Across North Texas, companies are promoting and hiring people to take on leadership positions within their organizations. Dallas Innovates covers prominent personnel moves in Dallas-Fort Worth businesses and nonprofits—from the newest startups to well-established companies. Here are people moves tied to innovation and technology in the region.

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Gibson becomes JLL’s CEO of Capital Markets after acquisition

Mark Gibson

HFF’s Mark Gibson will join Jone Lang LaSalle as CEO of Capital Markets, America after it was announced that JLL will buy HFF in a cash and stock deal valued at about $2 billion. 

Gibson, who is based in Dallas, will serve as co-chair of JLL’s Global Capital Markets Board. At HFF, Gibson served as CEO.

McBride joins Modo as chief information security officer

Matt McBride

Matt McBride has joined Modo as its chief information security officer after serving four years as executive vice president at Genesis10.

Modo, a bank-grade fintech-as-a-service platform, said that McBride brings more than 30 years of security and technology experience to its team. He has extensive experience in cybersecurity, digital transformation, and building nimble technology teams using agile and scrum.

Perry joins Urban Air Adventure Park as CFO

Scott Perry

Scott Perry has joined Grapevine-based Urban Air Adventure Park as chief financial officer.

Urban Air is a leader in active indoor family entertainment, experiencing rapid growth in the past eight years with 240 parks open and under development.

Perry previously was CFO at Sport Clips, which grew from under 400 locations to nearly 1,800 during his 12 years with the company.

MTX Group names Frisco-based Sowell chief operations officer

Will Sowell

Albany, New York-based MTX Group Inc. announced the hiring of Will Sowell as its chief operations officer based out of the company’s Frisco office.

Sowell is a well-known member of the Frisco community who is currently serving currently on the City Council there. He was also named a recipient of the Citizen of the Year Award 2108 by the Frisco Chamber of Commerce.

MTX Group is a global implementation partner led by the Maverick Artificial Intelligence platform that enables enterprises to become fit-enterprise by migrating to the cloud technology.

Transplace appoints Robinson as chief human resources officer

Leigh Robinson

Leigh Robinson has been appointed as chief human resources officer at Frisco-based Transplace, a provider of transportation management and logistics technology.

She will lead the company’s human resources team and will oversee human resources strategies and functions, including talent management, leadership development, and compensation and benefits.

Robinson will report to CEO Frank McGuigan. Previously, she worked at Lennox.

Knippenberg joins AMN Healthcare as senior vice president

Jennifer Knippenberg

Jennifer Knippenberg has joined AMN Healthcare as senior vice president of recruiting process outsourcing solutions.

AMN Healthcare is an innovator in workforce solutions and staffing services to healthcare facilities across the nation. 

Knippenberg comes to AMN Healthcare with more than 15 years of experience in staffing and recruitment, most recently with PeopleScout as its global leader of client strategy.

Symphony RetailAI names Sterneckert as CMO

Kevin Sterneckert has joined Addison-based Symphony RetailAI, a global provider of artificial intelligence-enabled decision platforms, as chief marketing officer.

“Retailers win as they deliver excellent customer experiences. I’m impressed by Symphony RetailAI’s proven record of providing fresh and innovative approaches to predicting and responding to customer preferences,” Sterneckert said in a statement. “The company has pushed the limits of technology and created an incredible ecosystem of AI-enabled cloud solutions that drive true incremental value.”

Amerant Bank opens first Dallas office, names two execs

Kirk Gibson

Carlos Montoliu

Florida-based Amerant Bank has named two executives to run its first Loan and Deposit Production Office in Dallas.

Carlos Montoliu will head the bank’s new Dallas offices as executive vice president, Dallas market manager. Kirk Gibson takes on the job of vice president, Dallas relationship manager.

Montoliu has more than 30 years of experience in the banking industry, and Gibson brings 12 years of experience and a deep understanding of the financial and lending industries to his role.

Formerly known as Mercantil Bank, Amerant is the largest community bank headquartered in Florida with eight banking centers in Houston. The new Dallas office is at 5949 Sherry Lane, Suite 1070.

Long joins Greenberg Traurig’s Dallas office as a shareholder

Robert Long

Former federal prosecutor and senior attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Robert Long has joined the Dallas office of law Greenberg Traurig LLP as a shareholder.

Long’s experience at the SEC and the Financial Regulatory Authority, and as an assistant U.S. attorney and special assistant U.S. attorney, will give him insight to counsel clients on areas like financial services litigation, federal regulatory and administrative law, and white-collar defense and special investigations.

MBL Title hires Small as vice president of business development

Lee Small

Dallas-headquartered MBL Title announced that Lee Small has been hired as vice president of business development.

In that role, Lee will be responsible for developing and cultivating national clients and business opportunities in the commercial real estate field, as well as maintaining and enhancing relationships with existing clients and referral sources.

Since 2015, MBL Title has closed more than $3.5 billion in transactions, including individual transactions with insured values approaching $200 million.

Associa names Danys regional vice president

Dorian Danys

Dorian Danys has been promoted to regional vice president of continuous improvement by Associa, a Dallas-based community management company.

Danys brings more than 20 years of community management experience to her new role, having worked for Associa for more than eight years in several roles.

Danys will focus on operational excellence and implementing best practices across the company.

Logile Inc. names Clark as SVP of global sales

Daniel Clark

Southlake-based Logile Inc. announced that Daniel Clark will join the company as senior vice president of global sales.

Clark has 25 years of enterprise software experience, including 15 years that focused on retail workforce management solutions.

Logile is a retail workforce management and store operations technology provider. The company said that Clark’s hiring aligns with its ongoing growth and increases retail industry momentum.

Conger joins Avison Young in Dallas as a principal

John Conger

John Conger has joined Avison Young’s Dallas office as a principal, where he will be tasked with growing the company’s landlord-representation service-line coverage across North Texas.

Most recently, Conger was an executive vice president at Colliers International in Dallas.

Conger has 30 years of commercial real estate experience, and has helped negotiate more than $1 billion in lease and sales transactions. He has been responsible for the lease, sale, or oversight of more than 100 office buildings. 

Fresquez named to lead Methodist Mansfield Medical Center

Juan Fresquez

Juan Fresquez has been named president of Methodist Mansfield Medical Center by the Methodist Health System.

Fresquez has more than 28 years of acute care hospital management experience, and began his career at Parkland Hospital in Dallas.

Most recently, he served as chief operating officer of the Arizona Group-Carondelet St. Joseph’s Hospital. Before that, he was chief operating officer for Tenet Healthcare’s central region.

Wingstop adds two to its leadership team

Kevin Fish

Maurice Cooper

Dallas-based Wingstop Inc. has announced two additions to its leadership team: Maurice Cooper to the newly-create role of executive vice president, chief growth & experience officer, and Kevin Fish to senior vice president, digital. 

Cooper will maintain the responsibilities he held previously as chief marketing officer, while also overseeing the end-to-end guest experience, Wingstop said in a release. He’ll also lead Wingstop’s revenue-driving initiatives, including the national scale of delivery and digital innovation.

In his new role, Fish and his team will further Wingstop’s long-term vision to eventually digitize every transaction by enhancing the guest experience.

Food Logistics honors Rohan Guthal as ‘Rock Star of the Supply Chain’

Rohan Guthal, senior consultant at Dallas-based River Logic, has been named by Food Logistics to its 2019 Food Logistics Champions: Rock Stars of the Supply Chain award list.

Food Logistics is the only publication exclusively dedicated to covering the movement of product throughout the global food supply chain.

Guthal, who joined River Logic six years ago, will be profiled in the March issue of Food Logistics and on its website.

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