Employees Complete Development Program
BERLIN — Taylor Bank recently announced the first group of individuals to complete its professional development program.
Established to meet the development needs of the bank’s next generation, the program included quarterly interactive sessions devoted to competencies common to leadership, including powerful communication, creating personal and organizational accountability, developing emotional intelligence, improving performance, time management and delegation, and more. The two-year program concluded with a group project and presentation to the bank’s executive team. To celebrate the occasion, the bank held an awards ceremony on Tuesday, Sept.
“We are extremely proud of this inaugural class of professionals,” said Raymond M. Thompson, President and CEO. “We applaud their accomplishment and thank them for their dedication, leadership and contributions.”
Individuals representing the Professional Development Class of 2019 were Ashley DeMarr, Electronic Services Specialist/PT Corporate Trainer; Tori Grundman, Marketing Manager; Meagan Farber, Staff Accountant; Hanna Ford, Operations Supervisor; Sarah Matthews, Senior Customer Service Associate; and Atif Gaddis, BSA Officer.
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Chambers Awards Announced
BERLIN — On Nov. 14, from 5:30-9 p.m., at the Ocean Downs Casino, the Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce will install four new board directors and honor several community leaders. Entitled, “A Las Vegas Extravaganza,” the evening will be full of glitz, glamour and surprises.
Andrea Hastings, Michael Burrier, Ashley Sloan and Derrick Elzey will join the chamber’s board officially at the banquet.
Event honorees will include Business of the Year, Matt Ortt Companies, LLC; Citizen of the Year, Jennifer Cropper-Rines; Non-Profit of the Year, Worcester Youth & Family Counseling Services; and Lifetime Achievement Award, Anna Foultz.
The public is welcome, tickets are $60 per person and sponsorship opportunities are available through OceanPinesChamber.org or call 410-641-5306
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Airport Scores Fed Grant
SALISBURY- Congressman Andy Harris (R-Md.) this week announced the award of a $1.1 million federal grant to the Salisbury-Ocean City-Wicomico Regional Airport.
“As a member of the Committee on Appropriations, I applaud the award of this grant to the Salisbury-Ocean City Regional Airport,” said Harris. “This facility is a key economic engine on the Eastern Shore that supports local high-paying technical and skilled jobs, as well as local business revenue and purchases. The investment of these federal funds will directly help our local economy now and in the future.”
The grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. It will fund the rehabilitation of the apron, taxiway and lighting at the regional airport, which supports over 1,600 local jobs.
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Associate Broker License Earned
BERLIN — Ed Balcerzak, a consistent top producing sales agent in the West Ocean City Berkshire Hathaway HomeService PenFed Realty’s office, recently obtained his associate broker’s license.
Ed Balcerzak
Balcerzak has a scope of real estate knowledge and experience that includes, but is not limited to, new construction, resale, commercial, agricultural as well as raw land.
“Ed shares Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty’s commitment to quality and customer service, and professional advancement.” said Jay Wise, sales manager of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty. “He is exactly the type of sales professional we are seeking, as we continue to grow the company, and increase our presence in the local community.”
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Sprout Creatives Migrating Clients To New Platform
BERLIN — Local web and marketing studio Sprout Creatives will be migrating all their client websites from Adobe Business Catalyst to a new platform called BlueberryCMS. Adobe announced the end of Business Catalyst back in March of 2018, giving their partners three years to move their existing sites to another platform.
“When we first learned of Adobe’s announcement, we were devastated,” said Paul Starkey, CEO of Sprout Creatives. “Then we picked up the phone and called our Stephen Decatur High School friend and former college roommate, Keith Mason. Once we explained our dilemma, Keith agreed to partner with us to develop an improved website management platform hosted on Amazon Web Services.”
MKason, CEO of Visual Data Software Corporation, said, “It was kind of like stepping back in time for us. Working together has been incredible. Our entire BlueberryCMS team share the same mantra, To inspire creativity for web designers all over the world.”
Software began developing a product called Website Content Management (WCM) in 2017. When the decision was made to join forces, WCM was rebranded BlueberryCMS. Sprout Creatives provided the features and user-experience design and VDS provided the powerful, modern code.
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Bank Promotion
SALISBURY — John W. Breda, President and CEO of The Bank of Delmarva, recently announced that Shelly Whaley was promoted within the corporation.
Shelly Whaley
Whaley joined the bank in 2007. She was recently promoted to the role of training officer. She has over 26 years of retail banking experience and has been training new hires for the bank since 2012. She received a degree in banking from The American Institute of Banking in 1988.
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Hospital Promotion
SALISBURY — Steven Leonard, President/CEO of Peninsula Regional Health System and Peninsula Regional Medical Center (PRMC), has announced the promotion of Bruce Ritchie to Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Peninsula Regional Health System.
Ritchie has served as the Vice President of Finance/CFO for both the medical center and health system since 2007, and has provided executive-level leadership for
Bruce Ritchie
areas including general accounting, patient accounting, credit and collections, payroll, accounts payable, admitting, outpatient registration, budgeting, cost accounting and reimbursement.
“Bruce has been an exceptional member of the Executive leadership team for several years. Since 2007, his leadership of the finance division and contributions to our strategy have led to the growth and stability of the system, ensuring we continue to meet the community’s healthcare needs,” said Leonard. “Over the last two years, we have been involved in significant efforts to integrate and form a regional healthcare system with Nanticoke Health Services and the McCready Foundation, and Bruce has been instrumental. We are fortunate to have Bruce on the team and congratulate him on this promotion.”
Ritchie joined PRMC in 1994. He has supervised and coordinated a number of finance department areas and activities at the manager, director and VP levels. With more than 35 years of healthcare experience, he is Peninsula Regional Health System’s primary expert on reimbursement issues and responsible for all treasury functions.
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Grand Opening Of Physical Therapy Clinic
OCEAN PINES – Hamilton Physical Therapy will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the grand opening of the new outpatient physical therapy clinic in the Food Lion Shopping Center in Ocean Pines on Tuesday Oct. 8, from 5- 7 p.m.
Co-Owner William “Billy” Hamilton Jr. has worked in the Ocean Pines community for the past 10 years and is excited to continue serving the community alongside his wife Jennifer.
“We’re happy to introduce our new practice to the area residents and business owners,” said Billy Hamilton Jr. “The ribbon cutting ceremony for Hamilton Physical Therapy marks the launch of our new Outpatient Physical and Hand Therapy Clinic in Ocean Pines.”
Both Billy and Jennifer Hamilton are looking forward to offering a few remarks regarding their new practice, and to assist in the ribbon cutting ceremony.
“We are excited to open our doors to the community to tour our new facility and to answer any questions about Physical and Hand Therapy,” said Jennifer Hamilton.
Billy and Jennifer Hamilton graduated from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore with their Doctor of Physical Therapy degrees. In addition, they are both Certified Hand Therapists, which makes them specialists in the hand, arm and shoulder.