Alan Diskin
Kolleen Kelley
Jon Krieg
Christine Tassone
Kolleen Kelley was named 2014 Realtor of the Year by the Nevada Association of Realtors. Kelley, of Golden Real Estate, served as 2014 president after being president-elect in 2013. She also is a past president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. Also honored were Dave Tina, Urban Nest Realty, Nevada Distinguished Realtor; Kenneth Gragson, Barrett & Co., Realtor Active in Politics; Patty Kelley, Kelley & Associates, Joe Nolan Award recognizing spirit, passion and professionalism.
Thirteen members of the Nevada Association of Realtors completed the Leadership NVAR 2014 program, including Jane Armstrong-Morse, Janet Carpenter and Vandana Chima-Bhalla, Signature Real Estate Group; Jim Fong and Julie Youngblood, Keller Williams Realty Southwest; Dave Tina, Urban Nest Realty; Lisa Weber, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services; Darra Williams, Signature Gallery of Homes; and Robert Little, Re/Max Advantage.
Jon Krieg is a financial services representative and Christine Tassone is a mortgage loan originator at Clark County Credit Union.
Donna DeMarco is vice president, relationship manager at Meadows Bank.
Alan Diskin is executive director of the College of Southern Nevada Foundation, an independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to support and advance the college by raising private money to help its students, faculty and staff. Diskin was president of Las Vegas Junior Achievement.
Maria Blondeaux is chief operating officer of Niche Media. Blondeaux began her career at Creel Printing and has worked at Niche Media since 2006. Blondeaux will continue to serve as vice president of manufacturing for Greenspun Media Group, Niche Media’s former parent company. GMG publishes VEGAS INC and The Sunday.
Lauren Taylor Whitaker is a physical therapy assistant at Matt Smith Physical Therapy. She will work at the company’s Stephanie clinic, 1505 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 240, in Henderson.
The Las Vegas Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction announced 2015 officers and directors. Debbie Mello of Desert Lumber is president, Heidi Zupancic of McCarthy Building Companies is vice president, Julie Barraza of Westcor Companies is recording secretary, Cheri Hickman of Diversified Communications Solutions, Inc. is corresponding secretary, Kathy Hope of M & K Heating & Cooling is treasurer, and Liz Teramoto of Tiberti Co. is immediate past president. Directors are Gina Moore, Excalibur/Luxor; Barbara Mumma, Sierra Ready Mix; and Deby Curry, Desert Truss.
The Las Vegas Business Academy appointed its 2015 executive board. Max Tappeiner, hotel manager at Mandarin Oriental, is president. Steve Arcana, chief operating officer of Golden Gaming, Inc., is executive vice president; Marc Rubinstein, senior vice president of Affinity Gaming, is chief legal officer; Paola Armeni, a partner at Gordon Silver law firm, is chief administrative officer; Courtney Orrock, vice president of analytics and underwriting at Wyndham Consumer Finance, is chief financial officer; and Joe Haro, director of sponsorships at Hakkasan Group, is chief marketing officer. Outgoing President Frank Rigley will consult as honorary president.
The Nevada System of Higher Education board of regents approved the Desert Research Foundation board of trustees. Officers, who serve two-year terms, are chairman Charles T. Creigh Jr., principal/broker, NewMarket Advisors (Las Vegas); vice chairwoman Stephanie Tyler, president, AT&T Nevada (Reno); treasurer Soraya Tabibi Aguirre, partner, Holland and Hart (Carson City); and secretary Holger Liepmann, retired executive vice president of nutritional products, Abbott Laboratories (Incline Village). New board members, who serve four-year terms, are W. Michael Fagan, venture capitalist (Reno); Tom Skancke, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, (Las Vegas); and Pat Egan, senior vice president of customer operations at NV Energy (Las Vegas). Reappointed board members include C. Joseph Guild III, attorney (Reno); ; and John R. Worthington, retired senior vice president, MCI Corp. (Reno).
Kirk Jacobson and Chris Wilcox opened JW Advisors. They were two of the founding partners of Johnson Jacobson Wilcox. Their new firm will specialize in business financial consulting, litigation support, forensic accounting, assurance and tax services.
Ron Eagle is senior vice president of public relations at R&R Partners. Eagle’s duties include working with government and public affairs leaders in Washington, D.C., and Mexico City.
Raymond Bartreau, CEO of Best Rate Referrals, and Jon Gedde, senior mortgage adviser at Alderus Funding, were named two of Mortgage Professional America Magazine’s Hot 100 for 2015. Ten teams that submitted proposals for Strong Cities Strong Communities Las Vegas, a global economic development challenge, have advanced to Phase 2 of the competition after a vote by the Las Vegas City Council. The council also voted to award prizes to the top three proposals. A first-place prize of $60,000 was awarded to “Build a Vibrant Las Vegas,” a local multidisciplinary team that proposed to create an unmanned aerial and robotics resource center at Cashman Center; $30,000 was awarded to a team from Gensler, a global architecture and design firm with offices in Las Vegas, which developed a proposal for Cashman Center to become a geographic center for sustainability; and $10,000 was awarded local architect Eric Strain and community developer Arnold Stalk for their plan to develop a mixed-use Mid-Strip/Main Street project. Phase 2 prizes are expected to be voted on by the city council in May.
Neonatologist Farooq Abdulla joined the Foundation for Positively Kids team and is seeing patients at the Child Haven campus at 701 N. Pecos Road, Las Vegas. Abdulla cares for premature and medically fragile infants.
Robin Civish is the 2015 president of the Southern Nevada chapter of Certified Commercial Investment Members. Civish, of Voit Real Estate Services, received her CCIM designation in 2009 and has served as a chapter director since 2010. Other 2015 board of director members and officers are Jarrad Katz, Phillip Dunning, Cathy Jones, Carol Cline-Ong, Adam Gregory, Eric Larkin, Devin Lee, Richard Lybbert, Ryan Martin, Chris Richardson, Cindy Santilena, Stacy Scheer and Brian Sorrentino.