BUSINESS PERSONNEL

Dr. Ken Heischmidt, professor of marketing at Southeast Missouri State University, has been named director of the university's master of business administration program, scheduled to start this fall.

Between 60 and 100 students are expected to enroll in the program, which includes four night classes this fall.

The MBA program was begun in response to needs expressed during strategic planning forums held throughout the region in late 1994.

Heischmidt holds doctoral degrees in business administration and educational psychology and counseling from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He has a master of science degree in counseling from Illinois State University and a master of business administration degree and bachelor of science degree in business, both from Eastern Illinois University.

He has been at Southeast Missouri State University since 1985. In addition to his new duties as MBA program director, he has been director of International Business Programs for the Donald L. Harrison College of Business since last fall. He has served as acting chair of the Department of Marketing and has experience teaching courses in consumer behavior, marketing management and marketing strategy.

He has published more than 50 articles on business and health-related topics during the past 10 years.

Mary Gunn has joined Elite Travel Inc. in Cape Girardeau as a travel consultant.

Gunn, who moved to Cape Girardeau from Fairbanks, Alaska, is a graduate of Carlson Travel Academy in St. Louis.

She lived in Alaska 26 years and has traveled to Hawaii, the Cook Islands, Russian Far East, Canada and many places in the United States.

Duane Highley, an engineer with Associated Electric Cooperative, will become plant manager at that company's New Madrid power plant in December.

Highley, who joined Associated Electric in 1982 as an engineering intern, will assume duties as associate plant manager July 8.

He received his bachelor's degree in engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1983. In 1991, he received his bachelor's and master's degree in engineering management from the UM-Rolla.

Highley succeeds Jim McClure who resigned as plant manager in June.

Associated Electric, headquartered in Springfield, Mo., provides wholesale power to 43 electric cooperatives in Missouri and Iowa.

Paul D. Gard has joined First Financial Bank of Southeast Missouri at Sikeston, as executive vice president at the main branch of the bank.

Gard, a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University with a bachelor of science degree in agriculture and a minor in business administration, previoulsy served as assistant vice president of agribusiness at Citizen First Financial Bank in Dexter.

Dr. Keith Cooper, a 1996 graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry, has opened a dental practice at Perryville.

Cooper is a graduate of Notre Dame High School, and Southeast Missouri State University.

He is the son of Kenneth and Diane Cooper of Cape Girardeau.

Howard Meagle, president of AFLAC Broadcasting's Southern Division and KFVS-12 general manager, has been re-elected to the National Association for Broadcasters (NAB) board of directors.

Meagle has worked in radio and television about 30 years, 14 of them with AFLAC Broadcasters, parent company of KFVS-12.

He currently serves on the NAB Children's Television Committee, which develops programming ideas for the education needs of children. He also serves on the NAB On-Air Initiative Committee, which creates public service campaigns for national awareness.

The NAB is the professional organization for broadcasters, representing television and radio stations across the country.

J. Charles Stotz, executive director of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation, has been elected to serve on the National Association for Healthcare Philanthropy Foundation Board.

Stotz, whose term begins in September, recently published four articles on volunteer management in the YMCA national magazine, "Perspective."

Before joining the staff at Southeast Hospital in 1988, Stotz served 15 years with the YMCA, including a number of years as executive director of a branch YMCA in New Haven, Conn.

Model winners of a recent Mary Kay Cosmetics model night, presented by the Jana Jateff Unit, were Stacey Bollinger, Laurie Alkan, Juanita Holderbaugh and Tracey Hastings.

David Willis, an investment broker at the Cape Girardeau branch of A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., 97 N. Kingshighway, recently received the designation of trust specialist.

Requirements for the designation include an established track record in assisting clients with their trust and estate planning needs and attending an advanced estate planning program at the company's headquarters in St. Louis.

The training sessions include a variety of estate, trust and retirement planning topics.

Willis of Cape Girardeau joined A.G. Edwards in 1991. He is a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

A.G. Edwards is a St. Louis-based brokerage and investment banking firm with more than 47 branch offices nationwide.