Send announcements to the Reston Connection, 7913 Westpark Drive, McLean, VA 22102, send an e-mail to reston@connectionnewspapers.com or fax to 703-917-0991. Photos encouraged. Call 703-917-6449 with questions.
Technology lending veteran Paul Gibson has joined Bridge Bank, National Association, as senior vice president and market manager of its new East Coast Region Technology Banking Loan Production Office. The new office will be located at the Reston Town Center.
Gibson has over 15 years of commercial banking experience and has served technology and life science companies for the past seven years. Prior to joining Bridge Bank, Gibson served as Mid-Atlantic market manager with Square 1 Bank, where his responsibilities included sales and marketing as well as management of a portfolio of borrowing relationships with early stage venture-backed technology companies. Previously, he was a vice president relationship manager with Silicon Valley Bank’s Technology Lending Practice.
Charles P. Cocke, CPA, was selected a winner in the Individual Tax category of Virginia Business magazine’s “Super CPA” contest. In its sixth year, Virginia Business partnered with the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants to develop this program to highlight Virginia’s top certified public accountants for their contributions to the CPA profession and the prosperity of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The winners are highlighted in a special report in the November issue of Virginia Business.
Cocke, who founded Cocke, Szpanka & Taylor, CPAs, PC in 1973, has spent over 40 years in the accounting profession. He holds a bachelor of science degree in commerce from the University of Virginia and a juris doctor degree from George Washington University. His areas of interest include tax planning for business and real estate transactions, estate planning, and litigation support.
Virginia Spine Institute, in Reston, has added Dr. Vishal Kancherla as a board certified physiatrist and fellowship trained pain management specialist. He comes to VSI with significant expertise in complex spinal injections, spinal rehabilitation, and electromyography. VSI is the largest spinal health care provider in the D.C. metropolitan area. Visit www.spinemd.com.
Hall, Sickels, Frei & Kattenburg, P.C. and the Law Offices of Gary Brooks Mims will merge, effective Jan. 1, 2007. The merger creates one of the largest and most experienced locally-based personal injury firms in the region.
The new firm represents nearly 150 years of experience in its five partners, Robert T. Hall, Charles W. Sickels, Steven M. Frei, P. Clark Kattenburg and Gary B. Mims. The partners will be supported by five associates, three certified paralegals and a professional support staff. The firm will occupy expanded offices at the Hall, Sickels location in Reston. Mims’ attorneys Zachary J. Desmond and Mary Catherine Sheridan will join Holly Parkhurst Essing, Kathryn E. Heagerty and Laura J. Johnston as associates in the new firm.