Newsmakers

Newsmakers

Banking

× Gary Houseworth was appointed vice president and branch manager of the new Orion Bank office at 2815 University Parkway, Sarasota. Houseworth came to Orion Bank from Bank of America where he served as vice president and banking center manager.

Government

× Manatee County's Tax Collector Ken Burton Jr., was awarded the first annual Matt Langley Bell III Award at the Florida Tax Collectors Fall Conference. Matt Langley Bell III was the tax collector of Escambia County for 22 years prior to his death in 1998. Burton was recognized for his actions as treasurer for the association for six years and his office's actions using technology and the Internet. Burton has been Manatee County tax collector since 1993.

Legal

× Kimberly Page Walker, a shareholder with the Sarasota law firm of Williams, Parker, Harrison, Dietz & Getzen PA, was elected president of the Teen Court's Board for Sarasota County. Teen Court administers criminal justice to Sarasota and Venice youth offenders of first-time misdemeanors through a peer court system. Walker's legal practice focuses on areas of labor and employment law and employment litigation.

Manufacturing

× Rod Hershberger, Venice-based PGT Industries' vice president and general manager of Florida operations, was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer. Hershberger will be responsible for the company's Florida and North Carolina operations, sales, marketing and engineering groups. He will report directly to Randy White, PGT president. Hershberger, one of PGT's co-founders, held a variety of strategic positions with the company during his 23-year tenure, including the designer of a number of major products. He most recently headed up the manufacturing, transportation and logistics operations in Florida. Prior to that, he served as vice president of manufacturing.

Marketing

× Jennifer Jeffries joined the Clearwater full-service marketing and communications firm CMSA as director of client services. Prior to joining CMSA, Jeffries was owner of Jeffires+Partners, a marketing communications agency in Columbus, Ohio.