Career Moves

News about people who have been named or promoted to positions and news about business activities in North Carolina

New leader for electric cooperatives group

The North Carolina electric cooperatives have named Richard Thomas as chief executive officer.

The state's 27 cooperatives serve 2.4 million customers, more than either Progress Energy or Duke Power.

Thomas, 59, will lead the N.C. Electric Membership Corp., the cooperatives' organization, responsible for electricity-purchase contracts and transmission; the Tar Heel Electric Membership Association, the group that handles purchasing of equipment and materials; and the N.C. Association of Electric Cooperatives, the cooperatives' trade association and advocacy arm.

Thomas joined the electric cooperatives in 1995 as vice president of finance, and rose to senior vice president and general manager before being named CEO last week. Previously, he spent 10 years with the Northeast Texas Electric Cooperative.

In other moves ...

Theresa Ruleman joined Physician Billing Solutions/ Rose Shattuck and Associates in Raleigh as client services manager.

Todd Parrott was hired as group manager in the Durham headquarters of the John R. McAdams Co., a land development design firm.

Earl Haga of Youngsville joined Old North State Trust as a business and estate succession consultant. Old North State Trust is a financial services company.

Jeff Sheehan has been promoted to vice president for Raleigh industrial leasing at Duke Realty Corp. in Raleigh.

Jason Philbeck joined Sports & Properties of Raleigh as marketing coordinator. The company is a sports and entertainment marketing and development firm.

Jenna K. McCarty was promoted to banking officer at BB&T, at the Creedmoor Road branch in Raleigh.

Ethan Kaye was promoted to copywriter at S&R Communications Group, a health-care marketing and communications company in Durham. Fatimah Hakim joined as a graphic designer.

Carolin Harris was hired as art director on the Colony Tire and Fayetteville tourism accounts at The Republik, an advertising agency in Durham.

R. Michael Gray joined Captrust Financial Advisors as managing director of the financial planning group in Raleigh.

Kathy Beetham has been promoted to chief operating officer at Fluent Language Solutions, which provides interpreting and translation services from offices in Raleigh and Charlotte.

Cecil Walters was named vice president and city executive for Capital Bank's Siler City market.

John Dixon was hired at Brooks Bell Interactive as an interactive designer. Brooks Bell Interactive is an online advertising agency in Raleigh.

John R. Landry Jr. joined the Raleigh office of McAngus Goudelock & Courie as a lawyer.

John Chesebrough was hired as vice president of sales at Raleigh based FM:Sytems, which provides Web-based applications that improve facilities and space management, real estate and portfolio management and maintenance management.

David Brown joined JDavis Architects in Raleigh as a landscape architect.

Trevor Hopper was hired as an associate systems engineer at SyTech Business Solutions, a Raleigh-based information technology firm.

Shaun Frost of Raleigh joined Cogent Healthcare as regional medical director-Northeast.

Judy Williams joined Alexa Corp. as a loan officer. Cary-based Alexa specializes in mortgage, insurance, financial and real estate services.

Marcello Morgan joined Scienta Healthcare Education as scientific information specialist. Scienta collaborates with national and international faculty to develop continuing medical education in a variety of therapeutic areas.

On the boards ...

Leslie O'Toole, a partner with law firm Ellis & Winters, was named the 2006-2007 president of the N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys. She works from the Raleigh office of Ellis & Winters.

J. Anthony Penry, a partner with Taylor Penry Rash & Riemann in Raleigh, was appointed by Gov. Mike Easley to the board of trustees for Wake Technical Community College.

Gaye Burwell, a senior sales manager for builder services at Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston, was appointed leader of the National Sales and Marketing Council of the National Association of Home Builders.

Patty Briguglio, president of MMI Associates, has been named to the selection committee for the National Federation of Independent Business 2006 Regional Small Business Champion.

Russell B. Killen, a partner with Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein in Raleigh, was appointed to the advisory committee on school construction by the Wake County Board of Commissioners and the Wake County Board of Education.

Wake Technical Community College Foundation has three new members on its board of directors: Rachael Selisker, executive vice president and chief financial officer for AAIPharma; Mark David Milliron, vice president for education and medical practice at SAS; and Ed Turlington, a Raleigh attorney who served as chief of staff for then-Gov. Jim Hunt.

Julia Carpenter, president of the N.C. Museum of Art Society board, and R. Bruce Thomson II, a partner at Parker, Poe, Adams and Bernstein, were reappointed to the board of trustees for the UNC Center for Public Television.