2C SUNDAY, JANUARY 14, 2018 THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.

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BUSINESS PEOPLE

Professional development Mariner Retirement Advisors, a retirement plan advi-

sory firm, adds Thomas Hardy, AIF, CRPS, to the firm

matters to business success

as vice president and retirement plan adviser in the
firm’s Tulsa office.
With nearly 12 years of retirement plan advisory
experience, Hardy joins the firm from Arvest Wealth

Meinders School of Business offers the goods
BY MICHAELA MARX WHEATLEY
BrandInsight Editor
Americans spent more than $70
billion on professional develop-
ment and corporate training in
2016 — a 25 percent increase since
the end of the last economic reces-
sion, according to Forbes.
Employers are recognizing
employee development as an inno-
vative way to attract and retain
quality talent and overcome skill
gaps. They have also noticed the
impact this investment can have on
a business’ bottom line.
“Oklahoma companies are no
exception,” said Melissa Cory,
director of Executive and Profes-
sional Education at Oklahoma City
University’s Meinders School of
Business. “Investment in profes-
sional education is invaluable.”  City University provides development opportuni-
“At Meinders we recognized sev-
eral years ago the importance of
continuous learning and develop-
ment opportunities for our gradu-
ates, industry professionals and our
community,” she said. “That’s how
Oklahoma can produce business
leaders and the enterprising work-
force that we need to compete.”
“The best companies understand
that growth and development of
their talent is one of the greatest
drivers of engagement and reten-
tion,” Cory said. “Therefore, they
prioritize and allocate the neces-
sary resources to provide enrich-
ment opportunities for continuous
learning — all while gaining a com-
petitive edge to maintain top talent
and be an employer of choice.”
According to a recent survey, 76
percent of employees want oppor-
tunities for career growth as one of
the top three nonfinancial motiva-
tors. Millennials rank these oppor-
tunities even higher; 87 percent
of millennials said professional
development opportunities were
very important factors in their
decisions to stay at a job, according
to Gallup.
The Executive and Professional
Education Center in the Meinders
School of Business at Oklahoma
City University provides develop-
ment opportunities through high-
quality programs, conferences and
special events. They have been
recognized beyond the region for
preparing professionals to earn
certification in project manage-
ment professional (PMP); Society
for Human Resource Management
Certified Professional (SHRM-CP)
and Society for Human Resource
Management Senior Certified Pro-
fessional (SHRM-SCP); executive
coaching and leadership develop-
ment, Native American Enterprise
Management, Professional Land
Management (PLM) programs and
customized training solutions.
“We are passionate about edu-
cation and providing business and
leadership solutions for today’s
talented and diverse workforce,”
Cory said.
“Our strategy is to pursue niches
with an emphasis on personaliza-
tion where growth and partner-
ships enable us to deliver quality
programs and high value required
by the modern-day business com-
munity.”   professionals — and Meinders is
This division of the business
school works with a diverse clien-
Management where he served as the retirement
plan services manager. He also has experience
serving as a retirement account manager for Alerus
Retirement and Benefits.
Carissa Perkins joins MidFirst
Bank as assistant vice president
in the business banking group.
Her primary responsibility is to
develop new commercial bank-
ing relationships throughout
the metro Oklahoma City area.
Perkins has been in banking for
more than 11 years in numerous
roles. Before joining MidFirst
Bank, Perkins was a credit
Carissa Perkins analyst and lender at Prosperity
Bank. She graduated from the
University of Central Oklahoma with a bachelor’s
degree in finance.
McAfee & Taft adds Michelle
Sanders as a paralegal for the
The Executive and Professional Education Center law firm’s Litigation Group. In
in the Meinders School of Business at Oklahoma this role, she is responsible for
providing comprehensive legal
ties through high-quality programs, conferences support to trial lawyers whose
and special events. [PHOTO PROVIDED] practices are on focused on
appeals, class actions, complex
LEFT: Melissa Cory, director of Executive and Pro- civil litigation and high-exposure
fessional Education at Oklahoma City University’s product liability litigation,
Meinders School of Business. particularly for the automotive
Michelle Sanders industry. Her responsibilities
include drafting and filing plead-
AT A GLANCE ings, conducting research, reviewing discovery,
coordinating and responding to discovery requests,
Don’t miss Meinders School of Business signature events. coordinating experts and witnesses, preparing and
organizing documents and exhibits for trial, and
Women in Leadership: The 9th annual Women in Leadership conference is assisting attorneys at trial.
April 12 and is one of Oklahoma’s premier leadership, networking and
development events. For more information or to register, visit www. Arledge and Associates adds
okcwomeninleadership.com Jeffrey Collins to the Edmond-
based accounting firm as tax
Oklahoma Commerce & Industry Hall of Honor: The 32nd Annual Oklahoma Com- director. Collins received his
merce & Industry Hall of Honor luncheon is scheduled for Oct. 25. bachelor’s degree from Okla-
There is also still time to enroll in classes for the spring semester at OCU. homa Panhandle State University
and his master’s degree from
Oklahoma State University.
tele, from Fortune 500 companies of some of the partnerships forged Integris Advanced Critical Care
and government agencies to small with the community. The Native Medicine adds Laura Swant, D.O. Jeffrey Collins
businesses, nonprofits and indi- American Enterprise Management Swant completed her internal
viduals with a desire to sharpen program, for instance, was devel- medicine residency in pulmo-
their skills and reach their personal oped in partnership with Gover- nary/critical care fellowship
and professional goals. nor Anoatubby and the Chickasaw at the University of Oklahoma
If skill development for high- Nation. It is now in its third year. Health Sciences Center.
potentials, managers and senior “This has been a wonderful She joins the Integris
leadership is what you’re looking for, opportunity for all of us. We con- Advanced Critical Care Medicine
the executive coaching and leader- sider the strategic direction with team following her tenure as an
ship development package includes our client at the center of the con- intensivist at St. Anthony Hos-
an in-depth assessment into one’s versation, which strengthens our pital in Oklahoma City. Swant is
character, drivers and risks as well partnership and drives financial board certified in critical care,
as the preparation of an individual results,” she said. pulmonary medicine and internal
developmental action plan. Cory and her team have helped medicine. Laura Swant
“With employee engagement develop customized programs for
and job satisfaction at historic many local companies to close skill Jedidiah Perdue, M.D., M.P.H.,
lows, it’s important to understand gaps and drive creativity and inno- a board-certified psychiatrist
personal leadership acumen, voca- vation in a format that meets bud- established his practice with
tional suitability and reward and getary needs and organizational the Stephenson Cancer Center.
recognition preferences, to main- goals. They also offer services such He serves as director of mental
tain peak performance, Cory said.   as conference and event planning health for the cancer center and
“A standard, one-size-fits-all and help connect the community has been named an assistant
benefits and rewards program just to expertise and other leadership. professor for the University of
doesn’t work.” From custom training, certifi- Oklahoma College of Medicine.
“Top employers with transfor- cate programs or conferences and Perdue completed a psychiatry
mational leaders realize the impor- events, the Executive and Profes- residency and served as chief
tance of determining what moti- sional Education Center will help Jedidiah Perdue resident at Duke University Medi-
vates the individual employee,” she find a solution to any professional cal Center.
said. “The CDR 3-D Assessment development need. He earned his medical degree
Suite for example is a robust tool “Education has the power to at OU College of Medicine. He earned a master’s of
used to provide the unique insights change lives,” Cory said. “We offer public health degree in biostatistics from the OU
into a leader’s key strengths and a great collection of programs with College of Public Health and earned his undergradu-
development needs in the areas of the highest quality content avail- ate degree in psychology at OU in Norman.
character, drivers and rewards and able to help our clients create inno- Perdue is a member of the American Psychiat-
risk assessment.”   vative ways to keep winning.” ric Association, Oklahoma Psychiatric Physicians
Moreover, Cory said, being able Discover what a professional Association, American Psychosocial Oncology
to add certifications such as PMP, education from Meinders means at Society and National Council for Behavioral Health.
SHRM and PLM to a resume have www.okcu.edu/business/profes- He serves as president of the Central Oklahoma
become increasingly important to sional-education. Psychiatric Society.
 
ready to prepare them for it. This article is sponsored by OCU Rohitha Inturi, MD, joins Norman
Meinder’s School of Business. Regional Health System to help
The school is particularly proud
families maintain their health
needs. Inturi is the second

Medical credit cards can mean aches, pains
BY MATTHEW PERRONE
AP Health Writer
WASHINGTON — Few
people look forward to a
trip to the doctor or den-
tist, especially if they’re
not sure how they will pay
for it. Some choose to use
a special kind of credit card
offered by medical profes-
sionals to pay for care at
certain locations or net-
works. Often pitched by
office assistants, they can
seem like a quick fix for
pricey procedures not cov-
ered by insurance includ-
ing dental work, cosmetic
surgery or laser vision cor-
rection.
Nearly a third of Ameri-
cans report trouble pay-
ing their medical bills
and many have taken on
credit card debt to pay the
expenses, according to a
recent survey by the Kaiser
Family Foundation.
But consumer advocates
warn medical credit cards
can saddle patients with
unexpected penalties and
sky-high interest rates.
Credit confusion
One of the biggest dan-
gers is that patients often
don’t understand the
financial terms or even that
they are signing up for a
credit card, according to
lawyers who have repre-
sented customers.
“There is a lot of misun-
derstanding. Patients think
they are just setting up an
installment plan with the
dentist,” said Gina Cal-
abrese, co-director of St.
John’s University School
of Law’s Public Interest
Center in New York. “They
don’t understand they
have opened a new line
of credit and all the risks
involved with that.”
Most cards feature a
“zero interest” promo-
tional period of up to 18
months. But then the
interest rate can jump to
25 percent or higher. Those
details can be glossed over
or skipped entirely when
patients sign up.
In cases cited by U.S.
authorities, some consum-
ers never received a copy
of the credit card terms
and had to rely on spoken
explanations from staffers
who had little training on
the card details.
Surprise interest
Another potential pit-
fall is something called
deferred interest. That
means if consumers don’t
pay off the entire proce-
dure during the “interest-
free” period, they can be
retroactively charged for
interest dating back to
doctor to begin working at the
new Primary Care — Tacoma
clinic, 3201 W Tecumseh Rd.,
Suite 230.
when they first signed up. Inturi began her education at
For example, a patient Sri Chaitanya Mahila Kalasala
might pay off $900 of a in Vijayawada, India, to study
$1,000 procedure dur- Rohitha Inturi biological sciences, physical sci-
ing a card’s promotional ences and chemistry.
period. But because the She attended medical school
amount wasn’t fully paid at Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences in Narket-
off they now owe interest pally, India. Inturi pursued her master’s of science
on the entire bill, often at a in clinical investigation at the University of Texas
double-digit interest rate. Health Science Center. She completed her family
“The way these companies medicine residency at the University of Oklahoma,
make money is on the con- School of Community Medicine, and is board certi-
sumers who don’t pay off fied in family medicine.
the entire balance during
the promotional period,”
said Chi Chi Wu, an attor-
ney with the National Con-
sumer Law Center.
Additionally, paying the
card’s minimum monthly
fee usually won’t pay off
the expense before the ret-
roactive interest kicks in.
For patients who decide
to take on medical credit,
advocates say it’s essential
to pay off the entire bor-
rowed amount within the
promotional period.