Andrew "Littleberry" Gilleland '92 ECON has been named general manager of the Cincinnati regional office for Toyota Motor Sales. The office oversees the automaker's sales and service operations in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.

Jason Graton '10 CIS has joined FleetNet America as a software developer. He will be heading up the sales and use tax development among other projects. His previous positions include web developer for social networking and a global language study site.

Heather Jordan '02 MKT has been appointed Director of Marketing with the Biltmore Estate Wine Company. In her new role, she will be responsible for marketing strategy, market analysis, sales forecasting and wine portfolio development for Biltmore’s extensive wine business -- both on property and across the United States.

Morgan Blaisdell '04 ACC has joined the accounting staff with the Greensboro-based public accounting firm Breslow Starling. Blaisdell is eligible to sit for the CPA exam. He has more than seven years of experience in public accounting prior to joining Breslow Starling and was also a small business owner.

Heidi Williams Ragan '02 MGT recently accepted a position at Transportation Insight located in Hickory, NC as Organizational Development Manager. She was employed at Appalachian State University as Director of Career Services within the Walker College of Business.

Kelly O'Brien '91 MGT, a sales agents with Tarvin Realtors in New Jersey, was recognized recently by the company for sales success in June. She exceeded $1.8 million in sales for the month.

Steven Rogers '91 MGT was recently promoted to Captain from Lieutenant at Burke County Sheriff's Office located in Morganton, NC. He oversees all jail and courthouse operations, civil process and grant writing.

Glenn Cook '89 ACC recently accepted a position at Keen Mountain Correctional Center located in Oakwood, Va. as Business Manager.

Eric Feeney '93 DS and Christine Fadke are happy to announce their marriage on June 18, 2011 in Dallas, Texas. They currently reside in Carrollton, Texas.

Vance Josey '97 ACC and Jennifer Kirchhoff are happy to announce their marriage on July 1, 2011 in Raleigh. They currently reside in Raleigh.

Ginny Paris Lanier '98 MGT and Jon Lanier are proud to announce the birth of a baby boy, Benjamin Fulton. He was born April 28, 2011 in Raleigh, NC, and weighed 7 lb., 11 oz..

You can read more Class Notes - and submit your own with photos - in the Gold Book.

Jeff Fissel '06 MKT is executive director of Rural Hill, a historic site in Huntersville. Last summer, a focused effort was created to drive more business to the self-described "Nature Preserve, Field Trip Destination, Cultural Events Site, Farm, and all around great place to get away from one’s daily stresses in life." According to the Charlotte Observer, the plan is seeing results.

On April 30, though, Fissel will mark his territory (pardon the pun) with Bark in the Park, a festival for dogs and their owners that he lured away from Metrolina Expo.

Then on May 14, Fissel and his staff will serve up the inaugural North Carolina Brewers & Music Festival, which will feature national acts such as Chatham County Line, local bands including the New Familiars, and beers from perhaps 15 to 20 N.C. breweries.

Then, on Aug. 27, roughly 5,000 adventure seekers will descend on Rural Hill for North Carolina's first Warrior Dash, a muddy obstacle course race that's part of a popular national series of nontraditional running events.
 

Fissel was hired by Rural Hill in July 2010 as events director. Four months later he was promoted to executive director. 

The most recent issue of Appalachiain Today is now online. Among its many stories is a feature on Brandon Adcock '06 MKT, co-owner of Direct Digital. The multi-million dollar business is an Internet-based vitamin and supplement company with its headquarters in Charlotte. As he left Appalachian State, Adcock didn't expect to become an entrepreneur, according to the article (page 37). 

“I never really thought of myself as an entrepreneur or someone with an entrepreneurial spirit. I have always done different things ever since I was a kid. I just never thought I would start my own business,” Adcock said. “I had an idea, was at the right place at the right time and took risks." ...

Adcock gained experience in search engine marketing while in college, teaching himself methods in which companies can improve their visibility on search engines for specific consumer searches. He took lessons learned while at Lowe’s to start his own business providing marketing solutions for vitamin and supplement companies.

“The business did phenomenally well, better than I expected it to,” Adcock said. “After nine or 10 months, I decided I could do a better job and create better products that were more effective than those I was working with.”

Adcock, along with his Direct Digital managing partner Paul Reichelt, will be speaking at the upcoming Young Entrepreneurs Symposium, scheduled for February 23. They will address their personal story of how they have been able to generate tens of millions of dollars in sales in a year. Register online to attend. 

Nathaniel Robb ’90 DS recently opened a diveshop, Indepth Watersports Ltd, located in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. “After 8 years of working for another shop as Training Director I have gone out on my own and opened my own Dive shop in Grand Cayman offering daily boat trips and all levels of training.”

Rick Stephenson ’87 MKT was recently named to the board of directors of The Carying Place, Cary-based nonprofit agency serving working homeless families. An attorney with Stephenson, Stephenson & Gray, LLP, he has also served on the boards of the Southwest YMCA, Life Experiences and Cary Visual Art.

Richard Stroupe ’98 ITOM completed the Owner/President Management (OPM) program from Harvard Business School in October 2010.

Lee Ann Tilley Walsh ’85 MKT received a Master of Health Administration from Pfeiffer University on August 7, 2010.

Shawn McDonald ’05 CIS recently accepted a position at Geico located in Chevy Chase, MD as Application Systems Analyst II.

Katie Love Alspaugh ’00 MGT and Matt Alspaugh ’00 MGT ’01 MBA are proud to announce the birth of a baby boy, Luke Nathaniel. He was born on September 29, 2010 in Winston Salem, Forsyth Medical Center, and weighed 7 lb., 13.9 oz.

You can read more Class Notes – and submit your own with photos – in the Gold Book.