LIMELIGHTS, CAREER PATHS

REALTORS

Howard Hanna Real Estate Services recently announced two important changes to the Ohio management team. Vice President Alicia Kosec is now the Northeast Ohio regional manager, and vice president Melissa Crockett Willis is the Ohio West regional manager.

Kosec is a graduate of Youngstown State University with a degree in business administration. In 1998, she began her career in real estate. For more than a decade, she has been a Howard Hanna manager, supervising the award-winning Poland office.

Crockett Willis will be leading the region with more than 30 years of real estate experience. She started as a sales associate in 1987 and joined the Hanna management team in 2007, overseeing the Mentor office. The following year, she became vice president and Northeast regional manager, and she has been in this role ever since.

BANKING

Home Savings Insurance Group, James & Sons recently announced Adam Costello as vice president and Stephenie Maroni as vice president-operations.

Costello joined James & Sons in 2007. He earned an associate degree in aviation from Beaver County Community College and attended Youngstown State University. He is a graduate of the State Auto Insurance Companies Pace Setter program and is currently working toward a Certified Insurance Counselor designation, with an expected completion in 2017. In addition, he has commercial pilot and flight instructor ratings.

Maroni joined James & Sons in 1994. She was most recently operations manager. Her responsibilities include operations of agency finance, technology and acquisitions, supervision of office staff and service of large commercial accounts. Maroni has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from YSU and completed her certified insurance counselor designation in 2014.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The Johnston Family of Apple Castle has been named the 2017 Rotary Entrepreneur of the Year by the New Castle Rotary Club No. 89. The honor has been bestowed annually since 2005, when it was conceived by past Rotary President, the late Deanna Wish.

Lyle Johnston grew up on his family’s farm in New Wilmington, Pa., and is a 1970 graduate of Wilmington Area High School and a 1974 graduate of Westminster College. After working as a banker and car salesman, Lyle returned to the farm and joined his father Ralph in the family business making Lyle the fifth generation to farm the Apple Castle land.

Steve Johnston is a 2004 graduate of Wilmington Area High School and a 2008 graduate of Penn State University. In 2011, he moved home to New Wilmington to become the sixth generation to live on and farm the family’s land while adding more family activities to the farm.

HONOR

April 2017 marked a major safety milestone for Bruce & Merrilees Electric Co.: 2 million hours on the job without a single lost-time incident (LTI). An LTI is defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as any injury or incident that causes an employee to miss one or more working days.

Bruce & Merrilees is an electrical construction and services firm headquartered in New Castle, Pa. Given the nature of electrical work and the high risk that can be involved, reaching 2 million man-hours without a single LTI is a significant accomplishment, the company said in a news release.