People, Companies & Deals

May 1, 2008

Luis Aguilar, a partner with McKenna, Long & Aldridge, has been nominated to fill one of the two open seats on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by President Bush. The five-member commission, which oversees financial markets, has been operating with only three Republican commissioners since January. The Cuban-American, a former staff attorney at the SEC, has a high profile in the Hispanic community ... TSYS named Rod Boyer as president of the TSYS loyalty division in Alpharetta, which provides card-based rewards and loyalty marketing products and services ... Michael Rosenzweig has been named interim CEO of Hands On Atlanta, replacing Tracy Hoover, who had served in that capacity since 2003 ... Four former members of Staubach's national contact data center practice are opening their own firm to develop and acquire data centers for global clients. The firm, T5 Partners LLC, will expand on services they began at Staubach. They include Pete Marin, who will serve as president; Frank Lyles; Jason Chartrand; and Jimmy Bailey ... The HoneyBaked Ham Company of Georgia named Pat Sugrue as COO; promoted Ken Caldwell to VP of franchise and retail operations; and promoted Molly Kesmodel to senior director of retail ... Dustin Greene was promoted to COO for Emory Eastside Medical Center... BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Brian E. Ranck director of business development in the company's new Atlanta office ... At its recent board of directors meeting, Del Martin was elected chair of Giving USA Foundation, which publishes Giving USA, the annual report on philanthropy in America, as well as other research on charitable giving in the United States ... National design firm Cooper Carry appointed Deborah Jensen, an urban planner and associate with the firm, to Atlanta's SPI-1 Downtown District Development Review Committee. The committee was created when the Atlanta City Council adopted new zoning and design regulations for the downtown district ... Recordant, a provider of audio-capture technology, analytics and consulting solutions, named Martha Powers as head of its consulting services division ... Rob Couch has been named president of Lane Company's property management subsidiary, Lane Management LLC ... MARTA named Dwight A. Ferrell as deputy GM/COO, and Theodore J. Basta, Jr., as chief of business support services.

Rollins Inc. is adding to its pest control arsenal. The parent of Orkin is buying HomeTeam Pest Defenese and Centex Corp. for a reported $173 million. HomeTeam, which has 50 offices in 13 states, is the nation's third-largest residential pest management company, performing services for about 400,000 customers across the nation. It works with more than 1,000 builder partners and performs more than 1 million pest control services a year. Rollins plans to operate HomeTeam separately, along with Orkin, PCO Services, Western Pest Services and The Industrial Fumigant Co.

Atlanta accounting firm Porter Keadle Moore received the American Psychological Association's 2008 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. One of only five organizations from across North America to receive the award this year, the firm won in the for-profit category for businesses with fewer than 100 employees.

Metropoll, a national survey conducted every two years to gauge the attitudes of meeting planners on convention cities, ranked Atlanta 12th out of 40 meetings destinations, up from No. 18 in 2005. The city also improved its ranking of hotel meeting facilities, moving up two places to No. 7, according to a report commissioned by the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.

CNNMoney.com named Buford, Ga., as the third best place in the country out of 100 to live and launch a business in 2008. Fortune Small Business, which conducted the study for the Web site, sought places that "combine a great business environment with alluring leisure offerings." Buford's proximity to scenic Lake Lanier and the Mall of Georgia, its safe neighborhoods and affordable housing, and its mix of artists and interesting downtown, make it attractive.