DI People: Dynata, AMN Healthcare, Mary Kay Announce Moves at the Top

Dynata Hires New CEO to Lead Plano-based Data Company

Plano-based Dynata has hired Mike Petrullo as chief executive officer, succeeding Gary S. Laben, who served more than six years as CEO and led the company’s journey to becoming the world’s largest first-party data platform for insights, activation, and measurement.

Michael Petrullo

The company said that Petrullo joins Dynata at a pivotal juncture in its strategic transformation, bringing more than 30 years of global executive-level experience in the business services and technology arenas.

In a statement, Dynata said it has shaped a new model for the insights and marketing industry. It’s expanded from using first-party data to generate insights to more broadly leveraging those insights to activate marketing campaigns and measure results at scale, the company said.

Dynata’s transformation was recognized by clients and peers as the No. 1 Most Innovative Supplier in GreenBook’s 2022 GRIT Top 50 report released in September, in addition to earning the top spots in the Data & Analytics and Field Service provider categories—the core strengths of Dynata’s business.

Petrullo’s background spans both high-growth environments, including building businesses organically and through mergers and acquisitions, and transformational environments, having successfully integrated large, complex businesses, the company said. Most recently, Petrullo served more than seven years as a member of the board of directors of DISA Global Solutions, and four years as CEO of Dodge Data & Analytics, a leading data, analytics and intelligence provider.

AMN Healthcare Names New President & CEO

AMN Healthcare, a Dallas-based innovator in total talent solutions for healthcare organizations nationwide, announced Cary Grace as its next president and chief executive officer, succeeding Susan Salka, who announced her retirement earlier this year.

Cary Grace

“The AMN board of directors was deeply committed to selecting a proven executive who will continue AMN’s exceptional growth and impact, while also honoring our incredible culture,” Chairman Doug Wheat said. “Cary stands out as a leader who will build upon our operational and organizational strengths to ensure AMN’s outstanding performance now and for years to come. Cary embodies AMN’s team spirit, and I know she will be passionate in our purpose, our responsibilities and our opportunities as she guides this amazing company in the next phase of its evolution.”

The company said that Grace’s track record of leading dynamic, client-centric businesses positions her to lead AMN into the new environment of post-pandemic healthcare.

Grace is the former CEO of Global Retirement, Investment and Human Capital at Aon, a $2 billion annual revenue business that provides risk management, retirement, health, and human capital consulting services with more than 10,000 employees serving 10,000 clients. Also, Grace led their enterprise client management and oversaw the integration of all acquisitions for the company.

Before joining Aon in 2011, Grace spent more than 14 years at Bank of America, where she led several institutional and private banking businesses, including their $9 billion Mass Affluent Client Business.

Mary Kay Ash’s Grandson to take Helm at Global Cosmetics Giant

Ryan Rogers will become chief executive of the multibillion-dollar direct-selling beauty empire founded by Mary Kay Ash, who is noted as “one of the original glass ceiling breakers.”

Ryan Rogers

Rogers, who is currently the company’s chief investment officer will become CEO and president on Jan. 1. CEO David Holl has helmed the cosmetics company since 2006.

Holl will retire after nearly 30 years with Mary Kay and remain chairman of the board.

“As a young man, my grandmother predicted I would someday lead her company and worked to prepare me by sharing many of her lessons in leadership,” Rogers said. “As usual, Mary Kay was right.”

Ryan Rogers’ father, Richard Rogers, co-founded the company in 1963 with his grandmother.

Allied Electronics & Automation Names Interim President

Fort Worth-based global omnichannel provider of product and service solutions Allied Electronics & Automation said that President Ken Bradley left the company at the end of October to pursue a new opportunity and that RS Group’s Chief Services Officer Douglas Moody will expand his role on an interim basis while a permanent replacement for Bradley is sought.

Douglas Moody

Allied is a trading brand of RS Group.

Bradley joined Allied in 2004 and held roles in supply chain and sales before being promoted to president in 2019.

“During his tenure as president, Ken built a talented leadership team that led the transformation of the Americas business,” RS Group CEO Lindsley Ruth said in a statement. “People and culture have been placed at the heart of the organization, and the results speak for themselves, as we’ve seen a strong growth across the board.”

Moody joined RS Group as the chief services officer in January.

In that role, Moody has worked to accelerate the development and execution of a value-added services strategy to better serve customer needs and drive business growth. His previous experience includes large profit and loss leadership across multiple industries and diverse markets worldwide.

NexBank Appoints Market President for Dallas-Fort Worth

Dallas-based NexBank, the largest privately held bank based in Texas and a subsidiary of NexBank Capital Inc., has appointed Scott Studenko as market president of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Studenko has more than two decades of experience and he comes to NexBank with a strong background in commercial banking and real estate lending, having served in leadership and business development roles at several public and privately owned banks in Dallas.

Most recently, Studenko was executive vice president and head of the Dallas branch for International Bank of Commerce.

NexBank has assets of $13.9 billion and a charter that dates to 1922. It provides institutional banking, commercial banking, and mortgage banking services to meet the needs of its clients, which include institutional clients, financial institutions, and corporations nationwide.

ev Transporation Services Appoints New Chief Operating Officer

ev Transportation Services Inc., an electric vehicle manufacturer focused on the essential services and urban e-mobility markets, has appointed Jeffery Ritz as chief operating officer, responsible for overseeing operations at its Fort Worth assembly facility and driving forward the company’s national commercialization efforts.

“Jeffery brings comprehensive operating experience and an impressive track record of achieving measurable results spanning both public and venture-backed organizations nationally,” David Solomont, evTS chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “I welcome Jeffery, whose proven ability to steer innovation and build high-performing teams will help to accelerate our growth trajectory as we begin to scale assembly operations of the pure-electric FireFly ESV at our Fort Worth facility.”

Ritz is a respected operating executive with over 30 years of experience in all aspects of P&L management with both publicly traded and venture-backed enterprises, the company said in a statement.

Previously, he was CEO and president of Presidium USA, where he spearheaded the transformation from incubator to full commercialization of a venture-backed materials company disrupting the $30B composites industry.

Cooksey Communications Taps VP to Lead its Real Estate & Development Practice

Irving-based strategic communications firm Cooksey Communications promoted Mary Kate Jeffries, most recently a vice president and account manager at the agency, to lead its Real Estate & Development Practice.

Mary Kate Jeffries

The agency said that Jeffries will draw on over two decades of experience at top-tier PR agencies and well-known hospitality management companies to advise Cooksey’s commercial real estate, residential real estate, and economic development clients on their PR and marketing programs and to guide the practice group’s overall operations.

“Mary Kate possesses an in-depth understanding of the brand positioning needs of leading real estate firms, and she has crafted prominent economic development groups’ high-impact PR and marketing campaigns since joining our firm two years ago,” Colby Walton, chairman and CEO of Cooksey Communications, said in a statement. “Our clients trust her implicitly for clear, confident strategic communications guidance and support.”

Tom Bryson

Jason Meyer, agency president and co-owner, touted Jeffries’ leadership.

“As do our Real Estate & Development clients, the Cooksey team benefits from and greatly appreciates her thoughtful leadership,” Meyer said in a statement. “In this new practice oversight role, Mary Kate will ensure Cooksey stays at the forefront of communications best practices and continues serving the industry leaders who are directly responsible for driving the region’s dynamic growth.”

Jeffries currently leads or co-leads a number of key accounts including the agency’s award-winning work with the Anna Economic Development Corp.; city of Richardson and Richardson Economic Development Partnership; Credit Union of Texas; HistoryMaker Homes; Harrison, Walker & Harper, LLC (HWH 1887); Irving Economic Development Partnership; and The Real Estate Council (TREC).

Kelly Morris

With this announcement, Cooksey has named three distinguished, experienced North Texas communicators to head up its three primary, industry-focused practice groups:

Kelly Morris, leading Cooksey’s Professional Services Practice,
Tom Bryson, leading Cooksey’s Public Sector Practice, and
Jeffries, leading the Real Estate & Development Practice.

Cooksey Communications was founded in 1994 and specializes in three core focus areas: Professional Services, Public Sector, and Real Estate & Development.

Stream Data Centers Appoints New VP of Development

Stream Data Centers, the Dallas-based provider of data center services to global enterprise and hyperscale clients, announced it appointed Oisin O Murchu as vice president of development, expanding its Location Strategy and Development team.

Oisin O Murchu

In his new role, O Murchu will leverage his knowledge of the mission-critical industry to streamline and strengthen Stream’s robust site due diligence, acquisition, and development processes. His addition ensures that Stream’s customers can continue enjoying exceptional data center services with the speed to market, customization, and risk mitigation they require, the company said in a statement.

“Site development is arguably one of the most important phases in any project lifecycle, as it ensures data center operators can deliver capacity to tenants without any surprises,” Michael Lahoud, Stream’s COO and partner, said in a statement. “Stream Data Centers is dedicated to delivering site development expertise that ensures de-risked, shovel-ready sites so our customers can get the capacity they need when and where they need it. Oisin is a fantastic addition that is sure to augment these efforts considerably.”

O Murchu is an accomplished member of the mission-critical infrastructure industry, and brings a wealth of development experience to the Stream team, having worked in the oil and gas, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, and mission-critical industries for more than a decade to support commercial, contractual, and technical functions, Stream said. Before joining Stream, O Murchu served as the global programmatic lead for Google’s Energy and Location Strategy team. There, he led the development of scalable platforms, programs, and tools to support all of Google’s data center land acquisition and utility development projects.

McKissack & McKissack Hires New VP of Operations for Texas

A Texas-based architecture veteran has joined McKissack & McKissack, one of the nation’s leading black- and woman-owned architecture, engineering, and construction companies. Houston-based Heidi Obie has joined the company as vice president of operations for Texas, the firm announced.

Heidi Obie

Obie has more than 23 years of experience leading program management, construction management (PMCM), and building projects in multiple markets. She will focus on operations and P&L, and partner with McKissack’s Dallas-based Business Development VP Shandra Colón to grow the firm’s capacity and PMCM business in Texas and the Southwest, the firm said in a statement.

“With Shandra in Dallas, these two talented professionals—who are both longtime Texas residents and very involved in their communities—will be a formidable team in the region,” McKissack President and CEO Deryl McKissack said in a statement.

Obie comes to McKissack from a long career with large global consulting firms, where she served in multiple roles that have given her impressive AEC industry experience, McKissack said.

Most recently, Obie was a PMCM vice president and business leader in the buildings, water, and transportation markets in South Texas. Since 2015, she also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston (UH) College of Technology’s Construction Management Department and was vice chair of the Strategic Planning Committee on the UH Construction Management Industry Advisory Board.

“As a West Indies immigrant, university-level educator and mentor to many students, Heidi is also a trailblazer and incredible role model for young minority women pursuing professional careers,” McKissack said.

Medical Device Maker FX Taps New VP of Global QARA, Clinical, Compliance

Medical device supplier FX has tapped Brian Rogers as vice president of global QARA, clinical, and compliance in a new role that will have oversight of the company’s quality, regulatory, clinical, and compliance functions.

Brian Rogers

Rogers is based in the company’s U.S. headquarters in Dallas but will also spend considerable time at its global headquarters in Viriat, France.

“Brian brings years of experience from both the U.S. and Europe that will provide him the platform needed to join our existing teams in working toward some very important and major milestones for FX,” FX CEO Baptiste Martin said in a statement. “We see this as a critical role at a critical point in FX, and we couldn’t be more excited to have Brian join the FX Family,” he continued.

Rogers is a professional engineer who has been working in medical devices for more than 20 years, including 10 years with Zimmer followed by eightyears in Switzerland with Stryker, Bracco, and Medacta. Most recently, he was working with Argon Medical since returning to the US in April 2019.

In his new role, Rogers will combine the FX-USA/FX-Global QARA teams into one cohesive team with some major milestones in his sights.

Dallas Fintech Zirtue Appoints New Director of Engineering

Dallas-based fintech Zirtue, a leading relationship-based lending app with a mission to drive financial inclusion, has appointed Hayley Berkebile as director of engineering.

Hayley Berkebile

In that role, Berkebile is responsible for leading Zirtue’s engineering team and overseeing the company’s deep technical roadmap, scope, and priorities, the company said. She will guide the company’s platform development strategy, technical architecture, and delivery across teams, partnerships, and external relationships..

She also will work across product, customer experience, and partner success teams to ensure Zirtue has a cohesive solution anchored in user experience and growth, the company said.

Based in Arlington, Virginia, Berkebile has nearly seven years of experience in engineering and started her professional career in 2016 as a software engineer at Accenture Federal Services, a subsidiary of Accenture.

She then worked at Storyblocks, a Washington, D.C. startup, as a software engineer from 2017 to 2019. She left Storyblocks in 2019 to become a senior software engineer at Upside Business Travel but returned to Storyblocks later that year.

As a BIPOC woman in tech, diversity, equity, and inclusion has a very prominent space in Berkebile’s life, and she’s led various employee resource groups at each of her previous companies.

Zirtue has raised $6.5 million in VC funding and more than $40 million in loans for bills and personalized IOUs have been processed on the platform, the startup said in a statement. The company recently won Money 20/20’s America’s Got Access pitch competition and was named in Business Insider’s list of the most promising fintechs changing the world of banking, trading, and investing.

Co-founder and CEO Dennis Cail was named a 2021 EY Entrepreneur of the Year honoree for the Southwest region and a Forbes Next 1000 2021 winner.

GlassView Appoints Renowned Professor to its Advisory Board

Dallas-based GlassView, the world’s largest independent video advertising distribution platform, announced that Michael L. Platt, director of the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative and co-founder of neuroscience wearables company Cogwear, will join the company’s advisory board.

Michael Platt

“While marketing and consumer motivation have historically been relegated to the softer sciences like sociology and psychology, Prof. Platt’s renowned work in neuroscience and neuromarketing provides us with ways to understand why people do what they do from a biological and even molecular level,” James Brooks, CEO and Founder of GlassView, said in a statement. “We’re ecstatic to have Professor Platt join our board to help us build out unique offerings for our client base. The fact that he’s already working with Fortune 100 brands and the Department of Defense adds a level of credibility that’s truly priceless.”

Platt has led extensive research about the biological mechanisms that underlie decision-making and their applications to business, and he will lend his expertise to GlassView’s ongoing work to build brand-consumer connections at the deepest levels, the company said in a statement.

Platt’s work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense, among others. He is the former director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke, and the founding co-director of the Duke Center for Neuroeconomic Studies. He currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of several companies, as well as the Yang-Tan Autism Centers at MIT and Harvard, and has served on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Brain Science.