BUSINESS PERSONNEL

Robert A. Walz, distribution supervisor of the Southeast Missourian newspaper, was named first vice president-elect of the Missouri Circulation Manager's Association during the group's annual meeting at Lake of the Ozarks.

Walz, who has been with the Southeast Missouri since 1994, oversees home delivery and single-copy distribution. He will serve a one-year term as first vice president before being named president of the organization in 2000.

Mark Kneer, circulation director of the Southeast Missourian, is the group's outgoing president and will serve as a board member. He received a plaque for outstanding leadership of the association.

Kneer coordinated the 1998 annual meeting, held in October. Circulation representatives from newspapers around the state attended the conference.

Kneer joined the Southeast Missourian in 1994 and serves as a board member of several local and state organizations.

The Board of Commissioners of the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority recently elected officers for 1999.

Ron Whitaker of Chaffee was elected chairman of the board; John Thompson of Jackson, vice-chairman; Mike Marshall of Sikeston, treasurer; and J. Ronald Fischer of Cape Girardeau, secretary.

Susan Hayes of Marble Hill has joined Heartland Realty, 2141 E. Jackson Blvd., Jackson, as a member of the company's sales staff.

Hayes previously worked at Jetton and James Real Estate in Marble Hill, where she was a million-dollar producer.

The first annual Team Excellence Award was presented recently by Cape Girardeau City Manager Michael G. Miller to the Personnel Manual Team.

The Personnel Manual Team spent more than two years developing a new manual for all city employees.

Receiving the award were Regina Hunt, human resources; Max Jauch, fire department; Dianna Barnes, inspections; Steve Cook, public works; Carol Peters, airport; Tamara Walker, finance; Gayle Conrad, city manager's office; Terrell Weaver, parks and recreation; Janet Maevers, finance; and, Randy Roddy, police.

The award recognized the completion of the new manual and quality of work on the manual

A number of service awards were presented.

Jerry L. Reppert of Anna, Ill., has been nominated as director for Region 5, by the National Newspaper Association nominating committee.

Region 5 includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Reppert is publisher of the Cairo Citizen and Anna Gazette. Reppert is involved in numerous newspaper organizations. He is a member and former president of both the Southern Illinois Editorial Association and Illinois Press Association. He is Illinois state chairman for the National Newspaper Association and chairman of the NNA's Governmental Affairs Conference, which is held in Washington.

Frank Fisher has been named chief of the Associated Press in Jackson, Miss.

Fisher, 38, will be in charge of AP operations in Mississippi. He succeeds Robert Naylor, who has been promoted to bureau chief in Albany.

Fisher joined the AP in Albany in 1989 and worked in Jackson for two years before being named AP correspondent in Carbondale, Ill., in 1992. He remained in Carbondale until 1996 when he transferred to Augusta, Maine.

He is a native of San Francisco and a graduate of California State University at Long Beach.

Dr. Raymond A. Ritter Jr. recently attended the "Workers' Compensation Case Management" course in Seattle.

The three-day event featuring 15 speakers was provided by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Speakers discussed workers' compensation management from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Ritter provides care and treatment of musculoskeletal diseases and injuries, including workers' compensation injuries. He is one of eight physicians on staff at Orthopaedic Associate of Southeast Missouri, P.C.

Dr. Walter A. Schroeder Jr., of Cape County Otolarlyngology-Head and Neck Surgery, P.C., 3202 Blattner Drive, Cape Girardeau, has been appointed to two committees of the American Academy of Otolariyngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Dr. Harold C. Pillsbury III of the academy announced recently that Schroeder had been appointed to the community-academic relationship committee and to the interprofessional relations committee.

Marta Green broker and co-owner of Classic Real Estate Ltd., Better Homes and Gardens, 113 S. Broadview, Cape Girardeau, has received the designation of Accredited Representative.

Two staff members of the Cape Girardeau real-estate agency, Sharan Light and Karen Lewis, received designations of Accredited Relocation Agents by Relocation Resources Inc., an international relocation company.

Green, Lewis and Light attended a four-day seminar at Atlanta for training in their new designations, by Relocation Resources Inc., which helps relocating employees to sell, find and finance homes throughout the country.