RQAW selects Columbus native as co-president
RQAW Corp., an Indianapolis-based engineering and architectural firm, has selected its new co-presidents.
Brad Battin, a Columbus native, and Troy Woodruff will transition into current RQAW President Richard O’Connor’s position in June.
O’Connor is retiring from the firm after 42 years. His structural engineering expertise contributed to many prestigious RQAW projects, including Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Belmont and Southport Treatment Plants, Borman Expressway, and more. He proposed the concept of co-presidency between Battin and Woodruff at the annual meeting in January.
Battin joined the company in 2013, where he has served as vice president. He brings diverse skill set to RQAW, including finance, operations and government public relations. His industry experience includes overseeing corporate strategy, client development and marketing. He is a graduate of the University of Florida, having studied economics and political science. As co-president, Battin’s primary role will be to oversee business development, marketing and finance.
Woodruff began his role as vice president of operations in 2015. He has formerly served as chief of staff, chief of operations, Vincennes district director for the Indiana Department of Transportation and an elected official in the Indiana House of Representatives from 2004-2006. He studied communications at Indiana State University. As co-president, Woodruff’s primary role will be to oversee the technical operation of the company.
RQAW provides engineering and architectural services. RQAW has provided road design-and-build expertise for more than 60 years, with designing, auditing or servicing roads and bridges in all 92 Indiana counties. The company has completed more than 150 criminal-justice projects in the state, along with providing enhanced security design in fire stations, police stations, jails, military facilities, public-safety locations, schools and colleges in numerous cities throughout the country.
Columbus resident earns new role for Mutual
Greg Scherschel of Columbus was recently appointed to the wealth management adviser position for Northwestern Mutual.
He is an accredited estate planner through the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils and has been involved in the financial services profession for more than 33 years.
Scherschel and his wife, Peggy, have four grown children and seven grandchildren.
Scherschel’s office is located at 404 Washington St., Suite 204, Columbus.
Cummins Inc. names VP of Communications
Cummins Inc. has named Carole Casto as its new vice president – communications.
Casto will be in the new role March 1 overseeing the company’s global communication strategy, executive speech writing, crisis communications, digital, visual and internal communications and media relations.
Casto has served as the executive director of corporate communications since 2012. She was instrumental in the development and implementation of Cummins’ first Women’s Conference, which serves to celebrate the achievements of top female leaders within the company.
Casto’s previous experience includes serving as the director of corporate quality for three years, a Six Sigma black belt a key member of the Cummins Corporate Responsibility team and, prior to joining Cummins, as the chief operating officer for the Family and Social Services Administration and Department of Environmental Management.
She is a recipient of the Indianapolis Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 designation, was selected as one of the top 100 women alumnae from Marquette University and was a recipient of the Boston College Corporate Citizenship Film Festival Award.
Casto and her husband, Bill Barnhorst, reside in Indianapolis with their son, Leo.
Elwood Tradesmen earns recognition for safety
Elwood Staffing and Elwood Tradesmen recently earned the Safety Standard of Excellence (SSE) mark. Elwood, which is headquartered in Columbus, is one of six U.S. staffing firms to achieve this designation, which promote staffing industry-wide safety standards and compliance with federal and state occupational safety and health requirements.
The voluntary certification entailed a third-party audit of Elwood Staffing and Elwood Tradesmen’s corporate safety policies and procedures, as well as validation across a sample of Elwood branch offices. The designation signifies Elwood’s commitment to ensuring applicant safety training and orientation, worksite evaluations, necessary worker protections and collaborative incident management protocols.
