People in the News, June 14

Listen to this article

People in the News

Submit people items for possible publication in the Charleston Regional Business Journal using the submission portal at this link. Publication is dependent on editorial guidelines and space considerations.

Accounting

Alexandria Romero, CPA, has joined Chris Hervochon, CPA, CVA, as a virtual chief financial officer. In her new role, Romero directs financial planning, financial reports, and financial strategies for digital marketing agencies around the country.Romero previously served as CFO for Colorado’s Pueblo City-County Library District, overseeing a $14 million-plus budget. Her accounting experience also includes positions as senior auditor and tax accountant for McPherson, Goodrich, Paolucci & Mihelich, in Pueblo, as well as accountant positions for the Colorado Springs Housing Authority in Colorado Springs and Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo.

Her accolades include 2022 Colorado State University Department of Accounting Hall of Fame inductee, 2021 CPA Practice Advisor’s “40 Under 40” Accounting Professionals, and Pueblo City-County Library District’s 2021 Outstanding Woman Award.

Business Services

Christopher G. Funk, who recently retired from the U.S. Secret Service, has joined the Sequoia Security Group’s management team as vice president of operations. He oversees both investigative and physical security projects in South Carolina for the Bethesda firm. 

Funk began his Secret Service career as a special agent in the New York field office, where he worked on high-profile fraud investigations. Later in his career, he served as both a member and team leader for the presidential protection detail, counter assault team. In his last duty assignment, Funk was the resident agent in charge of the Charleston Resident Office, where he supervised financial criminal investigations as well as supported the agency’s protective mission in his district. 

Funk holds a bachelors of arts degree from Salisbury State University and a master of arts in homeland security, with honors, from American Military University. In addition, he served as a United States Army paratrooper with the 3/325 Airborne Battalion Combat Team, completing a tour in Northern Iraq in 1991.

Norsan Media, one of the largest Spanish-language media companies in the Southeast, has promoted Vanessa Gongora to territory director of South Carolina and Florida. Her primary responsibility is overseeing sales and collaborating with talent and promotions teams, now with the addition of the Florida market.

Gongora joined Norsan Media in April 2020 as territory manager of Charleston and was quickly promoted to lead statewide sales efforts. She previously worked with fronteraTech, Lutheran Immigration Services Carolinas, and national media companies such as Time and Conde Nast.

The South Carolina Small Business Development Centers, the state’s premier provider of business assistance to small business owners and entrepreneurs, has brought in David Dougherty as a community navigator business consultant. A business professional with more than 47 years of banking experience in South Carolina, Dougherty supports the state’s Community Navigator Pilot Program in its mission to equip and empower minority, rural, and other underserved sectors of the entrepreneurial community.

Throughout his career, Dougherty has developed a passion for seeing small businesses succeed. Having been part of a family-owned business himself, he understands the struggles and rewards of small business ownership. Dougherty is enthusiastic about engaging with South Carolina business owners and is determined to learn about their needs and help them identify long-term solutions.

EDUCATION
Adam Womble has been awarded a Roy H. Park Scholarship, worth more than $200,000, to pursue engineering at North Carolina State University this fall. Womble is a  local high school student and regular participant in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs at Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic.

Like many others before him, Womble soaked up the education, inspiration, and experiences at NIWC Atlantic, gaining not just encouragement in his STEM pursuits but also the confidence to dream big.

His tuition, textbooks, academic supplies and other expenses will be covered by the scholarship, which brings exceptional students to NC State based on academic success, leadership, service, and character.

LAW 

The Steinberg Law Firm has added Adam P. Greene as an associate attorney. Greene joins the firm as a personal injury and workers’ compensation attorney.

A former insurance industry defense attorney, Adam has experience representing insurance companies against workers’ comp and personal injury claims. In his new role, his practice focuses on helping victims recover compensation for personal injury, workers’ compensation, and social security disability. Adam has an advantage of knowing the strategies and tactics that insurance companies use to deny benefits to injured workers. He understands what they are looking for and how to help the injured workers of South Carolina to get them the medical treatment and financial compensation they deserve.

Adam was recognized in the 2020 edition of the South Carolina Business Magazine’s Legal Elite. He earned his undergraduate degree in finance from Auburn University and his law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. He made the dean’s list four semesters in a row and was an associate symposium editor of the South Carolina Journal of International Law and Business. During the summers throughout undergrad and law school, Adam interned with the U.S. House of Representatives and as a judicial law clerk with the Richland County Judicial Center.

Columbia attorney J. Hagood Tighe has taken office as president of the South Carolina Bar. He was sworn in by U.S. District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs during the SC Bar’s Annual Assembly at Central Energy, in Columbia.

An experienced labor and employment law attorney, Tighe is a partner at Fisher Phillips in the firm’s Columbia office and co-chair of the firm’s national wage and hour practice group. He is certified by the South Carolina Supreme Court as a specialist in employment and labor law.

At Fisher Phillips, Tighe is an active member of the class and collective action practice. In recent years, he has handled more than 40 class and collective actions throughout the country, many of which involve wage and hour issues. He also has extensive experience defending single plaintiff lawsuits alleging wrongful discharge, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. While he maintains an active litigation practice, he also focuses on providing practical and proactive advice designed to minimize the risk of litigation.

Tighe received the Carolyn Holderman Vision Award from the Central Carolina Community Foundation for his leadership as chairman and was recognized by the Richland County Bar Association with its Civic Star Award. He also has received the Silver Compleat Lawyer Award from the University of South Carolina School of Law Alumni Association; this award recognizes alumni who have made significant contributions to the legal profession and who exemplify the highest standard of professional competence, ethics, and integrity.

NONPROFIT

Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd’s David Caughran, an associate in the firm’s Charleston office, has graduated from the Roper St. Francis Foundation Fellows Program.

Through the 2021–2022 Fellows Program, eighteen participants met leading staff and physicians and took an in-depth look into the Roper St. Francis Healthcare System and Roper St. Francis Foundation.

Caughran’s practice focuses on public finance law: he works with municipalities, counties, state entities and other organizations with bond issues and other financing structures. In addition, he assists clients with economic incentive matters when they relocate to or expand in South Carolina. David serves on the board of directors for the Charleston Horticultural Society and is a member of the South Carolina Bar Young Lawyers Division and Spoleto Scene.

Lowcountry Local First, a nonprofit organization that cultivates an economy anchored in local ownership, has added Lauchlan Davis and Kip Watson to its staff.

Davis joins the staff as a part-time bookkeeper and administrative assistant. Through bookkeeping, she cultivates her passion for supporting small businesses and nonprofits. After graduating from the University of Virginia  with a bachelor of arts in English and art history, Lauchlan discovered her love of bookkeeping and data management while working for small businesses in the Charleston area. She is pursuing a post-baccalaureate certificate of accounting at the University of Virginia. When Lauchlan is not working behind the front desk at Local Works Coworking Space, she manages her own small businesses: a fine art studio and a boutique bookkeeping practice.

Watson joins the staff as the community builder, leading all recruitment and engagement efforts for the base of independent business members and members of Local Works. A Boston native, Watson came to the Lowcountry to attend the College of Charleston, where he also earned his master of public administration with a certificate in urban and regional planning. He tailored his coursework to focus on local-level economic development and took his learning outside the classroom working with the MPA Community Assistance Program, NC Growth SmartUp, and the City of Charleston’s Office of Business and Neighborhood Services.

REAL ESTATE 

Margaret Loos has placed her license with Agent Owned Realty’s Mount Pleasant office. A resident of the Charleston and Summerville areas since 1993, Margaret served in the nursing profession for 42 years before beginning her career in real estate. 

She and fellow nurse Danyelle Kayhani created the KayLoo Team to share their knowledge of the Lowcountry and their service-oriented way of doing business with prospective home-buyers and sellers.

Danyelle Kayhani has placed her license with AgentOwned Realty’s Mount Pleasant office. A 30-year resident of the Charleston tricounty region, she has worked as a registered nurse for the past decade and a half.

Her background includes emergency medicine, home health, hospice care, and travel nursing. While driving from place to place to take care of people, Kayhani found beauty in families coming together in the safe havens of their homes. She was struck by Edisto’s beach houses, downtown Charleston’s historic singles, and the nearby rural areas. These experiences helped build her interest in real estate. She and Loos created the KayLoo Team.

Amy Lee Barresi has placed her license with Agent Owned Realty’s Mount Pleasant office. A South Carolina native and University of South Carolina alumna, Amy has 10 years’ experience selling homes. In this time, she has developed an understanding of the importance of communication among all parties involved and how each real estate transaction is different. 

Barresi has led buyer and seller transactions and helped clients with national and international relocations.