Awards

ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERING

Gannett Fleming of East Pennsboro Township gave its 2013 President’s Innovation Award to Brian Rudolph, a regional office manager with affiliate GeoDecisions. Rudolph originally developed ElectriMap for a small municipality project. The application now helps model electric utility assets, maintain network infrastructure and integrate with other applications, allowing field crews to perform real-time tasks, such as inventory and pole inspections.

DESIGNATIONS

The Pennsylvania Bar Association named Dean V. Dominick and Drew P. Gannon certified workers’ compensation specialists. They are lawyers with Katherman Briggs & Greenberg LLP in York and focus their practice on workers’ compensation. They each have a law degree from Dickinson School of Law.

Louisiana-based Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. named Sharlene Beckwith a certified military residential specialist, which includes training on how to help active and former military service members obtain mortgages and purchase homes. Beckwith is a sales agent with Manheim Township-based Coldwell Banker Select Professionals.

EDUCATION

Shippensburg University gave Outstanding Young Alumnus awards to James A. DeGaetano (class of 1999), Gerald E. Johnson (’95), Jason S. Kirsch (’95) and Stacia Thieman Ritter (’97). DeGaetano is a former audit manager and broker who started JD Financial Services, which does business as First Command Financial Planning, almost six years ago. Johnson is an assistant district attorney with the felony narcotics unit of the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office. He also was employed with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP and Eckert Seamans Cherin & Merlott LLC. He has a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Kirsch is director of brand and consumer engagement with Capital BlueCross. He also was employed with the former Dauphin Deposit Bank, HealthCentral Inc., the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Sacunas & Saline and Metro Bank. Ritter is director of government affairs with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Previously, she held numerous staff positions with the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and she also has been solicitor of several municipalities. She has a law degree from Widener School of Law.

East Lampeter Township-based S. Dale High Family Foundation gave $20,000 scholarship awards to Nathan Cummings and Rachel Simmons of Lancaster. Each scholarship will provide $5,000 per year over four years. Cummings is the son of Kevin Cummings, a residential maintenance leadperson with High Associates Ltd. He is a graduate of Ephrata High School, where he is was a member of the National Honor Society, the Tri-M Music Society and Jazz Band. He played baseball throughout high school and also was active in his church youth group. He plans to study business administration at Delaware Valley College. Simmons is the daughter of Jenni Simmons, a corporate benefits administrator with High Co. LLC. She is a graduate of Lampeter-Strasburg High School, where she is a member of the National Honor Society, publicist and treasurer for the student council and captain of varsity cheerleading. She also is active in the community and her church youth group. She plans to attend Shippensburg University.

Lanco Federal Credit Union gave Samantha Yoder its $2,000 2013 Gerald Fortney Memorial Scholarship. She is a graduate of Donegal High School and plans to major in international business at Bryant University.

Thomas Jefferson University gave Michael L. Fink its Alumni Emerging Leader Award. The award recognizes a graduate who has made significant contributions early in his career. Fink is an assistant professor of physical therapy with Lebanon Valley College, where he is instrumental in the success of physical therapy students, who boast a 100 percent job placement rate and a 100 percent pass rate on the board licensure exam. In 2003, he was the first Air Force physical therapist to be deployed with international special forces units into an overseas combat zone.