Cline named Pitt County JobLink Employee of the Year for 2005
Melvin "Tre'" Cline has been selected Pitt County JobLink Employee of the Year for 2005 by Pitt County JobLink partners and staff.

Cline, who began working at the Pitt County JobLink Center in June 2003 as a Veterans Association work study, is a resource room facilitator. He uses his computer knowledge to aid the center on projects beyond the scope of his position and maintains a consistent, pleasant attitude with customers and partners, a news release said.

Cline's extensive computer graphics experience has been used to make marketing brochures and flyers for job targets and job drives for local businesses and employers, including Cox Communications, Sprint, Adecco and the City of Greenville.

"Tre' always volunteers to come in early or stay late whenever we experience staff shortages," A.J. Tyson Jr., director of the Pitt County JobLink Career Center at Pitt Community College, said.

As Pitt County JobLink's Employee of the Year, Cline is qualified to be nominated for the statewide Wayne Daves Award for Outstanding Achievement in Workforce Development.

Farmville Internal Medicine adds Buck as family nurse practitioner
Tiffany Buck, a family nurse practitioner, has joined the staff at Farmville Internal Medicine.

Buck received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from NC State University and a bachelor's degree in nursing from East Carolina University. She completed her master's degree in nursing in 1997 and is certified by the American Nurse Credentialing Center as a family nurse practitioner.

As a family nurse practitioner, Buck provides health promotion and prevention services in addition to managing acute and chronic illnesses.

Mallard joins First South Bank
Larry W. Mallard has joined First South Bank in Washington as executive vice president of retail banking.

Mallard will be responsible for the planning, implementation, directing and evaluation of the bank's retail sales programs. He also will be involved in developing a relationship management sales and service program to achieve the bank's goals and objectives.

Mallard has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Before joining First South Bank, he was employed as the quality and productivity executive of consumer banking with Bank of America.

A Pollocksville native and Raleigh resident, Mallard is a graduate of East Carolina University, where he received his bachelor's degree in business administration.

First South Bank, headquartered in Washington, has 26 branch offices in North Carolina.

Thorne receives excellence award
Neal Thorne has been awarded the Facilities Services Award for Excellence at East Carolina University for the second quarter of 2005 in the category of Devotion to Duty.

Thorne is the senior steam shop maintenance mechanic. His knowledge of the campus' steam distribution infrastructure and experience maintaining and repairing the system is invaluable, particularly at critical times such as the steam plant's annual steam outage at which time the main steam and condensate headers are accessed for maintenance and repairs, a news release said. These headers and associated equipment service more than 40 buildings across ECU's more than 300-acre core campus.

Steam shop employees work an average of 70 hours each during the outage week, performing work under oppressive temperatures up to 140 degrees. If an employee misses work time during this week, other employees must work even longer to make up the deficit. On the night prior to the second day of the outage week, Thorne began suffering from a virus, and the symptoms were significant enough to justify sick leave.

However, Thorne was on the job but did not work in confined spaces with other employees. Instead, he worked in confined spaces alone and performed a number of jobs, not only pulling his share of the workload but also being responsible enough to guard the health of his fellow workers, a news release said. His dedication was rewarded with Devotion to Duty award.

Fox presented Mentor Award
Neal Fox, an Edward Jones investment representative at 3701 E. Wilson St. in Farmville, has received the firm's Mentor Award.

Fox was one of 3,673 of the firm's more than 9,000 investment representatives to be honored. The award is given to representatives who voluntarily give their time and energy to help one or more colleagues succeed in serving the investment needs of clients.

All new representatives at Edward Jones are assigned veteran brokers who mentor and work with them through their training and while they build their businesses. The efforts require significant time commitments, and the veteran brokers are not compensated.

Edward Jones, which advises individual investors exclusively, is one of the largest investment firms in the nation in terms of branch offices.

Greenville native honored by Allstate
William Russell Smith, a Greenville native now residing in Potomac Falls, Va., has been recognized by Allstate Insurance Co. for outstanding achievement.

The recognition was given at the company's national convention in San Diego.

A graduate of J.H. Rose High School and East Carolina University, Smith joined Allstate in 1990 in Chantilly, Va., as an independent contractor with a small office, no signage and no client base. He has grown to more than 20,000 policy holders, managing five agency locations in the northern Virginia area and one of the largest Allstate agencies in the country.

In 2004, Smith ended the year winning the Bronze Agency Achievement Award with a third-place ranking out of 650 agents in his area. He ranked 55th in nation out of more than 13,000 agency owners.

His results in 2004 earned him the highest level of achievement given to Allstate agencies, the Chairman's Inner Circle. Inner Circle agents will meet in Athens, Greece, in August.

Smith's mother, Dot Smith, lives in Greenville.

Koch elected VP of NASW-NC board
Karen J. Koch of Greenville, a licensed clinical social worker, has been elected vice president of the National Association of Social Workers' North Carolina Chapter board of directors for a three-year term

Koch also serves as the chairwoman of the NASW-NC local program unit and is the assistant director of mental health education at the Eastern Area Health Education Center (EAHEC).

The National Association of Social Workers, established in 1955, is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the world. It works to enhance the professional growth and development of its members, to create and maintain professional standards, and to advance sound social policies.

Kornegay joins E.C. Farm Credit
Lem Kornegay of Cary has joined East Carolina Farm Credit as a financial consultant.

Kornegay, a Rocky Mount native with 21 years in the financial planning business, will be based in Raleigh and will work with customers in the association's 13 branch offices in eastern North Carolina.

East Carolina Farm Credit, headquartered in Raleigh, is a farmer-owned financial cooperative providing credit to farmers in central and eastern North Carolina.

Loans are made to finance land, homes, farm buildings, operating expenses, livestock and equipment.

Fallon to participate in roundtable
Al Fallon, president and chief executive officer at First Flight Federal Credit Union, has been invited to participate in an upcoming Top Fifteen Credit Union Roundtable sponsored by CUNA Group, First Carolina Corporate Credit Union and the North Carolina Credit Union League.

Attendees at the roundtable, scheduled for Aug. 17-18, will include CEOs of North Carolina's largest credit unions. They will discuss relevant credit union legislation and address issues that credit unions in the state are facing.

Discussions will be facilitated by Dr. Bob Hoel of Filene Research Institute.

First Flight, a full-service financial institution, has a regional corporate office in Greenville with an operations center in Havelock.