Mohawk names Demboski new VP
Mohawk Industries has tapped long-time flooring marketer and communications expert Elise Demboski as vice president of creative services. Demboski has more than 20 years experience managing high profile brands in the floor covering industry. In addition to leading the company's creative, public relations and Internet marketing teams, Demboski will develop innovative programs and campaigns that enhance Mohawk's residential and commercial presence.
"Elise is a visionary with a proven record of leading successful marketing campaigns in the flooring industry," said David Duncan, vice president of marketing at Mohawk.
Demboski comes to Mohawk from Wools of New Zealand, where she worked in partnership with manufacturers, retailers and designers to increase awareness and sales of Wools of New Zealand brand carpets and rugs. Demboski also previously worked as an industry consultant for several leading flooring providers and served as communications manager for Karastan, a division of Mohawk Industries.
She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and has pursued postgraduate business studies.
Plecas to head PR for Wacker
Wacker Chemie AG has appointed Amanda Plecas as site communications manager for the fully integrated polysilicon production plant currently under construction in Cleveland, Tenn.
"Amanda's integrated communications mindset, proven leadership skills and background in technology make her uniquely positioned to lead our communications in Cleveland," said William J. Toth, director of corporate communications for Wacker Chemical Corp.
Prior to joining Wacker Polysilicon, Plecas was director of public relations at WTCI, the Tennessee Valley's PBS station, and creative director at Waterhouse Public Relations where she served a variety of local, regional and national organizations with branding, full-service public relations plans, special events and graphic design.
Before entering the field of public relations, Plecas was a technical writer and developer of computer/Web-based training modules.
Plecas holds a Master of Arts in Rhetoric and Composition and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She is a graduate of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce's "Leadership Chattanooga" program 2008-2009.
Tarver manager for MAU Workforce
MAU Workforce Solutions, a staffing and recruiting firm in Augusta, Ga., has hired Kevin Tarver as business development manager for the company's Chattanooga office.
Tarver's job responsibilities include overseeing sales and business development within the Chattanooga, TN area.
Prior to working for MAU, he earned a Bachelor's degree from Bethel University in Process Management. Tarver's previous job responsibilities included managing the business operations of an international call center company.
Tarver and his wife, Tanya, have two children in Harrison.
Local dentists win state dental awards
Chattanooga dentists Stephen A. Brooks and Zachary F. Carden, Jr., received top awards from the Tennessee Dental Association during the group's recent Music City Dental Conference.
Brooks, who has practiced dentistry in Chattanooga for more than 40 years, received the Jack Wells Memorial Dedication to Dentistry Award. The honor, named for the former Dean of the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry, recognizes individuals whose careers reflect quality of dental practice, service to organized dentistry, contribution to dental education and humanitarian service.
A Chattanooga native, Brooks is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and served from 1982 to 2000 in editor roles for the Journal of the Tennessee Dental Association. Dr. Brooks also held virtually every office in his local society and the state association, culminating as President of the Chattanooga Area Dental Society (1992-1993) and of the TDA (2001-2002).
Dr. Brooks and his wife, Carol, have two sons, Mark Brooks and Christopher Brooks, PhD.
Carden received the Tennessee Dental Association's Distinguished Service Award at the Music City Dental Conference in Nashville.
The award honors individuals who have served the TDA in leadership at the state level more than six years. Carden served as a trustee and vice president for the dental group before being elected as TDA president in 2009-2010.
A Chattanooga native, Carden is a graduate of Carson-Newman College and served as a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam. He earned his dental degree from the University of Tennessee and practiced general dentistry in Chattanooga for more than 33 years before retiring in 2008.
Carden is a Fellow in the American College of Dentists and the Pierre Fauchard Academy. In 2002, he received the coveted TDA Fellowship Award for outstanding service to dentistry in Tennessee. Carden and his wife, Anne, live in Harrison.
Nicola opens office at Erlanger mall
Paula C. Nicola, M.D. recently opened Eyecare Chattanooga in the Erlanger Medical Mall.
Dr. Nicola is board certified and sees patients of all ages from newborns to the elderly.
Completely paperless, the state-of-the-art office features the latest in ophthalmology care and technology.
Dr. Nicola graduated from the University of South Alabama College of Medicine in 2002. After starting her Ophthalmology residency at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga at Erlanger Hospital, she completed her training at the University of Texas at Houston in June 2006. She returned to Chattanooga and began seeing patients in July 2006, became board certified in 2009 and opened her own practice in 2011.
Eyecare Chattanooga's office hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nicola lives in Chattanooga with her husband, 6-year-old twin daughters and one year-old daughter.
Dental clinic wins service award
Hope for the Inner City's Dr. William Roy Mercy Dental Clinic, which for 25 years has served low-income Chattanoogans who are without insurance or access to basic dental care, has received the Tennessee Medical Association's 2011 Community Service Award.
The award was presented to Allison Taylor, the clinic's coordinator, at a recent ceremony on Nashville.
"It is really a tribute to the numerous Chattanooga area dentists, hygienists and dental aides who have dedicated untold hours of volunteer service in the name of Jesus Christ, to serve the poorest of the poor," Taylor said.
Dr. Roy, the clinic's late founder and a well-known Chattanooga dentist, envisioned a clinic that would serve low-income people with proper dental care and pain management, following a missions trip to Haiti in the 1980s. Dr. Roy died in 2008, and today the clinic is a joint effort between Hope for the Inner City and the Chattanooga Area Dental Society.
Since its founding in 1985, thousands of desperate patients have left the clinic with reduced pain and newfound hope.
Hope for the Inner City is a Christian ministry in East Chattanooga that helps poor people in perpetual crisis become self-sufficient.
Prystup wins minority award
The National Minority Supplier Development Council recently recognized Chattanooga native J. Leslie Prystup for one of its top business honors.
Prystup is chief executive officer of Prystup Packaging Products in Livingston, Ala., which provides labels, point-of-purchase advertising materials, and a range of cardboard cartons for packaging dry food, consumer goods and electronic products. With 152 employees and more than $28.1 million in sales last year, Prystup Packaging Products worked with a total of 26 minority vendors during 2010 and nearly three fourths of the company's staff are minority employees.
Prystup, who graduated from Notre Dame High School, began his career with the Container Corporation of America, where he worked for 11 years before forming his own company.