Homebuyers seeking the perfect home have an innovative new resource to enhance the property search process. TateMap, an exclusive online interactive map search offered by Allen Tate Company, is available now on allentate. com. The new search function allows users to enter specific search criteria, such as price, region, bedrooms or bathrooms, and return results of all available regional properties meeting the criteria, displayed on a map. By simply hovering over a specific icon, the user can access full property details, photos and virtual tours. Schools and other points of interest may be added to customize the search, which may be easily saved for future reference. Future enhancements to TateMap will identify properties hosting open houses, to assist homebuyers in planning their visits and spend less time driving between properties.

Allen Tate Company has named Tracey Boy Bethune as area manager for the Winston-Salem region. Bethune will be responsible for overseeing management and operations of Allen Tate’s Reynolda and Stratford offices in Winston-Salem and its offices in Clemmons and Kernersville.

American Services, Inc. has hired Lillie Saunders as assistant to the corporate operations director Carole Ann Owens. Saunders is a 2004 graduate from Lander University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing/management. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., American Services, Inc. is one of the largest contract security, janitorial and staffing companies in the Southeast with a local office in Charlotte at 801 Clanton Road.

Anthony Ruffalo has been named a district manager of the South Central Division of AXA Advisors, LLC. Mr. Ruffalo has management responsibility for the Charlotte Retirement Benefits Group of the South & Western Carolinas branch of AXA Advisors and the district’s eight financial professionals. Mr. Ruffalo will focus on recruiting individuals who want to build careers as financial professionals, while providing ongoing training and development support to existing financial professionals. In addition, Mr. Ruffalo works with individuals and business owners to provide strategies to help them achieve their financial goals. He provides an array of financial protection and investment products and services including life insurance, annuities and investments as well as college, estate, retirement and business planning.

Terry Witt has joined the Bainbridge Crew as a remodeling consultant. Witt, a graduate of Charlotte Latin School and Lenoir Rhyne College with a bachelor’s in business administration, has more than 12 years of sales experience and looks forward to establishing himself in the remodeling industry with the Bainbridge Crew.

Ballantyne Resort has been honored by Mobil Travel Guide with several Mobil Four-Star Awards for 2008: one for lodging at Ballantyne Resort, one for The Spa at Ballantyne Resort and lastly for dining at its Gallery Restaurant. Mobil Travel Guide is the originator of the prestigious star rating system and provider of one of the most comprehensive evaluation systems of hotels, restaurants and spas in the world. Ballantyne Resort’s rating earned it a place on Mobil Travel Guide’s list of the top properties in the United States and Canada for 2008. The resort was also recently recognized as the Most Excellent Golf Course by Condé Nast Johansens, the international luxury travel guide from the “most trusted name in travel publishing,” Condé Nast Publications Ltd., as part of the 2008 Awards for Excellence. Ballantyne Resort was selected among premier properties throughout the United States, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific Islands.

The Cannon School recently hosted seven students and one faculty member from its Chinese sister school, Tianli International School. The school’s Chinese visitors stayed in the homes of Cannon host families and experienced a full range of cultural and educational activities in the Carolinas.

In January 2008, Tanley Stalenget, business manager, was promoted to an associate at C design Inc.

Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College (RCCC) are jointly offering a five-seminar series on Process Excellence. These half day events will be offered monthly from March through July and are designed to help all kinds of businesses, including manufacturing, health care, financial, retail, logistics and government improve their processes and become more efficient. Upcoming seminars are listed below. Each costs $89. For complete program descriptions and directions to RCCC and CPCC campus locations, see www.cpcc.edu/pess or www.rowancabarrus.edu/pess.

• April 22 | Creating Perfect Processes – Six Sigma and Process Control | Presenter: Dr. Vinay Vasudev | 8 a.m. to noon (check-in and breakfast at 7:30 a.m.) | Location – RCCC’s Cabarrus Business & Technology Center
• May 20 | Process Improvement Tools: Part 1 | Presenter: Bob Olson | 8 a.m. to noon (check-in and breakfast at 7:30 a.m.) | Location – CPCC Harris Campus
• June 24 | Process Improvement Tools: Part 2 | Presenter: Nancy Bach | 8 a.m. to noon (check-in and breakfast at 7:30 a.m.) | Location – RCCC Cabarrus Business & Technology Center
• July 22 | Process Improvement Metrics – Lean Six Sigma Metrics | Presenter: Gary Klipp | 8 a.m. to noon (check-in and breakfast at 7:30 a.m.) | Location – CPCC Harris Campus

Crosland LLC, one of the Southeast’s leading real estate companies, has added Tracey L. Whitson as vice president of operations for the company’s residential division. Whitson will oversee Crosland’s director of affordable housing property management, four regional property managers and its operations support manager, who in turn oversee 130 onsite associates at Crosland’s apartment and condominium properties. Crosland’s management portfolio includes 4,000 market-rate residences and 1,000 affordable-housing units. Her hire comes at a time of significant growth for Crosland, which has 1,500 new units under construction in North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.

Dore Academy, Charlotte’s first K-12 college preparatory school for students with learning disabilities, is pleased to welcome Marian Wilson as its newest board member. As a human resources executive for Bank of America, Marian brings a wealth of talent and business knowledge to the Dore Academy board. She began her career at Bank of America in 1984 as a leadership and management development training manager, and moved through several human resource management positions before taking on her current role. Marian currently oversees human resources for Global Product Delivery, GCIB and Consumer Risk Management and Enterprise Credit Risk. She functions as an active and influential business advisor to key business leaders, and is accountable for the facilitation of the core Human Resources processes.

Arthur E. Morehead IV has joined the Duke Endowment as staff counsel. Morehead is responsible for the overall legal affairs of the Endowment and is a member of the management team that works with the President of the Endowment on policy matters and strategic planning. Prior to joining the Endowment, Morehead was a shareholder at Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A., in Charlotte, N.C., and concentrated on trusts and estates and tax law.

Full service video production company, Episode XI Studios, LLC was chosen to produce an in-store product demonstration video for E-Z Cleaners Hand Cleaner. The video will be placed along side product placement to demonstrate the various uses of the revolutionary merchandise. The video will also be placed on the E-Z Cleaner Web site.

EQmentor Inc., an innovative leader in professional development, is proud to formally announce its executive management team to realize the organization’s mission to create the perfect learning experience: Dr. Izzy S. Justice, chief executive officer and chairman; R. Brian Minor, chief marketing officer; Dr. Roger McGrath, chief knowledge officer; Karah Mololey, chief knowledge officer; Eric Bobo, chief technology officer; Pam Bauer, executive vice president of recruiting; and Dr. Wayne M. Wormley, master mentor.

To accommodate expanding philanthropic services and increase civic leadership initiatives, Foundation For The Carolinas will relocate to an expanded uptown headquarters in early 2011 at 220 North Tryon Street. The site is currently occupied by the Mint Museum of Craft + Design. Bank of America will give the building to the Foundation when the Mint exits in 2010 to join the new cultural campus now under construction as part of Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s Cultural Facilities Master Plan.

Grant Thornton welcomes Ralph Boscia as a tax senior manager in its tax group and Scott Bowdoin as an international transfer pricing manager. Boscia comes to Grant Thornton from Wachovia Corporation, where he was a tax compliance manager in the leasing area. Prior to working with Wachovia, Ralph was a tax operations manager with a big four accounting firm. Ralph earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Elon University, where he graduated cum laude. Bowdoin joins Grant Thornton from another big four accounting firm where he was a manager. He earned a bachelor’s in business administration and another in economics from the College of Charleston. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in economics from the University of South Carolina, specializing in industrial organization, public finance, microeconomics and experimental economics.

James “Jimmy” C. Allison, III has joined Hinrichs Flanagan Financial as a financial services professional. Hinrichs Flanagan Financial is a general agency of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), under the leadership of Timothy C. Flanagan, Jr., CLU, ChFC, CFP® and General Agent. Before joining the financial services industry, Allison worked at AATAC, Inc. for 13 years where he started as a factory sales representative, then served as national sales manager and eventually rose to the position of vice president of sales located in Charlotte. A native Charlottean, Allison attended the University of Maryland in College Park, Md., where he majored in chemistry.

Multimedia marketing firm, LA Management Company, has designed a Web site for Clinic of Cosmetic Surgery’s tattoo removal services - www.removethetattoos.com. This new Web site will also promote the clinic’s Wisconsin-based Lose the Tattoos Foundation, which provides free tattoo removal for ex gang members so that they are no longer identifiable as a member of a gang.

Mariner has the honor of announcing, once again, their Gold Certified Partner status in the Microsoft Partner Program with competencies in Data Management Solutions-Business Intelligence and Information Worker Solutions-Performance Management. In retaining this coveted position, Mariner is recognized for its knowledge and leadership in two of the fastest-growing sectors in Microsoft’s broad set of product offerings. As a Gold Certified Partner, Mariner consistently demonstrates its expertise with Microsoft technologies and its ability to use Microsoft’s rich Gold Certified Partner benefits to solve customers’ business problems.

M3 Technology Group (M3TG) welcomes Danny DoCabo as vice president of finance. Since it received expansion funding last October, M3TG has been actively expanding its operations and hiring key personnel to serve its growing list of Fortune 500 customers. DoCabo comes to M3TG from a role as vice president of finance with Healthlink Incorporated, a privately held health care consulting company that experienced substantial growth and was purchased by IBM. Prior to his position at Healthlink, DoCabo worked as a controller for Piedmont Technology Group, a local IT solutions provider in Charlotte, and as a regional controller for Modis, a publicly traded IT staffing firm.

For the third consecutive year, OmniVue Business Solutions has been named to Accounting Technology magazine’s Pacesetters list. The list of 2007 Pacesetters includes 100 firms who have distinguished themselves through performance. Factors that went into this selection include awards won by the organization, leadership, industry reputation, sales per employee and growth.

Pease Associates, Charlotte based architectural and engineering design firm has added the following individuals to their staff: Roger Bush as an architectural designer; Dana Brooks in the mechanical engineering department; and Tim Hatmaker in the marketing department where he will be assisting in developing project proposals.

In carrying out a branding initiative, the office of Regina H. Rudolph, CPA, PLLC has launched a completely redesigned Web site at www.reginarudolph.com. One of the main features of the site is the new Tax Center which enables clients to track their federal and state income tax refunds and a calendar of upcoming tax due dates for individuals and businesses. The freshly designed site also contains payroll and financial calculators, and up to date business and financial news links. Regina H. Rudolph, CPA, PLLC has been serving clients across Mecklenburg County from its University area office since 2004. The firm offers a wide array of services including Consulting, Business and Individual Tax Return Preparation, as well as Audit Services. The staff has a combined 30 years of tax and accounting experience.

The Scottish Bank announced today that Roger Stewart has been named senior vice president and mortgage production manager. With more than 14 years experience in the mortgage business, Stewart comes to the bank from Cunningham and Company where he was a mortgage consultant. Prior to entering the mortgage industry, Stewart had 12 years experience in international sales and sales management.

SPARK Publications, a design firm specializing in the design and production of magazines, custom books and marketing materials, won four international MarCom Creative Awards for its work on Ventures Charlotte (Platinum MarCom Award), LossPrevention magazine (Gold MarCom Creative Award), the Room at the Inn logo and marketing materials (Gold MarCom Creative Award), and Pride Magazine (MarCom Honorable Mention Award). The MarCom Creative Awards is an international competition for marketing and communication professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of marketing and communication programs and print, visual and audio materials.

UNC Charlotte has been selected to receive the Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition’s annual Clean Cities award. The award comes based on the university’s petroleum reduction program and the conversion of its fleet vehicles to alternative fuel vehicles. The Clean Cities award was designed to give credit organizations that demonstrate excellence in clean transportation and fuel activities. Through programs and initiatives the organization chosen must show it has recognized the environmental, economic and national security benefits of reducing consumption of fossil fuels.

The Nashville/Midsouth Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the 22nd Annual Midsouth Emmy® Awards at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center on Saturday, January 26. UNC-TV’s Our State and its production staff, Jim Bramlett, producer; Michael Burke, director of photography; Daniel Cook, editor; Brian Faulkner, writer/narrator; Morgan Potts, editor; and Lisa Waldo, associate producer, earned the award for best Magazine Series. Cook accepted the Emmy at the Nashville ceremonies on behalf of the UNC-TV team. Inspired by the stories and images in Our State magazine, UNC-TV’s Our State takes you down-home in North Carolina for an in-depth look at the places and personalities that make our state great! Thursday nights, at 8, you’ll find more great things about our state to discover and to love on UNC-TV’s on-air magazine Our State. Compelling stories, stunning digital videography and thoughtful narration take you beneath the surface, providing answers to the hows and whys of all things our state.

Internet marketing agency WebsiteBiz has been re-engaged by the Charlotte Bobcats to deliver a highly targeted search marketing campaign to drive single game ticket sales. WebsiteBiz has worked with the NBA team in the past to develop and implement successful online marketing campaigns. Founded in 1997 by Eric Dudley, WebsiteBiz specializes in creating integrated online marketing plans, search engine optimization, paid search marketing, online media buying, permission based email marketing, Web effectiveness and Web analytics.

WEICHART, REALTORS(R) Rebhan & Associates is please to welcome Barbara Brassington, Diane Condrey, Donald Laney and Johnny Bhagrattee as sales associate.