Personnel File - People on the Move - October 12, 2015

By THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

JESSICA SIMS has been named communications director at the Florida Department of Children and Families. Sims most recently served as press secretary at the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and previously worked at the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

PAMELA P. EPTING has been appointed deputy commissioner of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. Epting has been with the Office of Financial Regulation since 1986, mostly recently serving as director of the Division of Securities.

BETH FRADY has been named communications director at the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Frady has worked as director of public relations at Enterprise Florida.

JENNIFER UNGRU has joined the legal and government-affairs firm Jones Walker LLP. Ungru most recently served as chief of staff at the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and previously was a deputy chief of staff for Gov. Rick Scott.

MARK FAULKNER has been installed as chairman of the Florida Hospital Association Board of Trustees. Faulkner is president and CEO of Baptist Health Care in Pensacola.

MELISSA SOUTO has been appointed by Gov. Rick Scott as a judge in the 18th Judicial Circuit, which includes Brevard and Seminole counties. Souto, of Sanford, has served as general counsel for the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.

EUGENE LAMB JR. has been reappointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the Tallahassee Community College District Board of Trustees. Lamb, of Midway, served on the Gadsden County Commission from 2004 to 2012.

RICK WATSON has been appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the Franklin County Commission. Watson, of St. George Island, owns Richard Watson, LLC and is a Realtor with Century 21 Collins Realty Inc.

CHRISTOPHER ELG, WILLIAM SNYDER, RUSSELL VEGA, JEFFREY CHUDNOW AND BEN JOHNSON have been appointed or reappointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the Florida Violent Crime and Drug Control Council. Elg, of Jensen Beach, is the Tequesta police chief. Snyder, of Stuart, is the Martin County sheriff. Vega, of Sarasota, is the chief medical examiner for District 12. Chudnow, of Oviedo, is the Oviedo police chief. Johnson, of DeLand, is the Volusia County sheriff.

KIMBERLY REED, CHRISTEL MARCHAND APRIGLIANO, DONNA RYAN AND ELIZABETH CAYSON have been appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the Diabetes Advisory Council. Reed, of Davie, is a professor at Nova Southeastern University. Aprigliano, of Tampa, is CEO of The Diabetes Collective. Ryan, of Pensacola, is manager of the diabetes program at Sacred Heart Hospital. Cayson, of Loxatchee, is a government relations specialist for the Health Care District of Palm Beach County.

PAUL JACOBSEN, DAVID DECKER AND RICHARD NOWAKOWSKI have been appointed or reappointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the Biomedical Research Advisory Council. Jacobsen, of Tampa, is associate director of the Division of Population Science for the Moffitt Cancer Center. Decker, of Winter Park, is a physician at Veterans Administration Hospital Orlando. Nowakowski, of Tallahassee, is a professor and chair of the Florida State University College of Medicine's Department of Biomedical Sciences.

NANCY ACEVEDO AND DAME DHYANA ZIEGLER have been reappointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the Florida Commission on the Status of Women. Acevedo, of Winter Springs, is a crime analyst with the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. Ziegler, of Tallahassee, is the Garth C. Reeves Eminent Scholar Chair in the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication at Florida A&M University.

ADAM GELBER AND JOSEPH JOYCE have been reappointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the Environmental Regulation Commission. Gelber, of Miami Beach, is a biologist with Atkins North America Inc. Joyce, of Gainesville, is director of the UF-IFAS Center for Leadership.

MARK WEATHERLY has been appointed to the state Genetics and Newborn Screening Advisory Council. Weatherly is a pediatric pulmonologist at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando.