Around and about in local business

• After 32 years of service with the Lawrence Police Department, Detective Sean Brown retired in December. Brown started his career as a police officer with the department in 1980. He spent 22 years as a patrol officer. In 2002, he was assigned to the Drug Enforcement Unit, where he was assigned many investigations on local, state and federal levels. He was promoted to detective in 2007 and worked a variety of cases as a lead investigator.

In addition, Officer Myrone Grady was promoted to the rank of sergeant. His new assignment is shift supervisor in the patrol division. Grady began his career with the department in 2003. He worked in the patrol division until he was assigned as a school resource officer at South Middle School in 2008. He was awarded “School Resource Officer of the Year for the State of Kansas” in 2011. During the 2012-2013 school year, he was assigned as one of the two school resource officers at Lawrence High School.

• Charles Derby has been promoted to market president for First State Bank & Trust’s Lawrence locations, 609 Vermont St. and 3901 W. Sixth St. He most recently served as the senior vice president and commercial loan officer. Derby has more than 20 years of banking experience and is on the boards for Junior Achievement, Lawrence Humane Society and Meals on Wheels.

• Lisa Henry has been named president and chief executive officer at Capital Title Insurance Company in Topeka. Henry formerly served as vice president and branch manager of the Lawrence office.

• G. Paul Willhite, a distinguished professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at Kansas University, has won the highest honor awarded by the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Willhite, who joined the KU faculty in 1969, was given an honorary membership from the SPE at its annual conference. The honor, which is limited to only one-tenth of 1 percent of the society’s roughly 100,000 members, is awarded based on scientific or engineering achievement as well as service to the society.

• Luís Gonzalez, a professor and chairman of the geology department at Kansas University, has been named to the board of directors for a national organization devoted to the success of Hispanic and Native American scientists. Gonzalez was elected to serve for three years on the 15-member board of the Society for Advancement of Hispanics/Chicanos and Native Americans in Science. SACNAS, founded 40 years ago, has 6,000 members and 70 chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and Puerto Rico.

• Mark Brooks, construction manager for Habitat for Humanity, retired recently. Brooks won numerous awards for his dedication to Habitat’s mission, including the Service to Mankind Award from the Lawrence Sertoma Club in 2008. Board member Dave Baldwin is spearheading a special fund in Brooks’ name. The funds will go toward the next house Habitat for Humanity build, and Brooks’ name will appear on the sign at the build site. For more information, visit Lawrence Habitat at habitat.org or call 832-0777.

— To submit an item for the Business Briefs, email it to Caroline Trowbridge, managing editor, at ctrowbridge@ljworld.com.