyce Short to the School of Education. It will support aspiring teachers by providing licensure testing resources and support with licensure fees. The university also received a $147,000 bequest from the estate of 1945 alumna Marjorie Vogel to support the upkeep of UEโs Carson Center athletic facilities and establish the Marjorie Vogel Endowed Scholarship in Nursing.
The City of Evansville alongside Welborn Baptist Foundation has been awarded a $20 million Community Change Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyโs Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. The grant will help Evansville transition to cleaner, lower-emissions transportation systems through more hybrid vehicles, charging stations, sidewalk improvements, and other initiatives.
Old National Bancorp was honored as the Local Corporate Member of the Year by the Mid-States Minority Supplier Development Council. In the award year of 2023, the Evansville-based financial institution spent $19.1 million with diverse suppliers โ including enterprises owned by racial minorities, women, disadvantaged owners, and veterans โ out of a total of $27.3 million spent with small businesses.
Ivy Tech Community College bestowed two Evansville faculty members with the Presidentโs Award for Excellence in Instruction. Donna Zimmerman, who has taught at the college since 2005 and been a program chair or department chair since 2015, founded the Robotics Club, which hosts at least one annual competition for area youth. Adam Meredith has taught history and political science at the college since 2014.
Ascension St. Vincent Evansville awarded $20,000 to Youth First to provide mental health support and substance misuse prevention through social work services and prevention programs in more than 20 Catholic Diocese of Evansville schools. In total, Youth First partners with 125 schools across 14 area counties. Ascension also awarded $10,000 to the Immigrant Welcome & Resource Center.
Andy Martin, managing director with SVN The Martin Group, received the CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) Indiana Chapter Largest Retail Sale of the Year award.
The Indiana Hospital Association has appointed Shawn McCoy, CEO of Deaconess Health System, to the chair of its board for 2025. McCoy will oversee board meetings and set the priorities and goals of the association, which includes more than 170 acute care, critical access, behavioral health, and other specialized hospitals in Indiana.
United Way of Southwestern Indiana has awarded $1.68 million in grants through its Thriving Next Gen Pathways to Potential initiative benefiting high-need students. Recipients include Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern Indiana ($186,620); Dream Center Evansville ($150,000); Immigrant Welcome & Resource Center ($255,080.70); Koch Family Childrenโs Museum of Evansville ($236,480.30); Potterโs Wheel ($250,000); Southern Indiana Mentoring Academy ($267,400); Southern Indiana Resource Solutions ($135,424); and YWCA of Evansville ($200,000).
Jen Kerns, account executive with the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership, has been named to the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executivesโ 40 Under 40 list of emerging leaders in the chamber industry. Kerns previously worked for the Evansville Christian Life Center, The Arc of Evansville, and the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw, Indiana.
Increasing Overhead
Old National Bank helps secure grants to expand affordable housing.
By Maggie Valenti
Old National Bank has helped four Affordable Housing Program projects โ including one in Evansville โ secure grants topping $3.2 million from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis. The funding will go toward the construction of 628 units across Indiana and Michigan.
One million dollars were granted to Habitat for Humanity of Evansville for its Building Home, Community and Hope 2025 project and will address housing shortages in the Tepe Park and Glenwood neighborhoods.
โOld National believes that safe, affordable housing is the cornerstone of thriving communities, and that homeownership is the key to building generational wealth. Thatโs why we were so pleased to partner with Habitat for Humanity of Evansville,โ says Stephanie Roland, ONBโs community development director.
The remaining $2.2 million in grant funds went to organizations in Dale and Muncie, Indiana, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. The funding from FHLB is included in more than $34 million the regional bank donated to 42 projects in Michigan and Indiana in 2024, creating a total of 1,645 affordable housing in both states. In Indiana alone, the shortage of affordable homes is estimated to be around 139,000.
GROWTH/DEVELOPMENT
Old National Bancorp and Bremer Financial Corporation of St. Paul, Minnesota, have announced a merger. The partnership will stretch Evansville-based Old Nationalโs reach into several markets throughout Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. The combined organization will have more than $70 billion in assets.
Control Specialists Inc., an Evansville company dating to 1983 that provides specialized services including control systems maintenance, announced it has been acquired by Houston, Texas-based Relevant Industrial LLC.
Pro-Tex-All Co., a janitorial supply, equipment distribution and chemical manufacturing company, has acquired Gem Chemical. Both companies are based in Evansville.
One Rock Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, has announced that an affiliate acquired an ownership interest in Evansville-based Lewis Bakeries. Founded in 1925, Lewis Bakeries is the largest wholesale bakery in Indiana, employing about 2,000 across five sites in Indiana and Tennessee, and providing products including Bunny Bread to commercial customers in 17 states.
Deaconess Health System is expanding the use of Abridge, an AI platform for clinical documentation, across its 19-hospital network, following a successful pilot program. The company says the technology helps clinicians reclaim time that can be directed to patient care. The health system also acquired a little more than 77 acres of farmland in northern Vanderburgh County at 201 E. Inglefield Road for $3.1 million. Deaconess has not announced official plans for the property beyond addressing the areaโs growing needs. The health systemโs Gateway and Midtown emergency departments also achieved Pediatric Advanced Emergency Department certifications through the Indiana Emergency Medical Services for Children. The milestone makes Gateway and Midtown some of the first mixed-population emergency departments in the region to receive the designation.
CenterPoint Energy supported more than 80 energy efficiency projects across the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation, such as modernization of lighting and heating and air systems, boiling and chiller system improvements, and energy-efficient kitchen equipment; the totality of these projects saved EVSC about $1.2 million.
CLOSURES/REDUCTIONS
CycleBar Evansville closed Feb. 1. The local franchise of the Xponential Fitness brand had been owned by Jeff Cox since January 2020. Jeff and Bussie Cox continue to operate the adjacent Club Pilates at 111 S. Green River Road.