HCA Healthcare
April 15, 2019

SOURCE: El Paso Times

AUTHOR: Vic Kolenc

El Paso businesspeople in the news

Las Palmas' three-story expansion needed for growth in baby deliveries 

Las Palmas Medical Center opened its $63 million maternity addition March 27. The three-story addition, which includes one floor left vacant for future expansion, includes 24 postpartum rooms, a 35-bed neonatal intensive-care unit, and a large waiting area for families. The new addition, called the Las Palmas Women's Center, is needed to keep up with the hospital's growing number of baby deliveries, Las Palmas CEO Don Karl has said. Las Palmas delivered 2,039 babies in 2018. The addition is located above the hospital's emergency department, which is across the street from Las Palmas' main hospital building at 1801 N. Oregon St., in West Central El Paso. The hospital is owned and operated by HCA Healthcare, a large, national hospital chain based in Nashville. 

Dr. Henry Garcia, chairman of the Obstetrics Department at Las Palmas Medical Center, sits in one of the new rooms in the hospital's $63 million maternity addition, which opened March 27. (Photo: Mark Lambie / El Paso Times)

El Paso Brewing's craft beers added to L&F Distributors' portfolio 

Sharon Walter, El Paso Brewing Co., co-owner, left front, and Nick LaMantia, L&F Distributors part owner, front right, other El Paso Brewing owners, staff, and L&F staff, celebrate the addition of the brewery's craft beers to L&F's distribution portfolio. (Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

L&F Distributors, the El Paso-area distributor for Anheuser-Busch beer and craft beers, has added El Paso Brewing's craft beers to its distribution list. This is the first El Paso brewery to be added to McAllen-based L&F's beer portfolio, said Nick LaMantia, L&F part owner and L&F general manager-West. El Paso Brewing, located at 810-B Texas Ave., on the edge of Downtown, opened in December 2016. It is owned by Norma Reed, Evelyn Vigo, Sharon Walter, and Jorge Guzman.

El Paso businessman added to Texas Economic Development Corp., board

Woody Hunt, senior board chairman for Hunt Cos. (Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

Woody Hunt, senior chairman of Hunt Cos., an El Paso-based national real estate development and management group, has been appointed to the Texas Economic Development Corp., board of directors by Texas Gov. Greg Abbot. The not-for-profit organization recruits businesses to Texas. Hunt is one of eight people appointed to the board in April.

Scherr Legate law firm names El Paso native as new partner

Tiffany Joudi, new partner at the Scherr Legate law firm. (Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

Tiffany Joudi has become a partner in the Scherr Legate law firm in El Paso. It handles wrongful death and personal injury cases. Joudi, an El Paso native, has been with the firm since 2016, specializing in personal injury and employment litigation. She has a law degree from South Texas College of Law in Houston in 2008. 

Helen of Troy hires project manager for Beauty division

Jeffery Manon, new project management director at Helen of Troy Global Beauty division. (Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

Jeffery Manon is the new senior director of project management in Helen of Troy's Global Beauty division. He is based at the consumer products company's El Paso headquarters. He's responsible for implementing and delivering projects in the Beauty division. He previously was head of the Enterprise Program Management Office at Owens-Illinois, an Ohio-based maker of glass bottles and glass containers for the beverage and food industry. He also has had senior management positions in the automotive and aerospace industries.

25 military vets get Prudential Financial jobs via training program

Jesus Salgado, left, Emily Perryman, and Justin Becker celebrate their March 12 training program graduation that allows them to get IT jobs at Prudential Financial's operations in El Paso. (Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

Twenty-five military veterans and spouses graduated from a 14-week job training and placement program with Workforce Opportunity Services, a New York not-for-profit training provider working with Prudential Financial's three operations centers in El Paso. The graduates were hired for Information Technology jobs at Prudential's El Paso facilities. Since 2005, Workforce Opportunity Services has trained almost 200 military veterans nationwide for Prudential jobs, including almost 100 in El Paso, the training agency reported.

CBRE adds appraisers to El Paso office

CBRE Group, a Los Angeles-based real estate services company, has added two appraisal experts to its El Paso office, which now provides valuation advisory services in the region.

Ruben Montelongo, senior appraiser at CBRE Group in El Paso. (Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

Preston Chastine, senior valuation associate at CBRE Group in El Paso. (Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

Ruben Montelongo, senior appraiser, with 18 years of real estate appraisal experience, was a senior analyst for Jones Lang LaSalle, a Chicago-based real estate services firm, prior to joining CBRE. He also operated his own El Paso-area appraisal company from 2014 to 2018. Preston Chastine, senior valuation associate, with two years of appraisal experience, moved from CBRE’s Fort Worth office to be near his hometown of Las Cruces.

Tropicana Properties owner gets top Texas Apartment Association award 

Demetrio Jimenez, president and co-owner of Tropicana Properties. (Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

Demetrio Jimenez, president and co-owner of Tropicana Properties, which manages low-income apartment complexes in El Paso, received the Texas Apartment Association’s Bob Ross Independent Owner of the Year Award at the group's annual conference in Houston April 12. The 9-year-old award is given to an outstanding residential rental property owner directly involved in managing properties. Jimenez was honored for Tropicana programs at low-income apartment complexes, built and owned by Tropicana Building, that help residents move from renting to owning homes, according to Tropicana. The Texas Apartment Association has about 11,800 members. 

El Paso business group gives $100,000 for STEAM education programs

The El Paso Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development, or CREEED, on April 5 gave a $100,000 grant to help El Paso-area students who want to pursue higher education in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, or STEAM. The money was given April 5 to the El Paso Success Through Technology Education Foundation.

Eddie Rodriguez, CREEED executive director, talks at April 5 STEAM grant presentation. (Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

It will support the foundation's community events, summer camps and other programs for students pursuing STEAM education programs. CREEED's aim is to help students prepare for college and expand awareness of STEAM subjects and careers, said Eddie Rodriguez, CREEED's executive director.

BBVA Compass bank adds METI owner to El Paso advisory board 

Renard Johnson, (Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

Renard Johnson, CEO of Management and Engineering Technologies International, or METI, an El Paso federal contractor, has been appointed to the BBVA Compass bank Advisory Board of Directors for the El Paso area. BBVA Compass has six branches in El Paso and two in Las Cruces.  

Kathleen Cahill, new mentor-in-residence, at the MCA Foundation Innovation Center. (Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

MCA Innovation Center hires former hospital executive as mentor

Former hospital executive Kathleen Cahill is the new mentor-in-residence at the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation Innovation Center in Central El Paso. Before joining the MCA, Cahill worked almost 30 years as an executive and hospital CEO for HCA Healthcare, a national hospital chain based in Nashville, and for Community Health Systems, another Tennessee-base hospital chain, before retiring in 2015. Most recently, she worked as a consultant. She'll help MCA Innovator and Startup Program participants with business modeling, market analysis, fundraising, and other business-formation areas.

SISD wins state's top school PR award

The Socorro Independent School District earned the overall top public relations award from the Texas School Public Relations Association at the group's 2019 conference in Cedar Creek, Texas. SISD appears to be the first district in El Paso County to win the Platinum Award, which was presented for the "#TeamSISD Endless Opportunities" campaign. SISD also won a Crystal Commendation for the district's "Stand and Deliver Walk," in which district teachers and staff visited 10,000 students’ homes in a single morning. The SISD PR department earned a total of 17 awards for outstanding publications, multimedia, and marketing projects executed during the 2017-2018 school year.