BUSINESS PERSONNEL

Fred Higdon and Jim Ham have joined the staff at Mercantile Bank of Southeast Missouri-Cape Girardeau.

Higdon will serve as vice president and commercial lender at the 3060 William St. facility.

Higdon had worked in the lending department at the former Boatmen's Bank. He is a member of the Cape Girardeau and Jackson chambers of commerce and had served on the SEMO Fair Board.

Ham will serve as vice president and commercial lender at the 325 N. Kingshighway bank.

He formerly managed the credit administration department of Boatman's Bank.

He is a member of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce and serves on the board of the Private Industry Council.

John Marlin has been named president of the Missouri Division of Holigan Homes.

Holigan Homes, headquartered in Dallas, has four subdivisions in Cape Girardeau County.

"We have three sites open -- Cape Girardeau, Fruitland and Jackson -- with a fourth to open in the near future," said Marlin, who comes into Cape Girardeau from Dallas.

Marlin, who has been with Holigan Homes more than 18 months, will operate the Missouri Division out of 4660 State Highway 74 office, said the company was in the process of acquiring subdivision sites at a number of other Southeast Missouri sites -- Scott City, Sikeston, Dexter and Malden.

Charles Beal has joined ERA Cape Realty, 1409-A N. Mount Auburn Road, as a sales associate.

Beal's appointment was announced by David S. Glastetter, member/broker of the real estate firm.

ERA Real Estate is an international real estate franchise with 2,500 offices

Terry Bollinger of Jackson has been promoted to director of clinical professional services for the Cape Girardeau and Marble Hill IHS Home Care agencies.

Prior to moving into her new position, Bollinger worked for Integrated Health Services and First American Home Care as acting branch managers for the two agencies.

She will develop patient services and staff, train employees and oversee the clinical area of the agency.

Services provided by IHS include skilled nursing, home health aide and physical therapy. IHS has more than 1,000 offices in 40 states.

Bill Givens has been appointed used-car manager at Cape Toyota-Suzuki, 835 S. Kingshighway.

Givens of Cape Girardeau has been in retail auto sales for more than seven years.

Drs. Robert Kessinger and Dessy Boneva of Kessinger Specific Chiropractic Clinic, 1424 Kurre Lane, recently attended a specific chiropractic brain stem conference as part of the Kale Certification Residency Program in Spartanburg, S.C.

Kessinger is a Kale-certified instructor and served as a guest speaker at the conference. Boneva is also a member of the Kale Network, founded by Dr. Michael Kale.

KFVS-12 received three first-place honors and four certificates of merit during the 1997 Missouri Broadcasters Awards, recently at Lake of the Ozarks.

The television station received firsts for "Heartland News" in the "Best Complete Newscast" category. Mary-Ann Maloney's "Making the Grade" was first in "Best News Series." A Mary-Ann's Heartland Kids episode, "Walk a Mile In My Shoes," also received a first in the "Children's Programming" category.

Michael J. Williamson, president and chief executive officer of Empire Bank, Springfield, has been elected chairman of the Missouri Banker Association.

New MBA officers were elected during the organization's annual convention at Lake of the Ozarks.

E.L. Burch of Platte Valley Bank of Missouri in Liberty was elected chairman of the board and Larry L. Snyder, president and CEO of Hamilton Bank, was appointed to serve as treasurer.