Newsmakers

Newsmakers

• Peggy Tressel passed the examination to become wound-care certified, a National Alliance of Wound Care accredited certification. She has a nursing degree from York Technical College in Rock Hill, S.C. and began working at Heritage Place in Kalispell in 1993, serving in multiple nursing positions until 2005, when she moved to Ohio to work as a skilled-unit manager. In 2006 she returned to Heritage Place and worked there as the care manager until February 2008, when she was promoted to quality assurance nurse for the Lantis Enterprises Northern Region facilities.

•  Francine Volkmann has joined the AAA insurance agency office located at 135 Hutton Ranch Road in Kalispell.
She will write life, auto, home and motorcycle coverage for AAA.

• Jean Deshon, a registered nurse, has joined Frontier Hospice. She has more than 20 years of home-health experience and is specially trained in wound-care therapy.

• Bill Lincoln and Paddy Kelly have opened Paddy’s Touchdown Lounge at 153 North Meridian Road in Kalispell in the former Finish Line building. The business features a bar, restaurant, casino and poker room. Lincoln previously owned and operated the Bulldog in Kalispell for 25 years. Kelly worked in the insurance industry and has 15 years of experience in the casino industry; he owns the Players Club Casino in Evergreen.
 
• Brenda Miller with Montana Brokers has earned the nationally recognized Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource certification. The National Association of Realtors offers the certification to help both buyers and sellers navigate complicated transactions as demand for professional expertise with distressed sales grows.  
 
• The Flathead Electric Cooperative linemen have received the Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks Region One Supervisor’s Award for land stewardship on Plum Creek lands. The award is given to individuals or groups who demonstrate exceptional stewardship of fish, wildlife, parks, and habitat.

• Ernest Ratzburg of Polson has received the 2010 Bowl of Hygeia Award for outstanding community service from the Montana Pharmacy Association. He is active in providing immunizations and promotes good health habits while counseling. The Bowl of Hygeia is the most widely recognized international symbol for the pharmacy profession and is considered its most prestigious award. It has been associated with the pharmacy profession since 1796.

• James H. Cossitt of Kalispell recently was appointed co-chairman of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Ethics and Professional Compensation Committee. He is also chair of the Institute’s Best Practices Working Group. A graduate of Iowa State University, Cossitt received his law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1986. He became board certified in consumer bankruptcy in 1995 and business bankruptcy in 2005 by the American Board of Certification. He established a private practice in Kalispell in 1999 and specializes in bankruptcy, debtor/creditor and commercial law.

• Kelly Bilau has been named operations manager for Brendan House. Since joining Brendan House in 1990, she has served as staff physical therapist, therapy services supervisor and most recently operations coordinator. Brendan House is a 110-bed skilled nursing facility focused on resident-centered care.

• NXGEN Payment Services and ABC Supply have announced an expanded partnership between the two industry leaders. NXGEN, with its corporate office in Whitefish, is a global provider of credit card processing in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom and Italy, and is the top merchant service provider for Elavon Global Payment Services through USBank. ABC Supply, headquartered in Beloit, Wis., is the largest wholesale distributor of roofing in the U.S. and one of the nation’s largest distributors of siding, windows and other select exterior building products.

• Paul Sullivan has joined the law firm of Measure and Wilson, P.C. A native of Bigfork, Sullivan is a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania School of Law in Philadelphia, and attended The University of Montana as an undergraduate student. Prior to joining the firm, he was in solo practice in Bigfork. Sullivan will continue his general practice, which includes estate planning, criminal and DUI defense, personal injury and litigation.

• Daren C. Engellant of Kalispell has been hired by the Montana General Office of New York Life Insurance Company as an agent for the company. He can be reached at 257-7680. New York Life Insurance Company, a Fortune 100 company founded in 1845, is the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States and one of the largest life insurers in the world.

• Robert Helder of Robert W. Ross Building Contractor Inc. of Kalispell was awarded the Montana Building Industry Association 2010 President’s Award at the association’s recent state convention in Kalispell. The award recognizes Helder’s dedicated leadership and assistance in promoting the association and its efforts to protect Montanans’ opportunity to fulfill the American dream of home ownership. Helder is co-owner of Robert W. Ross Building Contractor.

• Glacier Bancorp Inc. and Western States Insurance recently earned 2010 Excellence in Worksite Health Promotion awards from the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.
Both businesses earned silver awards for demonstrating health promotion in the workplace.
n Robyn Lane is the new community education coordinator at St. Joseph Medical Center in Polson. Prior to moving to Polson, her Phoenix-based businesses were listed in the “Top 25 Women Owned Business” for five consecutive years prior to their acquisition in 2005. Lane has worked with the St. Joseph’s staff in an administrative role for the past year before accepting this new position.