Retiring & Hiring
Carina Garcia has joined the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center as the organization’s Guest Experience Coordinator. Garcia has six years of experience as a paraprofessional, working specifically with English-language learners. Her role at the discovery center includes working on the museum floor to create moments of discovery and joy for visitors.
Trisha Purdon has been tapped to lead the Kansas Office of Rural Prosperity. Purdon currently serves as the Executive Director of the Montgomery County Action Council, working hands on with communities in Southeast Kansas to grow and strengthen local economies. In her new role, Purdon will oversee the office or rural prosperity’s daily operations, which include investing in programs, realigning existing resources, enhancing technical assistance provided to local leaders and expanding on successful programs to better focus on the needs of rural communities. Purdon’s office will be based out of Montgomery County. Purdon succeeds former rural prosperity director Jillian Fisher, who has taken a position in the Gov. Laura Keylly’s office.
Appointments & Promotions
Eric Voth, a native and lifelong Topekan, has been named president and chairman of the Board of the International Academy on the Science and Impact of Cannabis. IASIC is the only all-physician organization dedicated to educating on marijuana-related issues and problems associated with marijuana, such as marijuana legalization and medical marijuana. Voth retired in June 2020 as vice president of primary care at Stormont Vail Health, after 36 years of medical practice in Topeka. During his career, Voth served 10 years as medical director of St. Francis Chemical Dependence Service, served as an advisor on alcohol and drug-abuse issues to the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, and was a member of the National Advisory Committee for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Voth has advised a handful of presidents — both Democrat and Republican administrations — and has advised or testified for numerous Congressional offices on drug-related issues. He has appeared on numerous national and international news programs. Voth is also a clinical professor of internal medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.
Awards, Honors & Recognition
The Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com ranked Topeka the No. 1 housing market in Kansas in their Emerging Housing Markets Index. A collaborative effort on the part of the two entities, which are both owned by parent company News Corp, the index ranks metro areas according to real-estate market data, economic health and quality of life. Topeka ranked in the top 20% of American metros, coming in at No. 57 of all 300 evaluated.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: It’s Your Business — update for May 1, 2021
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