People

ACCOUNTING

Robert (Rob) Vance, partner in the Valuation, Litigation & Business Transition Services Group with Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain PC (LBMC), presented at the recently held AICPA National Business Valuation Conference held in San Francisco. New standards for business valuations coupled with the increase in mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcies have led to an increase in demand for valuations. The conference, held in November, was designed to prepare practitioners for the scrutiny and responsibility added on by the current distressed economy and increased demands. Vance was one of three Tennesseans featured in a workshop presentation at the conference titled “Mock Deposition for a Business Valuation Engagement.”

Vance serves in the firm’s Knoxville office.

Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain PC (LBMC), one of the Southeast’s largest accounting and business consulting firms, has added Angie Pruitt in its Knoxville office.

Pruitt, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), has joined the accounting firm as a senior manager in the tax department. She previously worked as a senior manager at a big four accounting firm. Her experience includes managing the preparation and review of corporate and partnership income tax returns for manufacturing, health care and transportation industries. Additionally, she has provided accounting for income taxes under FAS109. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree and master of accountancy degree. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA).

BANKING

Mountain Commerce Bank (MCB), has promoted Brice Chapman from Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Anti-Money Laundering Analyst to BSA Officer. A graduate of Crown College, Chapman has over five years of experience in the financial industry and brings BSA certification to his new position.

During his tenure at MCB, Chapman has demonstrated the unwavering integrity crucial to maintaining the security and compliance of MCB’s BSA program.

First Tennessee has recently hired Michael “Mike” C. Smith as a vice president and investment officer.

Before joining First Tennessee, Smith served for 10 years as vice president and financial consultant at Charles Schwab & Company, for one year as a broker with J.P. Turner & Company, for one year as an investment counselor with USPA & IRA and for 11 years as a military police officer in the U.S. Army.

Smith serves as the Cedar Bluff-Farragut Optimist Club volleyball coach.

HEALTH CARE

Ron German, chief executive officer at East Tennessee Medical Group (ETMG), has been named chairman of the Medical Group Management Association’s (MGMA) Investment Advisory Committee.

The Investment Advisory Committee oversees the corporate investments and retirement plans of the Association. MGMA is a national organization of over 22,000 medical managers.

German joined ETMG as CEO in 2007, following positions at other area physician practices and related businesses as administrator and management consultant. He has more than 32 years of medical management experience.

German is the past president of both the Knoxville and Tennessee Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), Board Certified and a Fellow in the American College of Medical Practice Executives.

After serving in the U.S. Air Force, German graduated from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and later received has MBA from Bristol University.

INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIERS

Kenco Toyota-Lift, a major distributor of materials handling vehicles, equipment and parts, has appointed Jeff Burns director of Kenco Toyota-Lift. Prior to his promotion, Burns held the position of Northeast Regional Manager and has been serving as interim general manager for the last six months.

During his seven years of employment with Kenco, Burns has held several positions including senior logistics engineer, general manager of the Kenco-Managed Maytag Factory Distribution Center and general manager of Cherokee Truck Equipment.

Prior to joining Kenco, Burns served in a variety of manufacturing, engineering and management assignments for Advanced Vehicle Systems, Inc., Heil Trailer International and Astec Industries. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering, industrial technology, from Tennessee Technological University.

LAW

Now in its 142nd year, the law firm of Miller & Martin has named Partner Melvin J. Malone as the firm’s new chairman. Malone is the first African-American named to the position. He succeeds Howard I. Levine, who served as chairman since 2002.

Malone is a native of Chattanooga, and serves as managing member of the firm’s Nashville office. He is also a member of the Miller & Martin’s telecommunications & utilities, government relations and litigation practice groups. Malone has successfully litigated on behalf of a regional financial institution, a global wireless communications company, the nation’s largest three-service public utility, and automotive finance company and a coalition of Tennessee telephone cooperatives.

Malone graduated from the University of Tennessee undergraduate school and law school. He is on the board of directors for Youth Life Learning Centers, 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee and is a volunteer for Tennessee Governor Bredesen’s Children’s Cabinet Mentoring Initiative.

Prior to joining Miller & Martin, Malone was deputy legal counsel to Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist and commissioner of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority. Since June 2002, he has been recognized as Commissioner Emeritus of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.

Miller & Martin has adopted a strategic plan to become the most diverse regional firm in the Southeast by 2013. In the Spring 2009 issue of Multicultural Law Magazine, Miller & Martin was ranked first in the magazine’s list of Top 25 Law Firms for African Americans, and in the Top 100 Law Firms Diversity nationwide.

Dr. Lutz H. Gorgens, Counsel General of the Federal Republic of Germany, presented Miller & Martin Member Thomas J. Harrold Jr., with the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in a ceremony in Atlanta. The award is the highest tribute the Federal Republic of Germany can pay individuals for services to the nation in the fields of political, economic, social, charitable and philanthropic work. The Cross of Merit was instituted in 1951 and very few Americans have been given the award. Harrold was nominated for his commitment to service by German President Horst Kohler.

Harrold helped found the German-American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern United States in 1978. Since then, over 600 German companies have located facilities in the Southeast, more than any other region of the U.S.

As the Senior Member of Miller & Martin’s International Practice Group in Atlanta, Harrold is a recognized expert in assisting international companies, including many German companies who have established manufacturing, distribution and sales subsidiaries in the Southeast.

In 1985, Harrold was one of the founders and served as president of the World Law Group, which now has 51 member law firms in 39 countries linking together more than 10,000 lawyers. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the German American Chamber of Commerce, the Japan American Society and the Goethe-Zentrum/German Cultural Center.

In 2003, Harrold organized the German Unification Conference, which was the most important international event held in Atlanta since the 1996 Olympics. The conference celebrated the 13th anniversary of the unification of Germany and honored former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, former Soviet President Gorbachev and former U.S. President George H.W. Bush.

With over 400 people in attendance, Harrold was the organizer and chairman of the 60th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift Celebration saluting Georgia native General Lucius Clay in an event held at Dobbins Air Force Base on May 15, 2009.

Mark Mamantov from the Knoxville office of Bass, Berry & Sims PLC, has been selected for inclusion in Mid-South Super Lawyers 2009. Statewide, thirty-seven attorneys from Bass, Berry & Sims are included on the list, with an additional 11 attorneys cited as “Rising Stars.”

Mamantov is a founding member of the firm’s Knoxville office and serves as its administrator. His practice is primarily transactional, with a special emphasis on tax-exempt finance. He graduated from the University of Tennessee, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as articles editor of the Virginia Law Review and was selected for the Order of the Coif. He is presently a board member and secretary of the Webb School of Knoxville, a board member and the past president of the Knoxville Symphony Society and a board member of the Tennessee Theatre Foundation.

Super Lawyers is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. It is published as a special supplement in leading newspapers and city and regional magazines across the country. Polling, research and selection are performed by Law & Politics, a publication of Key Professional Media Inc.

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, have announced the addition of two new attorneys to its Chattanooga office.

Marcie L. Kiggans joins the firm as an associate in the litigation department. She is a 2009 graduate of Emory University School of Law.

Taeho Lee, joins the firm as an associate in the real estate group, and is also a 2009 graduate of Emory University School of Law. n