Newsmakers

Construction

Dick Risner is a new superintendent at J.L. Wallace Inc., a Fort Myers-based general contracting company.

Debra Ortiz has joined Sarasota's John Cannon Homes as marketing coordinator.

Mark Carpenter has joined Westfield Homes Southwest Division as sales manager for Lake-side Plantation, Heron Creek and Venetian Village. Previously, Carpenter worked for KEB Inc. in North Port.

Mark DeLillo has joined Bradenton-based Taylor Woodrow, Inc. as North America Risk Manager. DeLillo has extensive experience in risk management and real estate, having worked for Celotex Corp., Aon Risk Services and most recently the Hobbs Group, all located in Tampa. He is a past president of the Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc., and has served on the RIMS Executive Council for several years.

Engineer

Sharon Lappin, PE has joined the Sarasota-based Boyle Engineering Corp. as an associate civil engineer. She recently received the recognition of Young Engineer of the Year from the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers.

Legal

Attorney Wendy Smith has joined the Sarasota law firm of Abel, Band, Russell, Collier, Pitchford & Gordon Chartered's employment law practice group. Prior to joining the firm, Smith spent three years as corporate counsel for the G. Neil Cos., a business-to-business marketing firm that specializes in human resources products and services.

John West III has joined the Sarasota office of Kirk Pinkerton in the firm's Tax, Corporate and Estate Planning Department. West, who is also a CPA, previously worked as an acquisition accountant with Danka Industries Inc., before attending law school.

Kevin Britt Woods of Davis & Harmon PA is now board certified in business litigation by the Florida Bar. Woods, a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, is a graduate of the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

Real Estate

Linda A. Page has joined Prudential Palms Realty as vice president of new homes division. Previously, Page was executive vice president and broker for U.S. Assets Realty, the brokerage in charge of the selling the Beau Ciel and the Orchid Beach Club. Prior to that, Page worked as broker and director of sales for University Park Country Club. It was there that she won the Florida, Southeast region and national sales manager of the year award for 2000 from the Home Builders Association.

Manufacturing

Robert Wegmann has joined the Sarasota office of CALMAC Manufacturing Corp., Englewood, N.J., based developer and manufacturer of cooling systems, as south east regional sales manager. Wegmann, a Certified Energy Manager, was previously technical engineer for special projects at Custom Air Inc. of Sarasota.

legal

Medical

Kimberley Reibel has joined Sarasota's Full Spectrum Health Inc. as communications director.

Organizations

John Ryan, executive director of the Venice Area Chamber of Commerce, has graduated from the Institute for Organization Management, a four-year professional development program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Graduates of the institute receive a certificate in organization management.

Jill Leah Farruggio has been chosen as the incoming president of the Englewood-Cape Haze Area Chamber of Commerce. Farruggio operates the Lemon Tree Gallery. She will succeed John Mead in October. Farruggio was previously a business development specialist with the Charlotte County Economic Development Office and director of the Business Resource Center and Small Business Development Center at Manatee Community College in Venice.

Dr. J. Brian Murphy, a doctor with Eye Center Inc. in Bradenton, has been awarded the Workforce Development Leadership Award at the board meeting of the Suncoast Workforce Board.

The following have been named to the 2003-2004 board of directors for the Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida: Sabra Spaugh of The Bonita Bay Group as chair; Rick Cote of Oswald Trippe & Co. as chair-elect; Bob Bassett of Colonial Bank as second chair-elect; Joe Paterno of Southwest Florida Workforce Development as secretary; Michael Reilly of Waterman Broadcasting as treasurer and Angela Garcia of Wachovia as past chair.

Real Estate

Maryann Casey and Rick Hughes have been named the residential sales team for The Plaza at Five Points, a mixed-use high-rise development in downtown Sarasota. Prior to joining The Plaza at Five Points, Casey was a sales consultant at Arvida Realty Services in Ft. Lauderdale. Hughes is an ethics instructor for the Sarasota Association of Realtors and a real estate contracts trainer and former branch manager for Sarasota-based Michael Saunders & Co.

Robert Brillon has joined the Sarasota real estate firm of Michael Seery & Associates to head the firm's new Property Management Division. Brillon was previously general manger for the 200,000-square-foot Sarasota Main Plaza, 1991 Main St., Sarasota. He also previously ran his own real estate brokerage firm in New York, which was acquired by Cushman & Wakefield.

Michael Southward was promoted to division manager for Lennar Homes' Tampa division. Kokol joined Lennar Homes in 2001 as an operations manager.

Other

Timothy Del Vescovo has joined the Sarasota office of Brighton Commercial Furnishings, LLC as an account executive. Prior to joining Brighton, Del Vescovo founded and operated one Washington D.C.'s largest digital service bureaus, DPI. While running DPI and as an independent consultant, he provided CAD support and troubleshooting services for several hundred AEC and design firms nationwide.