Sunday, December 21, 1997

Howe, Richmond promoted at United Bank and Trust

By Doug Williamson / Abilene Reporter-News

Two executives at United Bank and Trust have been promoted.

Ray Howe has moved from president to chairman of the board. Howe has been with the bank for seven years, after serving as president and vice chairman of Citizens National Bank and Interfirst Bank of Abilene.

Jim Richmond, who joined the bank in 1992, moved from executive vice president to president and chief executive officer.

D. Truitt Davis, current bank chairman, said "Ray (Howe) is an integral part of our bank and a key to its success. He will continue to perform many of the duties for which he has been responsible in the the past and will remain a vital part of our management team."

Howe praised Richmond for his dedication and hard work and referred to him as "a driving force in the growth and success of our bank."

The bank, located at North 3rd and Cypress, has total assets of $128.9 million.

Home sales going strong

Abilene home sales have grown 7 percent in number and 9 percent in value in the first 11 months of 1997.

Marv Gerard, RCE, executive vice president of the Abilene Board of Realtors, reports total volume is up almost $7 million and the average sale price has risen 2 percent.

So far this year, 1,107 homes have sold for a total of $80.2 million.

November was a good month with 87 homes sold for a little more than $7 million, or an average price of $81,000.

Junior Achievement awards

Junior Achievement of Abilene has honored two teachers and two volunteers.

Emilia Moreno and Rae Nelle Allen was named teachers of the semester. Jerry Teel and Ann Spence were named consultants of the semester.

Moreno is a third grade teachers at Fannin Elementary. Allen teaches economics at Wylie High School.

Teel, an employee at Hendrick Health System, has volunteered his time to JA for several years. He taught a senior economics class at Wylie High. Spence has been a volunteer for many years. She and her husband Sam will teach six JA classes this year. She is employed at McMurry University, and taught a third grade class at Wylie Intermediate School and an eighth grade class at Madison Middle School this semester.

In other business news...

-- Merrill Lynch recently surpassed a milestone. Its private client assets rose over the $1 trillion mark. Merrill Lynch is the first financial services firm to pass the lofty record. New client assets have grown at more than $250 million every business day in the last two years.

The company's credit branch also won the 1997 Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award recently.

-- The Knight-Ridder News Service reports that while widely accepted and increasingly popular, part-time work doesn't get you any respect. Employees on non-traditional schedules still bump against systems where success is judged by the number of hours workers are in the office, and where 40-hour or more work weeks are deemed the norm, the Catalyst research group reports after a two-year study.

---

We want your business news. E-mail it to williamsond@abinews.com. Fax it to Reporter-News Business News Department, (915) 670-5242. Mail it to Reporter-News Business News Department, P.O. Box 30, Abilene 79604.