BUSINESS PERSONNEL

Bob Hoppmann, supervisor of The Pasta House Company Restaurants in Cape Girardeau and Carbondale, Ill., has been named 1995 "Restaurateur of the Year" by the Southeast Missouri Chapter of the Missouri Restaurant Association (MRA).

Hoppmann, who has more than 15 years in the restaurant business, started with The Pasta House a decade ago as general manager of the company's restaurant in Cape Girardeau.

He is chairman of the board for the Southeast Missouri Chapter of the MRA. He is also chairman of the Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory Board; secretary of the West End Merchants Association; and is a member of the Order of the Arrow, an Eagle Boy Scout and an assistant Scoutmaster for the VFW Boy Scout Troop 5.

Hoppmann started working in a fast-food restaurant at age 15. He joined The Pasta House Company as a kitchen manager and was selected to open a new franchise restaurant at Cape Girardeau 10 years ago. When the company opened its Carbondale restaurant, Hoppmann was selected as supervisor for the two restaurants.

Gayle Gorham of Jackson has joined Chateau Girardeau, 3120 Independence in Cape Girardeau, as marketing and public relations director.

Gorham's appointment was announced recently by Barbara Calvin, Chateau administrator.

Gorham previously worked as marketing and public relations director for AmeriFirst Bank in Cape Girardeau. She has 26 years experience in the banking industry.

Chateau Girardeau is a non-denominational, not-for-profit continuing care retirement center.

Kim L. Kirn, formerly of Perryville, has joined Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville as legal counsel for the university.

Kirn is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of Notre Dame Law School.

She has been associated with the state comptrollers office in Illinois since 1991.

She has been a practicing attorney in Illinois since 1985, first as associate attorney with the firm of Lord, Bissel and Brook in Chicago, and later with Chapman and Cutler in Chicago.

Angela R. Dillard of Mounds, Ill., has joined the Tip of Illinois Health Services Inc. staff as a branch secretary at the Cairo office.

Dillard received an associate of applied science degree in executive secretary from Shawnee Community College.

Tip, a home health agency, provides services in 26 Southern Illinois counties. The Cairo office serves residents in Alexander and Pulaski counties.

Jennifer Elfrink of Elite Travel, 354 Silver Springs Road, recently toured areas in Cancun, Mexico. Elfrink, a travel consultant, specializes in corporate and leisure travel.

Rick Anello, senior vice president and group creative director for D'Arcy in St. Louis, will be guest speaker at the October meeting of the Advertising Federation of Southeast Missouri, to be held Oct. 26 at Drury Lodge.

Anello, who directed the team that created the popular Budweiser frog commercials, is a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University.

Cost of the program is $10 for AAF members and $15 for non-members. Dinner is at 6:30 p.m.

Additional information is available by calling 651-2913 or 334-6697.

Stone Manes of Ceramo Company Inc., Jackson, has been elected treasurer of the Missouri Motor Carriers Association (MMCA).

Other officers elected during the MMCA convention earlier this month, include Mike Kelley of the Yellow Corp. of Overland Park, Kan., chairman; Ben Southwick of Tri-State Motor Transit of Joplin, first vice chairman; Richard Sitton of Sitton Motor Lines of Joplin, second vice president; and Rick Miller of Cetco Inc. of Sugar Creek, third vice president.

Lupe Abernathy of Perryville has joined D-J's Beauty Mart, 1020 N. Kingshighway, as a nail technician.

Abernathy, a California native, moved to the Southeast Missouri area three years ago, and is a fitness instructor at Universal Physique in Cape Girardeau, where she has worked more than two years.

She has seven years experience as a nail technician.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Basler, Tobacco Lane owners, and Shannon Bigham, assistant manager at the store in West Park Mall, have returned from a fall gift show in Kansas City.

While at the show, the Baslers selected some new collectible lines -- Sandicast and Pocket Dragons -- and added to some existing gifts and collectible lines, including Tom Clark Gnomes and Anheuser-Busch Steins.

Four people have received promotions with Excel Telecommunications.

Larry Grace is new executive director of the company; Larry Senn has been named regional training director at Scott City; Dixie Troyer is regional training director at Jackson; and Gerald Jansen is regional training director at Leopold.

The four were honored during a recognition dinner held at Delmonico's in Jackson recently.

Excel Telecommunications is based in Dallas.

Wayne Schweigert of the Family Inn Restaurant on Interstate 55 near Ste. Genevieve has been installed treasurer of the Missouri Restaurant Association (MRA).

Other officers are Cliff Harlow, owner and operator of Harlow's Restaurant in Chillicothe. and George Cascone of Cascone's Restaurant in Kansas City.

Schweigert, a banker 18 years before entering the restaurant business, has served on the MRA board of directors and is a trustee of the MRA Insurance Trust.

Joe Driskill, Missouri Department of Economic Development director, will be guest speaker at the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce Membership Drive program Thursday.

Driskill will speak at an "after-hours" mixer, to be held at First National Bank of Sikeston, following the one-day fall membership drive.

Dr. Robert Kessinger, Dr. Mike Anderson and Dr. Kimberly Coolidge, from Kessinger Specific Chiropractic Clinic, 1424 Kurre Lane, attended the Kale International Convention of Brain Stem Specialists held recently at Asheville, N.C.

Kessinger received an Outstanding Leadership Award in the Kale network. All three doctors are members of the Kale network.

Dr. Jai N. Dahiya, professor of physics at Southeast Missouri State University, was a speaker at the fifth International Symposium on the Recent Advances in Microwave Technology, held in Kiev, Ukraine, last month.

Dahiya presented a research paper, "Temperature Dependence of the Microwave Dielectric Response of Liquid Crystals," at the conference, attended by more than 250 scientists from 25 countries.