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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Lantern Pharma names two new members to its board

Vijay Chandru

Lantern Pharma, a biotech company leveraging AI and genomics, announced the appointment of Franklyn Prendergast and Vijay Chandru to its board of directors.

Lantern is headquartered in Dallas and Kearney, New Jersey. Jeffrey Keyser will continue as the chairman of Lantern Pharma’s board of directors, according to a statement. Prendergast and Chandru bring clinical, scientific, and technological depth with them to their new appointments.

Prendergast has held numerous leadership positions throughout his medical career, including serving as the director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Care Center and as the director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota.

Chandru is the co-founder and director of Strand Life Sciences, one of India’s clinical research and diagnostics companies.

Richards names longtime employee Dady as his successor

Longtime employee Glenn Dady will take over daily operations of the Dallas brand-focused agency The Richards Group on Jan. 1, according to Stan Richards, The Richards Group’s founder and creative director.

Stan Richards and Glenn Dady [Image: Courtesy The Richards Group]

Although he’s turning over most of his duties, Richards isn’t planning on retiring. Richards founded the firm more than 40 years ago and expects to remain hands-on. 

“I’m not going anywhere,” Richards said in a statement, “and will still come to work every day doing the thing I love most: making sure our creative product continues to get better.”

The change in leadership was shared during the agency’s annual year-end meeting with The Richards Group’s 752 employees.

Dady has been with The Richards Group for 39 years, joining in 1980 after graduating from ArtCenter College of Design. Dady has been instrumental in the creative direction for some of the company’s most iconic work, according to a statement.

“Now is the time to name my successor, while I’m still active and engaged in the business,” Richards said in a statement. “Glenn has been by my side for nearly four decades and has played a critical role in making The Richards Group what it is today. He has always been one of the most innovative, imaginative creative leaders of the agency—but maybe most importantly, no one has done more to identify and nurture the talent so critical to the work we do than Glenn.”

McKinney joins RKD Group as SVP

Glenn McKinney

Veteran nonprofit fundraising executive and agency professional Glenn McKinney has joined Richardson-based RKD Group as its senior vice president.

McKinney is expected to lead RKD’s team that provides multichannel fundraising and marketing services to a growing roster of rescue missions nationwide, according to a statement. Before joining RKD, McKinney led the rescue mission services group at the Grizzard/One & All agency for 15 years. Previously, he was the director of development at New York City Rescue Mission and The Bowery Mission.

RKD is a fundraising, marketing, and data services provider to hundreds of nonprofit organizations.

Miller joins Colonial Savings as senior relationship manager

Troy Miller

Troy Miller has joined Fort Worth-based Colonial Savings F.A.’s Lewisville Bank Division as its newest senior relationship manager. 

Miller will work within its Commercial Banking Division to maintain existing business banking relationships and provide leadership, training, and support to loan officers and other banking staff, according to a statement.

Miller brings more than 20 years of experience in the banking industry where he has specialized in educating diverse customers on various banking products and services. 

Westling appointed as Catastrophic Services Operation VP at Crawford & Co.

Maureen Westling

Georgia-headquartered claims services provider Crawford & Co. has appointed Maureen Westling to its newly created position of vice president of U.S. Catastrophe Services Operations. She’s based in Dallas.

Westling will be responsible for the division’s strategic and tactical direction, as well as the operations and financial performance of U.S. Catastrophe Services.

Westling is expected to focus on strengthening and building relationships with new and existing clients and will be instrumental in delivering Crawford’s solutions to the marketplace.

Kubota’s Stucke named treasurer of equipment makers’ association

Todd Stucke

Todd Stucke, the senior vice president of marketing, product support, and strategic projects for Grapevine-headquartered Kubota Tractor Corp., has been elected to serve on the 2020 board of directors as treasurer for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.

The association is the North American-based international trade group for the off-road equipment manufacturing industry, according to a statement.

Stucke has been a part of Kubota’s executive team since 2013 and is an industry veteran with 30 years of experience in both equipment and agriculture. He’s responsible for ensuring that Kubota’s marketing, product support, dealer infrastructure, and special projects achieve excellence in customer experience, according to a statement. Stucke has served on the association’s board in various roles since 2014.

North Dallas Bank & Trust selects two new board members

North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. has elected two new members to its board of directors.

Mary Pat Higgins, president and CEO of the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, and Timothy John Jordan, managing director of Dallas-Capital Markets for JLL, were both elected for service effective Jan. 1.

Established in 1961, North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. is an independent bank with five locations and assets of $1.3 billion.

Nandrasy joins Amy Stewart Law as principal

LaDawn Nandrasy

Appellate lawyer LaDawn Nandrasy has joined the Dallas law firm Amy Stewart Law as a principal, according to a statement.

Amy Stewart Law is an insurance coverage law firm. Nandrasy is expected to lead its appellate practice.

Nandrasy has nearly three decades of experience handling civil appeals, according to a statement. She also has 10 years of experience as a managing partner of her previous law firm.

Communities Foundation of Texas selects next board chair, three members

Alfreda Norman

Rob Walters

The Communities Foundation of Texas has announced that Alfreda Norman is its next board chair and Arcilia Acosta, Greg Campbell, and Rob Walters have been named as new members of the foundation’s board of trustees. 

The foundation’s trustees are selected for their wide-ranging knowledge of community needs, charitable service, demonstrated leadership, and fiscal responsibility, according to a statement.

Arcilia Acosta

Greg Campbell

Trustees serve as stewards of $1.1 billion in assets across more than 1,000 charitable funds, overseeing the largest community foundation in Texas and one of the largest in the United States, according to a statement. Communities Foundation of Texas also operates Educate Texas, a statewide education initiative.

David Kirkpatrick contributed to this report.

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