Regions Financial has announced it has appointed two company and industry veterans to new positions within the commercial and industrial division of the business service group.

Regions has also promoted two specialized industry bankers to lead the company’s health care and restaurant specialty lending groups.

Mike Allen has been named commercial and industrial executive, with the responsibility for commercial and industrial business operations. John Barton has been named specialized industries executive. Both will report to John Asbury, head of business services for Regions Financial.

Allen is a 30-year veteran at Regions and its predecessors. He will manage operations and drive strategy for the commercial and industrial segment overall. Allen joined Regions Bank in 1981 and brings a broad background in commercial banking, asset-based lending and sales management to his new role. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He also graduated from The Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University.

Barton, previously head of the health care specialized industry group, has been named specialized industries executive, with responsibility for Regions’ health care, transportation, restaurant, and technology and defense specialized industry groups. He joined Regions in 2009 and has more than 30 years of experience in corporate, investment and health care banking. Barton earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and also is a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking.

CONSTRUCTION

ABC Supply Co. Inc. has named new branch managers for two of its stores in Tennessee. Austin Phillips has been promoted to manager of the ABC Supply store in Knoxville, and Grant Truex has been named manager of the Johnson City location.

ABC Supply is the largest wholesale distributor of roofing in the U.S. and one of the nation’s largest distributors of siding, windows and other select exterior building products.

Phillips is a resident of Knoxville. He joined ABC Supply in 2006 and previously served as branch manager the ABC Supply store in Shelbyville, Tenn. Truex is a resident of Johnson City. He joined ABC Supply in 2009 and has served at company locations in Georgia and North Carolina.

ENGINEERING

Peter Binney, PE, national director of sustainable infrastructure, recently received the American Society of Civil Engineers national President’s Medal for his dedicated leadership and influence in developing the national sustainable infrastructure project rating system and its accreditation program. Binney was a lead contributor in the development of the sustainable infrastructure rating systems that will further promote sustainable infrastructure design and construction practices. ASCE as well as the American Consulting Engineers Council and American Public Works Association supported the development of the program.

Not more than two individuals can be nationally recognized and awarded the ASCE President’s Medal each year. The award was established in 1986, and honors the accomplishments and contributions of outstanding engineers to the profession, the Society or the public.

Binney has more than 30 years experience and leads Merrick’s sustainable infrastructure program with responsibilities including expanding Merrick’s water infrastructure business across the U.S., and leading Merrick’s sustainable infrastructure practice through the firm’s 13 offices.

HOUSING

Clayton Homes has announced that Greg Hamilton, former controller of Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, Inc., has been promoted to vice president of internal audit for Clayton Homes. Hamilton coordinates and directs strategic long-term goals, policies and procedures for the internal audit function. He has been with Clayton Homes in various financial positions since 1997.

HOTELS

Vision Hospitality Group, Inc. a leading hotel management and development company based in Chattanooga, Tenn., announced that Reggie Piercy has joined the company as director of operations. Piercy comes to Vision with an extensive background in hospitality training and development coupled with a vast knowledge of hotel operations. His primary responsibilities will be to oversee the operations of Vision’s growing portfolio of hotels and to develop the company’s training and culture program.

Piercy has worked for many industry leaders such as Marriott International, White Lodging and most recently Chartwell Hospitality. He has received numerous accolades throughout his career including the esteemed JW Marriott Award. Across his 25-year tenure in the hospitality industry, he has held various positions including general manager, regional director of operations, director of training and development and brand training manager.

Benchmark Hospitality International, the company that operates The Chattanoogan hotel, has announced the promotion of Tom Cupo to the position of managing director. In this new role, Cupo will continue to oversee the management of The Chattanoogan and also assume responsibilities for the management of The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center in Blackburg, Virginia. He will be based at the Chattanoogan.

Since 2008, Cupo has served as the general manager for The Chattanoogan. He previously served in the same role for Virginia Crossings Resort, which was operated by Benchmark Hospitality at the time. With both hotels, Cupo led the operations team to Four Diamonds status.

Cupo has been with Benchmark Hospitality for 17 years advancing to leadership positions within the operations and senior management departments for properties in New Jersey, Virginia, Tennessee, Minneapolis and Toronto. He is a certified real property administrator and facilities management Administrator, a designation he earned from the Building Owners and Managers Institute of Arnold, Maryland. Cupo and his family reside in Chattanooga.

LAW

Bass, Berry & Sims has announced that G. Mark Mamantov from the firm’s Knoxville office was named in Mid-South Super Lawyers 2011. Mamantov has been recognized in the area of Bonds/Government Finance.

Mamantov is a founding member of the firm’s Knoxville office and serves as the administrator of that office. His practice is primarily transactional, with a special emphasis on tax-exempt finance. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and the University of Virginia School of Law.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Fletcher PR, a boutique communications firm focused on reaching women through the power of media, has announced Kate Spears as its new social media and band content manager. In this newly created position, Spears will manager all social media initiatives and campaigns for clients and the agency.

Prior to joining Fletcher PR, Spears directed the University of Tennessee of Art Vision Resources Collection for the past seven years. Born and raised in Cookeville, Tenn., she graduated from graduated from UT’s college of Communication & Information with a master’s degree in public relations and advertising in 2007. Spears also managed Fletcher PR agency blog, “Her Voice,” as a contracted social media specialist.

RETAIL

Simon Property Group, Inc. has announced that David Huesser has been named area mall manager of West Town Mall and Knoxville Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.

As area manager, Huesser will manage all day-to-day operations, maintenance and tenant relations for both properties. Additionally, he will be responsible for the security and marketing of both centers.

Huesser previously served as area mall manager of Summit Mall in Akron, Ohio and Richmond Town Square in Richmond Heights, Ohio. Prior to joining Simon, Huesser spent 13 years as a regional manager in Toronto, Canada with Frum Development Group, O&Y Properties and Runnymede Development Corporation.

Additionally, he has served as mall manager at Ford City Mall in Chicago, Ill., with PREIT, Urban Retail and General Growth Properties as well as senior general manager at the Four Seasons Town Centre in Greensboro, N.C., and Piedmont Mall in Danville, Va. with General Growth Properties.

TECHNOLOGY

Tech 2020’s Tennessee Valley Technology Council presented its annual Navigator Awards Wednesday, November 16, during the first day of the Entrepreneurial Imperative 2011 conference. Awards of excellence were given for this year’s top entrepreneur, researcher, and technology company, as well as for the Tech Commercialization Champion of the year.

Selected as the 2011 Technology Company of the year, Medinteract was co founded by Andrew Dougherty, Medinteract provides efficient and effective detection of Alzheimer’s disease by their computer based cognitive screening testing technology. Early detention leads to early intervention delaying the impact of the disease. Medinteract is now providing their detection services to a range of medical service providers across the region. Andrew received his MBA with concentrations in finance and in innovation and entrepreneurship from the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

The Tech Council’s prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award went to Will Overstreet, founder and CEO of Voices Heard Media, Inc. Will co-founded Voices Heard Media in April 2007 to commercialize the software platform that solved the challenge of creating personal connections that would scale to meet the demands of large audiences.

After Overstreet’s outstanding college career at the University of Tennessee and part of the 1998 National Championship Team, he was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. During his career with the Falcons and subsequently in television and radio sports broadcasting and analysis, Overstreet formulated the concept that would become Voices Heard Media. As a player and on-air personality, he saw the branding and revenue potential of making personal connections with fans. The challenge, however, was how to give individual fans amongst an audience of thousands, or even millions, the one-to-one access they crave. His patented idea formed the basis for the launch of Voices Heard Media.

Research Entrepreneur of the Year award went to innovator and entrepreneur, Dr. Michael Zemel, a UT Professor of Nutrition and Medicine. Zemel is also the Director of the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee. His work in launching Nutraceutical Discoveries, Inc, a metabolism accelerator by natural occurring ingredients, was recognized.

Zemel is the author of over 190 refereed publications primarily describing investigations of the role of cell calcium regulations in obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension. His current work focuses on obesity genetics, the regulation of human adipocyte lipogenesis and lipolysis via calcium-linked mechanisms, and novel modulation of obesity by dietary calcium and dairy products.

Tom Ballard was awarded one of the Tech Commercialization Champions of the Year awards for his work in advancing our region’s economy through the use of technology developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Ballard was appointed the inaugural director of partnerships for UT-Battelle, the managing contractor for Oak Ridge National Laboratory effective Jan. 1, 2008.

Tammy Graham, manager, Technology Transfer Y-12 National Security Complex, was recognized for her work in creation of a streamlined tech transfer process to accelerate the time it takes for a businesses to license technology from the Y-12 National Security Complex, with the second Tech Commercialization Champion of the Year award.

Graham plans and executes the efforts of Y-12’s Office of Technology Transfer, an entity within the company’s Commercialization and Partnerships program. In this role, which she has held since 2007, Graham aligns technology transfer activities with the Y-12 strategic plan. Promoting use of Y-12’s Technologies to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) facilities, other federal entities, and the private sector, Graham ensures the company’s proactive participations in advancing science, technology and engineering competencies that are foundations of the NNSA mission.

W. Barton Close

BANKING

FirstBank has announced the addition of Matt Webster.  He will serve customers from the Knoxville office.  Webster comes to FirstBank with 10 years of commercial banking experience, specifically in construction and commercial real estate.  Most recently, he was employed by BankEast for over four years, where he served as a commercial lender.

Jeffrey M. Turner

A University of Tennessee graduate, Webster resides in Knoxville.

ESTATE PLANNING

The Estate Planning Council of Chattanooga has announced its recently elected officers for the 2011-2012 membership year.  The Estate Planning Council is an interdisciplinary organization for professionals involved in estate planning.

Jennifer Kent Exum

General membership is open to attorneys, bank trust officers, certified public accountants, financial planners and life insurance agents engaged in estate planning within the local community.

President W. Barton Close CFP, Classic Wealth Advisory of Raymond James;  Jeffrey M. Turner CFP, vice president/programs, Capital Financial Group, LLC;  Secretary Jennifer Kent Exum, Esq. with Spears, Moore, Rebman & Williams P.C.;  Sara H. Ross CPA, treasurer, Joseph Decosimo & Co. PLLC;  Barbara J. Marter, past president;  Shelton Swafford Chambers, JD, CPA, Husch Blackwell, board member;  Gloria S. McConnell, Neal, Scouten & McConnell, P.C., board member;  Richard L. Cox, Sr., CFP,ChFC, CLU, MFP, AEP, Cox Wealth Management, director;  Teresa L. Whitton CTFA, SunTrust Banks, Inc., director;  Gregory D. Willett, Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, director;  Robin Holcomb, Spears, Moore, Rebman & Williams, administrative assistant.

Sara H. Ross

LEGAL

Eighty-one attorneys with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC have been named to Mid-South Super Lawyers.

Barbara J. Marter

A total of 10 of the firm’s Chattanooga attorneys were named to the list:  Kenneth C. Beckman, Joe A. Conner, Richard B. Gossett, Russell W. Gray, Carl E. Hartley, Thomas O. Helton, James H. Levine, Virginia C. Love, Ross I. Schram III and Jerry Stauffer.  Virginia C. Love was also named among the top 50 female attorneys in the Mid-South.

The publication also honored 23 Baker Donelson attorneys in its 2011 list of Mid-South Rising Stars, including Justin M. Sveadas from the firm’s Chattanooga office.

NON-PROFITS

Shelton Swafford Chambers

John D. Lee, current president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley, (BGCTNV) was recently inducted into the Boys & Girls Clubs in Tennessee Hall of Fame.

Lee, who recently announced his retirement as president and CEO, has spent more than 40 years of his career working with the organization.  He began as assistant executive director in 1970, and is only the second president/CEO since the organization’s inception in 1943.

Gloria S. McConnell

Lee’s retirement is effective Dec. 31, 2011.  Lisa Hurst, current executive vice president of BGCTNV, has been named his successor.

The Memorial Health Care System Foundation will hold its 7^th Annual Pink! Gala on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, at the Chattanooga Convention Center.  Chairing this year’s gala is Mike and Suzy Costa.  Mike is vice president and general manager of NewsChannel9.  The Hamico Foundation returns as the Title Sponsor of Pink! 2012.

Proceeds from Pink! Will benefit the expansion of surgical and infusion (chemo) services for breast cancer patients at Memorial.

PROFESSIONAL

Richard L. Cox, Sr.

Executive Women International of Knoxville (EWI) has announced the following directors for 2011-2012.  Connie Leggett, Lattimore, Black, Morgan & Cain, P.C., president;  Sherry Ellis, Home Federal Bank of TN, vice president/president elect;  Valorie Beers, Barge, Waggoner, Sumner & Cannon, Inc., secretary;  Denise Smith, Tennessee Valley Authority, treasurer;  Amanda Seal, New Link Solutions, sergeant-at-arms;  Susan Arnold, Bush Brothers & Company, program director;  Sandy Richards, Lattimore, Black, Morgan & Cain, P.C., program director co-chair;  Ashley Dixon, McKibbon Hotel Management, Inc., ways and means director;  Susan Goode, Knoxville Coca Cola, membership director;  Jana Davidson, Humana, membership director co-chair;  Kim Davis, Knoxville Tourism & Sports Corporation, publications director;  Kim Alt, Bailey Sales Corp., director-at-large/golf committee chair;  Leah Beam, PSI Packaging Services, LLC, director-at-large/gold committee co-chair;  Kay Wright, Covenant Health, scholarship committee chair;  and Sheri Lockett, Bertelkamp Automation, past president’s club chair.

Teresa L. Whitton

Will Overstreet, CEO of technology start-up Voices Heard Media, has been named the 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year.  He was presented with the award from the Tennessee Valley Tech Council on Nov. 16 during the Entrepreneurial Imperative 2011 Conference at the Crowne Plaza in Knoxville.  The award has been handed out to different CEOs in the Tennessee Valley over the past 10 years.

Gregory D. Willett

Overstreet played football for the University of Tennessee, and helped lead the team to an NCAA National Championship in 1998.  He was drafted in the third round by the Atlanta Falcons, where he started as a rookie.   After his football career, Overstreet served on television and radio as a sports broadcaster and analyst.

Overstreet founded Voices Heard Media in April 2007.

The Tennessee Hospital Association has awarded Memorial Health Care System board member, Joan Frierson with the 2011 Meritorious Service Award for Governance.  She was honored for “her exceptional leadership, insight and knowledge in all of her work at Memorial Health Care System.”

Justin M. Sveadas

Frierson helped guide the hospital through important changes in leadership and numerous visionary decisions.

In addition to her involvement with Memorial Health Care System and the Memorial Health Care System Foundation, Frierson has served as past chairman of the Board of Girl’s Preparatory School, where she co-chaired the school’s 1996 capital campaign, past-president of the Junior League of Chattanooga, past chair of Women’s Build for Habitat for Humanity, past co-chair of Fast Day at the Chattanooga Community Kitchen and past member of the Hunter Museum of American Art board of directors.

Connie Leggett

Frierson received the 2009 Humanitarian Award, an annual honor given to an individual who demonstrates outstanding leadership in the Chattanooga community, and she has been named a Chattanooga Woman of Distinction, an award presented by the American Lung Association.

Frierson graduated from Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in 1964.  She is married to Dan Frierson, chairman and chief executive of The Dixie Group, a floor covering manufacturer in Chattanooga.  They have five children and eight great grandchildren.

REAL ESTATE

Sherry Ellis

Mike Domeck has renewed his real estate license and joined Crye-Leike’s Cleveland, Tenn., branch as an affiliate broker.  He most recently spent six years as the president of an Internet marketing consulting company, D3 Solutions and Design.  Prior to that, he worked for AT&T, winning the top sales award in North America for the company in 1996.

Domeck has over 28 years of experience in the real estate industry, including residential sales, home design and planning, residential construction management, sales management and training and representing buyers and sellers.  He specializes in residential real estate, condominiums and town homes.  Domeck is a member of the River Counties Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors.

Mike Domeck

Joan Frierson

Crowe Horwath LLP, one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the U.S., has hired Margaret Bates as a staff member in the audit and financial advisory unit of its Knoxville, Tenn., office.

Nick Meals

Nick Meals, CPA, has been promoted to manager with the tax practice at the Knoxville office of Decosimo Certified Public Accountants.

Meals has specific experience serving clients in the restaurant, manufacturing and retail industries. In addition, he works with closely held businesses and their owners. Meals manages tax services to consolidated corporations and demonstrates particular technical expertise with FAS 109 and multi-state tax compliance. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants, where he serves as a member of the Knoxville chapter Young CPA committee. Meals is also a member of the Young Professionals of Knoxville and serves on the board of directors for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Maryville, Tenn.

Meals earned a Masters of Accountancy with a tax concentration, as well as a bachelor’s degree in business administration, from the University of Tennessee.

BANKING

CapitalMark Bank & Trust has announced the addition of Keith Barrett as its Cleveland president. In this role, Barrett and his banker teams will launch CapitalMark’s full-service office in Cleveland, Tenn., pending regulatory approval. The banker teams serve the needs of individuals and businesses within a model that aligns one banker to each client and employs technology and an executive courier service to customize the banking experience.

R. Craig Holley, CapitalMark’s chairman and CEO made the announcement of Barrett’s hiring.

CapitalMark Bank & Trust has announced the addition of Phil Barnes, who will lead the bank’s wealth and trust group, which is approaching $100 million in total assets.

A 33-year banking veteran, Barnes most recently spent 20 years with a regional bank and its predecessors. He has served in a wide variety of roles including management, administration and sales in both trust and private banking.

Barnes received his bachelor’s degree from Covenant College. He completed graduate studies with the University of Virginia’s International School of Lending, the University of Delaware’s Stonier Graduate School of Banking and Vanderbilt University’s Corporate Finance Course in mergers and acquisitions. Barnes has held licenses Series 7 and 66.

Andy Boyer has joined CapitalMark Bank & Trust in its Knoxville office as executive vice president and director of client services serving the Oak Ridge and Maryville markets.

Boyer has over 12 years of industry experience previously serving at larger, regional banking institutions in the business banking, commercial banking and asset-based lending divisions. He attended the Masters College in Santa Clarita, Calif., with a concentration in business management. Boyer serves as a member of the Breakfast Rotary Club of Oak Ridge, the Emory Valley Center Business Advisory Council and the Oak Ridge Chamber Connectors, for which he served as co-chair.

Boyer joins Oak Ridge President David Bradshaw and Client Services Manager Julie Goeke, serving the needs of businesses and individuals in the Knoxville, Oak Ridge and Maryville markets.

HEALTH CARE

Suzie C. Nelson, M.D.

Suzie C. Nelson, M.D., has joined the McNabb Center staff as a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist. She will work in the Center’s children and youth programs and services.

Most recently, Nelson served as a staff psychiatrist with the U.S. Air Force at Keesler Medical Center. She received her medical degree from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, and completed her residency at Wright State University.

The Helen Ross McNabb Center is in its 63rd year of providing mental health care services in East Tennessee. In 1948, the center began as a child guidance clinic and has evolved through the years to become a multi-service regional agency operating in 16 counties. The Center provides mental health care, addiction and co-occurring treatment and recovery as well as social services for nearly 10,000 children, adults and families.

Dr. Zynia Pua-Vines

Memorial Health Care System has announced that Dr. Zynia Pua-Vines, a family medicine physician with Memorial Health Partners, has joined Memorial Family Medicine Ooltewah.

Pua-Vines is board certified in family medicine. She holds bachelor’s degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Alabama-Birmingham, in addition to a master’s degree in community health from the University of Alabama. Pua-Vines completed medical school at the University of Alabama School of Medicine and her residency at the Tuscaloosa Family Medicine residency program.

Pua-Vines received a commendation from then-Alabama Gov. Bob Reilly in 2008 for her work practicing in an under-served area. She also received honors during her residency and medical school for her work in rural health.

Memorial Health Care System has announced that Deborah Duffield, M.D., an internal medicine physician with Memorial Health Partners, has joined Chattanooga Primary Care in Hixson, Tenn. She is board certified in internal medicine, and attended medical school at Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans. Duffield completed her residency at the University College of Medicine, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. She joins Vicky Cooke, N.P., at Chattanooga Primary Care.

Dr. Dovile Paulauskas

The McNabb Center has named Dr. Dovile Paulauskas as medical director for children, youth and family services. In her new role, she will oversee medical practice and policy at the center. Paulauskas joined the Center as a child and adolescent psychiatrist in 2004 after completing her fellowship at the University of Kentucky School of Medicine.

HOUSING

Jerry Creel

Clayton Homes, a Berkshire-Hathaway company, has announced the promotion of three of its employees: Jerry Creel, Carl Hill and Jim Stariha.

Creel has been promoted to the position of vice president of human resources and talent management for all of Clayton Homes. Previously, he served as vice president of human resources and training solely for the retail division. Prior to joining the Clayton team in 2000, he served as director of human resources for Oakwood Homes’ manufacturing division.

Carl Hill

Hill has been made director of marketing and consumer insights. He joined the company as a consumer insight analyst in January 2010 from the University of Tennessee MBA program to support customer research initiatives. Since then, Clayton’s research and analysis needs have grown beyond customer service and sales into Web and advertising effectiveness.

Jim Stariha

Stariha has been promoted to vice president and controller for Clayton Homes manufacturing. He joined Clayton Homes in October 2006 through its acquisition of Southern Energy Homes as a wholly owned subsidiary of Clayton Homes.

LAW

Joshua Powers

William E. Robinson

Joshua Powers and William E. Robinson, attorneys in the Chattanooga office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, have been recognized as Lawyers of the Year by The Best Lawyers in America 2012. Powers was named Chattanooga’s Medical Malpractice Law Lawyer of the Year, and Robinson was named Chattanooga’s Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law Lawyer of the Year.

Considered a definitive guide to legal excellence, Best Lawyers has designated a select group of individuals as Lawyers of the Year in high-profile specialties in large legal communities. Only a single attorney in each specialty in each community is honored. Across the Firm, 19 Baker Donelson attorneys were recognized as Lawyers of the Year for 2012.

Additionally, the Firm has hired two new attorneys in its Chattanooga office.

Melanie C. Walker

David J. Holesinger has joined the firm as an associate in the advocacy department, where he works on a wide variety of business-to-business litigation matters. He is a 2007 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law. Prior to joining Baker Donelson, Holesinger clerked for Chief Judge John C. Cook in the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Melanie C. Walker has joined Baker Donelson as an associate in the advocacy department, and represents clients in various types of litigation. She is a 2009 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law. Prior to joining Baker Donelson, Walker worked as an immigration paralegal, assisting a wide range of clients with their employment and family immigration issues.

MANUFACTURING

Lindsey Ann Waldrep

Crossville, Inc. has named Lindsey Ann Waldrep to the position of vice president, marketing. She has over 15 years of experience in marketing and advertising, which includes almost a decade of hard surface product and brand management. Most recently, Waldrep was senior director, creative marketing at Mohawk Industries, where she managed an internal creative group and three external agencies. Waldrep has also served as national account product manager and then creative manager for Tarkett Wood, Inc.

A graduate of The Savannah College of Art and Design, Waldrep received a bachelor’s degree with honors. She earned her MBA from Kennesaw State University, where she was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society. Waldrep is a member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and is a board member of the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera. She has been the recipient of award from many organizations, including the American Advertising Federation (ADDY), Specialty Graphic Imaging Association and Printing Industries of the Carolinas.

Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, Crossville, Inc. manufactures award-winning Porcelain Stone® and Design Solutions® tile and natural stone collections for residential as well as contract applications.

MEDIA

Christina Girgis

Christina Girgis has joined the East Tennessee Business Journal (ETBJ), as an editorial assistant. Her duties will include editing and research, as well as covering arts and entertainment in the East Tennessee region.

Girgis is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, majoring in creative writing with a minor in special education. Her expected graduation date is 2013. Upon completion of her bachelor’s degree, Girgis plans to attend law school. She has a special interest in criminal justice.

Before joining the staff of ETBJ, Girgis was in retail sales for the past two years. Since childhood, she has assisted her parents, Seham and Mo Girgis, with their Egyptian/Middle Eastern restaurant, the King Tut Grill, located near downtown Knoxville.

A member of the University’s Arabic Club, Girgis attends church.

NON-PROFITS

Lisa Hurst

Lisa Hurst has been named the new president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley (BGCTNV). She has been with the organization for 25 years, and has been serving as executive vice president. Current BGCTNV President and CEO John D. Lee has recently announced his retirement, effective Dec. 31, 2011.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

PerfectServe, a hospital clinical communications company based in Knoxville, Tenn., has announced that David Pectol has joined the company as chief financial officer.

Pectol has over 14 years of experience in public accounting and corporate finance. He was with publicly traded National Coal Corporation from 2008 to 2011, where he was the corporate controller and responsible for all SEC reporting and Sarbanes-Oxley management.

Prior to National Coal, Pectol held positions was corporate controller for Knoxville-based IdleAire Technologies during the company’s period of rapid growth and national expansion, and director of accounting and director of internal audit for publicly traded SBA Communications in Boca Raton, Fla. His public accounting experience includes serving as audit manager with the national firm of Crowe Horwath LLP.

Pectol holds a master’s degree in accountancy from East Tennessee State University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in economics from Erskine College.

Burgess

Jamie Burgess has joined Pinnacle Financial Partners as a receptionist. Burgess brings 12 years of experience and comes most recently from American Trust Bank, where she was a customer service representative. Before joining American Trust, her roles at SunTrust Bank included serving as a private wealth management specialist, a financial services representative and a teller. She is based at the Northshore Drive office.

Mountain Commerce Bank (MCB) announced the promotion of three if its key personnel. Whit Whitehurst, has been promoted to vice president. Whitehurst began his five- year banking career with Erwin National Bank, the predecessor of Mountain Commerce Bank, in the management training program, gaining experience in all areas of the bank.

During his career with MCB, he was an assistant branch manager prior to being named special assets manager.  He is responsible for managing special assets, as well as all aspects of the appraisal process throughout the bank. He earned his Bachelor of Business Management degree with a concentration in banking from East Tennessee State University.

Brad Pollock has been promoted to special assets recovery officer. Pollock has extensive experience in managing special assets and collections. In addition to actively managing foreclosed properties and resolving delinquent accounts, he assists with property valuations and appraisals.

V.V. Elliott has been promoted to assistant vice president. She has  over 16 years of retail and commercial banking experience, including  all aspects of loan operations.  Elliott joined Mountain Commerce Bank in 2007, supporting commercial and retail lenders in the Johnson City  area. In 2010, she was promoted to credit administration officer and accepted the additional responsibility of managing all aspects of the loan operations department.          In addition, Elliott is involved in all areas of credit administration.

Marshall

Ruth Ann Marshall, former president, The Americas, for MasterCard International, Inc., has been elected to the board of directors of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF). In her role as president, The Americas, for MasterCard International, Marshall was responsible for all major banking and retail relationships, as well as governance, business development, global acceptance, product management, finance, planning, and human resources. Prior to joining MasterCard, she also held executive leadership positions within the payments card industry including her service with Concord, EFS; Electronic Payment Services, Inc; and BUYPASS.

Marshall holds a BBA in Finance and an MBA in Marketing from Southern Methodist University. Additionally, in 2004 and 2005, Marshall was named as one of Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women, as well as being named to Fortune’s Top 100 Business Women in 2003. Marshall also serves on the boards of ConAgra Foods, Inc., Global Payments, Inc. and Pella Corporation.

DISTRIBUTION

H.T. Hackney Company, a Knoxville based wholesale distributor, has hired Tennessee’s former men’s head basketball coach, Bruce Pearl.  Pearl started his new position on Sept. 1, 2011.

Pearl turned down a job offer from the Texas Legends, a NBA Development League team.  He said he wanted to be in Knoxville where his family and life-long friends and home are.   Pearl has two children that graduated from UT and work in the Knoxville area.  He also has two children who are still in high school. For six seasons, Pearl coached the TN Vols.

At Boston College School of Management, Pearl was a marketing and economics major.

GOVERNMENT

Tennessee Govenor Bill Haslam was named Vice Chair of the National Governors Association (NGA) Education, Early Childhood and Workforce Committee by NGA Chair Nebraska Govenor Dave Heineman and NGA Vice Chair Delaware Govenor Jack Markell.

The Education, Early Childhood and Workforce Committee has jurisdiction over issues in the area of education (including early childhood, elementary and secondary education, and higher education) as well as in the areas of workforce development and labor.

Members of the committee ensure that the governors’ views are represented in the shaping of federal policy.
Arkansas Govenor Mike Beebe will serve as chair of the committee.

In March, Haslam joined Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to serve on a bi-partisan, federal study group co-chaired by U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Michael Bennett (D-CO).

HEALTH CARE

Jason Daniel has joined Vista Radiology, P.C., as information technology manager.

Prior to Vista, Daniel was employed by Southeastern Retina Associates as the director of IT, overseeing its technological needs in 24 offices throughout five states. While at SRA, Daniel reduced IT costs while improving the company’s technological efficiency. Before his work at SRA, he was a network engineer for Answer Financial Inc. in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Daniel graduated summa cum laude and as class valedictorian from ITT Technical Institute, with an associate’s degree of applied science in computer networking and systems technology.

Established over 50 years ago as Fort Sanders Radiology, Vista Radiology is the largest and most sub-specialized radiology practice in East Tennessee.  Vista provides radiology services for 13 hospitals, both in East Tennessee and around the Southeast:
* Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center * Fort Sanders Parkwest Medical Center * Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center * Fort Loudoun Medical Center * Roane Medical Center (Harriman, TN) * East Tennessee Children’s Hospital * Sky Ridge Medical Center (Cleveland, TN area) * Claiborne County Hospital (Tazewell, TN) * Lakeway Regional Hospital (Morristown, TN) * Advanced Healthcare Medical Center (Ellington, MO) * Jamestown Regional Medical Center (Jamestown, TN) * Randolph Hospital (Asheboro, NC) * Morehead Memorial Hospital (Eden, NC) Additionally, Vista services outpatient facilities including:
* Fort Sanders West Diagnostic Center * Thompson Cancer Survival Breast Center * Thompson Cancer West * Parkwest Comprehensive Breast Center * The Breast Center and LeConte Medical Center * Outpatient Diagnostic Center of Knoxville * Outpatient Diagnostic Center of Nashville * Healthstar Physicians, P.C. * McKenzie Medical Center, P.C.

REAL ESTATE

After more than five years spent with and helping hundreds of buyers and sellers achieve their real estate goals, Chattanooga realtor Wendy Dixon has another great accomplishment to add to her long, successful career.

Dixon was recently selected as one of the top realtors in Chattanooga when she was named as one of Chatter Magazine’s “Top 20 under 40” real estate agents.

Even though Dixon only became a licensed realtor in 2006, she has been helping host open houses since she was 15. Real estate has always been a part of Dixon’s life since her dad was a builder in the industry.

Dixon is 1996 a graduate of UTC with a bachelor’s in legal studies.  She has been Crye-Leike’s No. 1 top producer for three years in a row despite a difficult housing market.

Dixon works with her husband based out of Crye-Leike’s Ooltewah branch office as the Dixon team.

Crye-Leike realtor Stephanie Arnold recently joined the team as well. They assist buyers and sellers in and around Hamilton and Bradley counties specializing in all types of residential real estate sales.

Dixon is a licensed realtor in Georgia, and a member of the River Countries Association of Realtors (RCAR), the Tennessee Association of Realtors (TAR), and the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Harold Crye and Dick Leike established Crye-Leike, REALTORS in 1977. Crye-Leike is a full-service real estate company offering buyers and sellers services in: residential and commercial sales, mortgage, title, insurance, business brokerage and investments, property management, development and construction, builder resources, REO bank-owned properties, relocation, auctions, and home services.  In 2010, Crye-Leike attained a sales volume of $3.85 billion with 24,260 homes sold.

SPORTS

The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame announced its14th group of inductees, the Class of 2012, on ABC during the WNBA All-Star Game in San Antonio, TX today.

The six members of the Class of 2012 are: Nancy Fahey (coach), Nikki McCray (player), Pam McGee (player), Inge Nissen (player), Robin Roberts (contributor) and Dawn Staley (player).

The announcement marks the fifth time in the Hall of Fame’s 13-year history that the upcoming class of inductees has been announced during a WNBA event in July. Prior to making the announcement during the WNBA season, it had been tradition for the new inductees to be unveiled during the State Farm Tip-Off Classic each year in November. The Class of 2012 will be formally introduced at the 2011 State Farm Tip-Off Classic. Details for the 2011 SFTOC and the 2012 WBHOF Induction will be announced at a later date.

With the addition of the Class of 2012, the list of individuals who have been recognized as Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductees will increase to 127.

The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors serves as the selection committee in determining which individuals will be inducted each year. Voting is based on various factors, which may include moral character, integrity, sportsmanship, record of performance, ability, national or international recognition, and contributions to the game of women’s basketball.

In order to be considered for selection for induction, an individual must meet the following prerequisites:

* Player: Must be retired from the highest level of play for at least five years, * Coach:  Must have coached the women’s game at least 20 years, * Referee: Must have officiated the women’s game at least 10 years, * Contributor: Must have significantly impacted the game of women’s basketball

Fahey is the only coach in NCAA Division III history to win five national championships, including a stretch of four-straight crowns from 1998-01. She led Washington University-St. Louis to the second-longest winning streak in NCAA women’s basketball history at 81 games. Fahey ranks third among all active NCAA coaches with an .849 career winning percentage. She was named the 2000 WBCA Division III Coach of the Year.

McCray, a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and three-time WNBA All-Star, scored 2,528 points during her nine-year WNBA career. In her four-year career at the University of Tennessee, McCray led the Lady Vols to three SEC regular season titles, two conference tournament championships, and four NCAA tournament appearances. She earned All-American and SEC Player of the Year honors in both her junior and senior years.

McGee helped lead the University of Southern California to back-to-back NCAA National Championships in 1983 and 1984, earning All-American honors in 1984. She was a three-time All-NCAA First Team selection, a finalist for the 1983 Wade Trophy and a finalist for the 1984 Naismith Award. She is USC’s sixth all-time scorer with 2,214 points and USC’s second all-time rebounder with 1,255 rebounds. McGee helped led the USA Basketball Team to their first ever gold medal in the 1984 Olympics.
Nissen led Old Dominion University to the AIAW National Championships in 1979 and 1980 finishing her career with 2,647 points and 1,459 rebounds. She was named the team’s MVP during the 1978, 1979 and 1980 seasons as well as the Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year in 1980. Nissen was a two-time Wade Trophy Finalist and a 1980 Kodak All-American. She was inducted into the Old Dominion University Hall of Fame in 1985.

Roberts began her career with Southeastern Louisiana University, where she is the school’s all-time leading scorer (1,446 points) and rebounder (1,034 rebounds). In 1983 she began her career in TV as a sports reporter in Hattiesburg, MS. Since then Roberts has earned multiple Emmy Awards while working at ESPN and  ABC. She was the 2001 WBCA Mel Greenberg Media Award Winner, and she has been inducted into the Women’s Institute of Sport and Education Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1994.
Staley was a three-time Kodak All-American, two-time ACC and National Player of the Year, and the 1991 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player during her college career. She is the only ACC player to record more than 2,000 points, 700 rebounds, 700 assists, and 400 steals. During her WNBA career, Staley was named an All-Star five times and was selected to the WNBA All-Decade Team. A three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, Staley was also named the 1994 and 2004 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year.

TOURISM

The Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation (KTSC) is proud to announce that Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Kim Bumpas, has earned the designation of Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) from Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI). Bumpas has contributed to the tourism industry professionally for 14 years. She has served in a leadership role at KTSC for eight years and previously held sales and marketing positions within the Knoxville Convention and Visitors Bureau, Hyatt and Holiday Inn hotels.

The CDME certification is recognized as the highest educational achievement by the destination marketing industry.  It is earned by completing rigorous coursework required by the DMAI.  The focus of the program is the implementation of strategy, vision and leadership to successfully promote a destination and support tourism industry.

Bumpas is only one of two tourism professionals in the state of Tennessee to hold this honor.  The other Tennessee CDME professional is John Whisenant, Executive Director of the Tennessee Tourism Roundtable.

VETERINARY

After more than 5 years of serving the companion animals of Knoxville and Knox County Tim Adams will be leaving Young-Williams Animal Center to serve as Executive Director of Wesley House Community Center starting Monday August 8.
Adams is taking over the leadership of Wesley House from Richard Gibson who has served this ministry for the last 8 years.  Gibson has moved Wesley House into a position of financial stability and set the organization in a position to grow and reach more children and families.  Adams will look to expand community awareness and involvement, continue the growth of programs and the number of people served by Wesley House, and look to future expansion as a way to serve more children and families in the Beaumont, Lonsdale, and Mechanicsville communities.

The Sevierville Chamber of Commerce / Convention & Visitors Bureau is the marketing arm of the City of Sevierville and creates and implements the city’s tourism advertising and promotional campaigns.

HEALTH CARE

John C. Texada

Cardiopulmonary imaging specialist and board certified radiologist, John C. Texada, M.D., is joining Vista Radiology P.C., from the University of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham, Ala.

Texada received his medical degree and completed his internal medicine internship at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, LA. He completed his radiology residency and his cardiopulmonary imaging fellowship at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Birmingham.

He is board certified with the American Board of Radiology and has been widely published in medical journals such as Radiology Board Review and Clinical Gastroenteriology and Hepatology.

In June 2005 and 2007, Texada received awards for excellence in emergency radiology and excellence in neuroradiology. He also received awards for excellence in abdominopelvic imaging, excellence in cardiothoracic imaging and a Breast MRI Award in June 2008.

Established over 40 years ago as Fort Sanders Radiology, Vista Radiology is the largest and most sub-specialized radiology practice in East Tennessee. With 38 Board-Certified radiologists, Vista is uniquely positioned to provide the highest available level of radiology expertise, including 24-hour teleradiology services and sub-specialized radiographic interpretations.
Vista Radiology also specializes in non-surgical, minimally invasive treatments such as endovascular repair of aneurysms, acute stroke treatments, breast biopsy, radiofrequency ablation and UFE, in Knoxville and the surrounding areas.  Vista’s membership includes fellowship trained specialists in body / cross sectional imaging, MR imaging, musculoskeletal radiology, neuro-interventional radiology, neuroradiology, cardiac imaging & thoracic radiology, vascular & interventional radiology, women’s imaging / breast intervention, PET & nuclear medicine, and pediatric radiology. Vista provides radiology services for 9 East Tennessee hospitals:

* Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center
* Fort Sanders Parkwest Medical Center
* Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center
* Fort Loudoun Medical Center
* Roane Medical Center (Harriman, TN)
* East Tennessee Children’s Hospital
* Sky Ridge Medical Center (Cleveland, TN area)
* Claiborne County Hospital (Tazewell, TN)
* Lakeway Regional Hospital (Morristown, TN)

Additionally, Vista services outpatient facilities such as:

* Fort Sanders West Diagnostic Center
* Thompson Cancer Survival Breast Center
* Thompson Cancer West
* Parkwest Comprehensive Breast Center
* The Breast Center and LeConte Medical Center
* Diagnostic Health, Knoxville (formerly HealthSouth ODC)
* Diagnostic Health, Nashville (formerly HealthSouth ODC)
* Healthstar Physicians, P.C.

HOSPITALITY

Traci Parker

The Chattanoogan hotel, Chattanooga’s only AAA Four Diamond-rated full-service hotel, has hired two new sales managers.  Traci Parker, who previously worked at The Chattanoogan, is overseeing sales initiatives in parts of Tennessee and working with various state association and government clients.  Lauren Gillespie is responsible for managing corporate sales throughout most of Georgia.

Parker, who has 15 years of experience working in the meetings industry, most recently served as a senior meeting planner for Carlson Wagonlit Travel, where she worked exclusively with Shaw Industries. In that role, Parker managed all aspects of the corporation’s domestic and international meetings, which ranged from 10 to 3,500 participants. She spent more than six years at The Chattanoogan as a senior conference planning manager and sales manager, coordinating corporate meetings and overseeing sales initiatives in various corporate markets. During that time, she was honored with several prestigious awards for her outstanding work, including Benchmark Hospitality’s Award of Excellence, CMP Sales Award and Sales Leader of the Year.

Lauren Gillespie

Before joining The Chattanoogan, Parker was the sales manager and operations manager for Summit Destination Services where she worked at Benchmark Hospitality’s Resort at Squaw Creek in Lake Tahoe, Calif.  Parker was responsible for selling destination management services to corporate meeting planners and third-party suppliers, working with corporate clients, managing program operations and coordinating special events. Before working at Resort at Squaw Creek, Parker was a corporate event planner, education coordinator and executive administrator for PowerCerv Corp. in Tampa, Fla.

Gillespie most recently was the director of marketing at MCS Inc./Beltone in Chattanooga. In that position, she was responsible for managing 16 Beltone locations in Georgia and Tennessee and hiring and training sales staff. Before joining Beltone, Gillespie spent several years as a publisher and account manager at True North Custom Publishing in Chattanooga, and helped launch almost 30 publications. She also worked for three years as a stylist for MTV Networks in New York City. During her tenure there, she established and maintained vendor relations and negotiated advertising agreements. In addition, Gillespie worked as an assistant buyer for Profitt’s Corporate Office, a division of Saks Inc.

She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville with a degree in Service Management.

The Chattanoogan, a 210,000 square-foot five-story upscale hotel with 199 guest rooms and suites, has three outstanding restaurants, a pampering dayspa and a 25,000 square-foot conference center with comprehensive meeting planning and audiovisual support services. Meeting space includes 20 dedicated meeting rooms with five general session rooms accommodating 25 to 100 guests; a 16-seat circular board room with a flat data screen; 12 break-out rooms; a 7,500 square-foot ballroom; and an amphitheater with seating for 88.

The hotel is conveniently located within a two-hour drive from Atlanta; Nashville, Tenn.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Huntsville, Ala.; and  Birmingham, Ala. It is within walking distance of the city’s museums, galleries, retail stores, restaurants and The Tennessee Aquarium.

The Chattanoogan is managed by Benchmark Hospitality International, a leader in the management and marketing of resorts, conference centers, hotels, and Personal Luxury Hotels(tm). The independent company, launched in 1980, is a founding member of the International Association of Conference Centers. Benchmark Hospitality is a worldwide organization operating properties in major metropolitan and resort destinations. Benchmark’s international headquarters is located in The Woodlands, Texas, near Houston. The company’s northeast regional office is in New Jersey, with international offices in Tokyo, Japan, and Santiago, Chile.

INSURANCE

Commerce and Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak is pleased to announce her appointment of Gary Cordell as director of the Tennessee Consumer Affairs Division.

Cordell, who started work as director this week, previously served as the finance director with the Better Business Bureau of Middle Tennessee. A business leader with experience in operations management, finance and staff development, Cordell also was chief operating officer at Clayton Associates and was president of Cherokee Equity Corporation. He is a member of the Student of Integrity Scholarship Committee with the Better Business Bureau of Middle Tennessee, and is a past chairman of the BBB’s board. He also is a past chairman of the Board of Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee. In 1986, he was campaign manager for former Gov. Winfield Dunn.

Cordell earned a Master of Arts in Organizational Management from Trevecca Nazarene University and a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Behavior from Covenant College. A retired licensed real estate broker, Cordell was an adjunct professor for three years at Aquinas College in Nashville, where he taught management and strategic business.

Cordell also was a Grassland Athletic Association youth baseball coach. He and his wife, Kathleen, reside in Franklin and have five children.

During fiscal year 2010, Consumer Affairs addressed more than 5,396 written complaints, returning $3.1 million to consumers through mediation. Consumer Affairs is a division of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, which works to protect consumers while ensuring fair competition for industries and professionals who do business in Tennessee.

MANUFACTURING

Johnny Miller, vice president and general manager of the Gerdau Ameristeel steel mill in Knoxville, honors employee James “Woody” Bryson as the mill’s 2010 Employee of the Year. Bryson was nominated by his coworkers and was praised for his positive attitude, strong work ethic and commitment to teamwork.

Gerdau Ameristeel is the second largest mini-mill steel producer in North America, with annual manufacturing capacity of approximately 10 million metric tons of mill finished steel products. Located in the Lonsdale community for over 109 years, the mill is one of the largest steel recyclers in Tennessee.

NON-PROFIT

Alison Taylor

The Knoxville-based Amputee Coalition has announced that Alison Taylor, a health care professional with over 20 years in health education and program management experience, has been named to the position as Quality of Life Manager. Taylor holds a Master of Education degree from the University of Florida and a Bachelors degree from Trinity University.

Beth Sanderbeck brings over 20 years experience in information management and will be working in the dual role of Program Support Assistant and Knowledge Management Assistant. She holds degrees from Miami University of Ohio and the University of Tennessee.

The Amputee Coalition is the national non-profit organization serving more than 2 million people with limb loss and more than 28 million people at risk for amputation. This year, the Amputee Coalition is proudly celebrating 25 years of service.

Sanderbeck

United Way of Greater Knoxville announced the 2011 officers and committee chairs at their regular Board meeting held on Thursday, March 24th.  This meeting served as the close of the previous year’s activities as well as the opportunity to officially introduce the new officers.

Among other agenda items, outgoing board members were thanked for their service, and community and business leaders were appointed to take their place. The slate of 2011-2012 officers and committee chairs are as follows:

* Board Chair, Rosalyn Tillman – Pellissippi State Community College
* 2011 Campaign Chair, Pam Fansler – First Tennessee
* Immediate Past Board Chair, Jeff Lee - WBIR TV
* Branding and Messaging, Becky Thompson – UT Medical Center
* Committee Chair Secretary, Oslo Cole - Community Volunteer
* Treasurer and Operations, Bob Parker – Parker Business Consulting and Accounting
* Committee Chair, Outcome Based Investment, John Pace, III - BB&T
* Committee Chair, Labor Participation, Rick Wilson – Atomic Trades and Labor Council
* Committee Chair, Nominating Committee Chair - Wilson Taylor, III – Tennessee Valley Authority
* Regional United Way, Sharon Pryse – The Trust Company
* Committee Chair, Community Engagement - Dr. Randy Curnow – Summit Medical Group

United Way of Greater Knoxville is a local, independent organization dedicated to building a stronger community by focusing on the areas of education, income and health.  In partnership with nonprofit agencies, local business, community leaders and ordinary citizens, United Way is improving the lives of every individual in Knoxville. By working together, we provide a network of services addressing Knoxville’s most urgent needs while working toward lasting change.

TOURISM

Pearl Dorsey joins the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation as a new Sales Manager. Dorsey will be responsible for bringing meetings and conventions to Knoxville. She brings over five years of sales and marketing experience to her new role at KTSC. Prior to joining KTSC, Dorsey served as Sales Supervisor for Comcast.

Dorsey is originally from Knoxville and attended Rule High School.  She has two sons and two grandsons.

Robin Holbrook also joins KTSC as a new Sales Manager. Holbrook brings over 25 years of sales and marketing experience to her new role at KTSC. Prior to working with KTSC, Holbrook served as the Director of Sales at the Knoxville Marriott.
Originally from Michigan, she graduated from Owosso High School before marrying her husband of 28 years. Holbrook has lived in San Diego, Chicago and Los Angeles areas prior to making her home in Knoxville.

Arhonda Cason joins KTSC as the new Accounts Payable Manager.  Cason will be responsible for maintaining timely payment of invoices while complying with auditor’s expectations.

Cason brings 12 years of accounts payable and administrative experience to her new role at KTSC. Prior to working with KTSC, Cason served as a Sales Administrator for TDS Telecom.

Cason is from Knoxville and attended Austin-East High School.  She has two children.

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

Canale has joined the accounting firm in a staff position in the accounting and assurance services department. Her previous experience includes serving in a staff position at LaPorte Sehrt Romig Hand CPAs in New Orleans, Louisiana. In her previous position, she worked closely with clients in the construction, manufacturing, not-for-profit and healthcare industries providing financial statement and benefit plan audits. She is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain, PC, and The LBMC Family of Companies has nearly 400 employees, with offices in Chattanooga, Nashville (Brentwood), and Knoxville, Tenn. Founded in 1984 as a traditional accounting firm, LBMC has expanded its focus to meet a broad range of financial, human resources and technology needs for its diverse client base. Specific services offered by the LBMC “Family of Companies” include: accounting and assurance services, business and personal tax consulting, investment advisory services, professional staffing, human resources outsourcing, payroll services, technology solutions, healthcare consulting, planning services, litigation support, business valuations, and mergers and acquisitions.

Crowe Horwath LLP, one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the U.S., has hired Karen Armstrong as senior associate in the Enterprise Solutions business unit of its Knoxville office.

Crowe Horwath LLP is one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the United States. Under its core purpose of “Building Value with Values®,” Crowe assists public and private company clients in reaching their goals through audit, tax, advisory, risk and performance services. With 26 offices and 2,400 personnel, Crowe is recognized by many organizations as one of the country’s best places to work. Crowe serves clients worldwide as an independent member of Crowe Horwath International, one of the largest networks in the world, consisting of more than 140 independent accounting and management-consulting firms with offices in more than 400 cities around the world.

ARCHITECTURE

Pinnell

Sara Hedstrom Pinnell of Hedstrom Design recently received the Minority/Woman Owned Business Excellence Award from the Blount County Partnership.

Hedstrom received the award at the Blount Partnership’s annual Reflections & Rewards event at the Airport Hilton on Oct. 21. At the event, volunteers of the Blount Partnership – the Blount County Chamber of Commerce, Chamber Foundation, Economic Development Board and Smoky Mountain Convention & Visitors Bureau – shared organizational highlights with over 100 breakfast attendees and announced several business excellence award winners.

Hedstrom Design is a full-service landscape architecture firm based in Knoxville, Tenn., with projects throughout the southeast and experience in the northeast and southwest. Hedstrom’s capabilities include pre-development planning, budget development, conceptual design, design development, construction drawings and construction observation for a client base comprised of architects, engineers, developers, municipalities, agencies and individuals.

BANKING

Schwartz

FirstBank is pleased to announce the addition of Knoxville native Jonathan Schwartz. Schwartz will be serving the Knox County area as an Investment Representative based out of FirstBank’s Knoxville office. Most recently he comes from a financial planning and investment management firm where he developed strategies to help clients identify and plan for their financial goals and looks forward to serving and helping you.

Schwartz and his wife currently reside in the Knoxville area and enjoy the rewards of raising 3 children.

FirstBank is Tennessee’s largest independently owned and operated bank, with locations across the state. The bank, headquartered in Lexington, Tenn., services every major metropolitan market in the state and, with nearly $2 billion in total assets, has the resources to provide a comprehensive variety of financial services and products.

Schwartz and Bill Reid are Registered Representatives of INVEST Financial Corporation, member FINRA and SIPC. INVEST is not affiliated with FBAdvisors or FirstBank.

EDUCATION

The Board of Governors of Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts announced today the appointment of Bill May as the organization’s Interim Executive Director.  May, a professional stained glass artist, has served as an instructor at the arts center and is the owner of May Studios. He will begin overseeing the operations of the School immediately.

A native of Birmingham, AL, May attended Tulane University on scholarship, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Psychology.  After graduate study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he taught high school in Birmingham until moving to Tennessee in 1981. He designed and built his home near the Great Smoky Mountain National Park while managing an area woodworking shop.

May is a member of the Stained Glass Association of America and the 2011 class of Leadership Sevier. He is a former member of the Gatlinburg Gateway Foundation’s Board of Directors. In 1992, he established the Gatlinburg-based May Studios, which specializes in custom art glass for architectural settings. The work of the studio has been recognized through awards and works have been commissioned for ecclesiastical, commercial and residential spaces in seven states.

He has a long association with Arrowmont. While learning the craft of stained glass, May pursued studies in drawing, sculpture and stained glass design. Classes taken at Arrowmont were important in his artistic development. Later, May joined the school as an instructor in stained glass. In 2009, he joined the school’s Board of Governors.

Wolpert noted that the board’s immediate priorities are to work with Gatlinburg officials to secure the school’s property and that plans for the selection of a permanent executive director will be considered in the coming months. As interim executive director, May will lead efforts and planning initiatives to raise funds, as well as to develop the necessary partnerships to strengthen Arrowmont’s role both in the community and as a leader in arts education. Arrowmont’s Community and Children’s Workshops begin in January. The 2011 Workshop Catalog will be available in December with courses beginning in March.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is a nationally renowned arts center that offers an artist in residence program and one, two-week and weekend workshops in ceramics, fiber, metals, glass, painting, mixed media, and woodworking for the beginner to advanced artist. Students learn in professionally equipped studios on a 14-acre residential campus in Gatlinburg, TN. Five galleries, an art supply store, and artist resource center are open to visitors year round.

Carcello

Joseph Carcello, the Ernst & Young and Business Alumni Professor in UT’s College of Business Administration’s Department of Accounting and Information Management and the director of research for UT’s Corporate Governance Center, was reappointed for a third term to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) Standing Advisory Group (SAG).

The PCAOB was created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to oversee auditors of public companies in the U.S. and has standard setting, inspection and disciplinary authority over all accounting firms that audit public companies. The SAG was created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to provide advice to the PCAOB related to its standard-setting role.

The SAG has approximately 35 members. Carcello is one of only five academics in the group and is the first accounting academic member to be reappointed to three terms. Other SAG members include the chief governance officer of Prudential Financial, vice president of Delta Air Lines, Americas vice chair for Ernst & Young, senior vice president of Comcast, the deputy managing partner of Deloitte & Touche, vice president of finance for Eli Lilly & Company, as well as other prominent individuals from the accounting, business, investor and legal communities.

Carcello’s current term runs from 2011 to 2012; his two previous terms were 2006 through 2007 and 2008 through 2009.

Carcello teaches auditing, corporate governance and financial accounting courses at UT Knoxville at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Carcello also is an active researcher in the areas of corporate governance and fraudulent financial reporting.

The College of Business Administration at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has honored four alumni and organizations for their extraordinary commitment to the college, their professions and their community.

The awards were given out at the college’s second annual alumni gala at the James A. Haslam II Business Building.

John Compton, CEO of PepsiCo Americas Foods, was honored as the Distinguished Alum of the Year. He is the 21st person recognized with this award, which was given for the first time in 1982.

Ben Stanga, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, was honored as the Outstanding Young Alum; Regal Entertainment Group was named the Outstanding Corporate Partner; and Mike West, CEO of Northshore Management Co., LLC, received the Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Supported by 125,000 employees, Compton leads the company’s $20 billion food and snack portfolio that includes Frito-Lay North America, Quaker Foods and all of PepsiCo’s Latin American food businesses.

Compton began his 27-year career working for Frito-Lay and PepsiCo shortly after graduating from UT in 1983 with a degree in finance. Over the course of his career, he has held senior-level positions with Frito-Lay North America and Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade and most recently as CEO of PepsiCo North America.

It is the University of Tennessee’s great fortune that Compton walks the talk. He has been an active supporter of the College of Business Administration, serving as an executive-in-residence lecturer and a member of the Advisory Council to the Dean for more than a decade. He also gives generously of his time to serve on the college’s Campaign for Tennessee volunteer committee to support the college’s fundraising efforts. In 2008, Compton was instrumental in coordinating a $350,000 grant from the PepsiCo Foundation to support the college’s diversity efforts; he also made a personal contribution to enhance technology in the college’s James A. Haslam II Business Building and to support the College Fund for Business Administration. To commemorate his gift, the college named the dean’s suite in Compton’s honor.

When Stanga speaks to University of Tennessee students about their prospects for a career in accounting, he stresses how fortunate they are to be in one of the premier accounting programs in the country. A partner in the Atlanta office of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Stanga speaks from experience. After receiving both his bachelor’s and master in accountancy degrees from UT Knoxville, Stanga rapidly rose through the tax ranks at PwC; he credits UT Knoxville for preparing him for success.

Stanga, a native of Knoxville, enjoys returning to his hometown on a regular basis in his role as liaison to UT’s faculty and students.

Regal Entertainment Group founded in 1989 in Knoxville, Regal Entertainment Group operates the largest and most geographically diverse theater circuit in the United States, consisting of 6,761 screens in 545 theatres in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Across the U.S., Regal Entertainment Group gives back to the communities that it serves through its contributions to numerous national and local philanthropic groups.  In Knoxville, for instance, Regal Entertainment Group has been a strong supporter of the University of Tennessee, giving generously to the UT Athletic Department, the UT Graduate School of Medicine and the UT College of Business Administration. Most recently, with a $1 million contribution, the Regal Entertainment Group established the Regal Entertainment Group Endowed Distinguished Professorship.

West loves being an entrepreneur. A 1989 alumnus of the College of Business Administration, West has launched 15 different companies, ranging in focus from health care to online furniture and from real estate to document shredding. Today, as CEO of Knoxville-based Northshore Management Co. LLC, West heads five enterprises, including a recently launched wealth management company and an investment advisory firm called Quintium Advisors.

An avid supporter of UT Knoxville’s College of Business Administration, West is a member of the college’s Advisory Council to the Dean and also serves as a lecturer in the Department of Management, teaching “New Venture Planning” to an elite group of senior-level students. Furthermore, West and his wife Tiffiny, also a 1989 graduate of the college, recently made a $1 million contribution to support technology in the college’s new James A. Haslam II Business Building. “The West Wing,” the special-purpose room located on the west side of the building, is named in their honor.

ENGINEERS

Randal Petty, a senior project manager in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Power System Operations’ Electric System Projects group, has been honored as TVA’s Ike Zeringue Engineer of the Year.

The award, presented to Petty at the TVA board of directors meeting on Nov. 4, 2010, is named for TVA’s retired President and Chief Operating Officer Ike Zeringue and is the highest honor given to a TVA engineer.

Petty, a TVA employee for 12 years, was selected by the TVA Engineering Peer Team Selection Committee. The panel’s decision was based on Petty’s engineering achievements, training, continuing education, professional and technical engineering activities, awards and honors, and his involvement in civic and humanitarian activities.

He was nominated for directing the design and construction of a transmission-infrastructure project that included a new 500-kilovolt substation, the expansion of an existing substation and the construction of more than 60 miles of 500-kilovolt and 161-kilovolt transmission lines. The project presented unique engineering challenges and incorporated environmentally friendly concepts, saving TVA about $15 million.

Petty, a resident of Ooltewah, Tenn., holds bachelors and masters degrees in civil engineering from Tennessee Technological University. He also has a master’s degree in business administration from Colorado State University. In July, he completed the Leadership and Management for Accelerated Performance program at Vanderbilt University.

He is a certified professional engineer in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, belongs to several honor and professional societies, and is an active volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America.

As the recipient of the TVA Engineer of the Year award, Petty is eligible for the national Federal Engineer of the Year award, which will be selected and announced in February 2011.

The other finalists for TVA’s Ike Zeringue Engineer of the Year were: David Baker, Information Technology; Michael Browman, Environment & Technology; Kent Brown, Nuclear Power Group; James Kilgore, Fossil Power Group; Justin Kuhlers, Customer Relations; Roger Milstead, River Operations, and Roberto Sanchez, Fossil Generation, Development & Construction.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a corporation owned by the U.S. government, provides electricity for utility and business customers in most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia – an area of 80,000 square miles with a population of 9 million. TVA operates 29 hydroelectric dams, 11 coal-fired power plants, three nuclear plants and 11 natural gas-fired power facilities and supplies up to 33,700 megawatts of electricity, delivered over 16,000 miles of high-voltage power lines. TVA also provides flood control, navigation, land management and recreation for the Tennessee River system and works with local utilities and state and local governments to promote economic development across the region. TVA, which makes no profits and receives no taxpayer money, is funded by sales of electricity to its customers. Electricity prices in TVA’s service territory are below the national average.

Tenfelde

Karen K. Tenfelde has joined the corporate marketing staff of Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon, Inc. (BWSC), as senior proposal writer/leader with responsibility for supporting business development and marketing activities for the firm’s practice areas in energy and environment.

Tenfelde has over 25 years of experience in marketing, sales, and customer service for products and professional services. She brings an expertise in business development planning, proposal writing, and client relationship management. Most recently she was marketing team leader and senior proposal writer at Stantec Consulting Service, Inc., Lexington, KY.

Tenfelde graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon is an engineering, architecture, planning, landscape architecture, and surveying firm. Celebrating over 50 years of service, BWSC is among the top 200 engineering and design firms in the United States.

HOME HEALTH

Nashville-based Aid & Assist At Home LLC, a premier provider of non-medical home care and support services to seniors and the disabled, announced today that effective next month Steve Elkins will join the company as its chief administrative officer and general counsel.

Elkins joins Aid & Assist At Home after spending the last four years as legal counsel to Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen. He served as deputy legal counsel to Governor Bredesen from 2003 until his promotion in late 2006. Elkins graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1995, earning a bachelor’s degree in finance before graduating summa cum laude from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1999. He is a native of Rutherford County who now resides in Nashville.

Aid & Assist At Home operates Tennessee offices in Bristol, Chattanooga, Jackson, Johnson City, Knoxville and Nashville. The company has 52 full-time employees and more than 1,200 part-time caregivers.

HOSPITALITY

Ruggiero

The Chattanoogan, Chattanooga’s only AAA Four Diamond-rated full-service hotel, has hired Susan Ruggiero as the hotel’s new sales manager. Ruggiero, a seasoned hospitality industry professional, is responsible for business development in Nashville and other key regional markets.

Ruggiero worked for seven years with Wyndham Worldwide in Nashville, Tenn. and Orlando, Fla. She held several positions within the company, including sales executive and quality assurance manager.  During her career, Ruggiero also worked for five years as an editor and writer for Market One Communications. She also owned and operated a gift and gourmet retail establishment. Ruggiero began her career with The Ramada Inn in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., where she held several positions of increased responsibility that culminated in her role as general manager of the property for 10 years. Ruggiero received her bachelor’s degree from East TN State University. She is a member of Professional Business Women’s Association and Kappa Delta Sorority.  Ruggiero and her husband have four children and have relocated to Chattanooga.

The AAA Four Diamond-rated The Chattanoogan, a 210,000 square-foot five-story upscale urban resort with 199 guest rooms and suites, has three outstanding dining establishments, a day spa and a 25,000 square-foot conference center with comprehensive meeting planning and audiovisual support services. The property is conveniently located within a two-hour drive from Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., Knoxville, Tenn., Huntsville, Ala., and Birmingham, Ala. It is within walking distance of the city’s museums, galleries, retail stores, restaurants and the Tennessee Aquarium. Benchmark Hospitality International, a leader in the management and marketing of resorts, conference centers, hotels, and Personal Luxury Hotels(tm) manage the Chattanoogan. The independent company, launched in 1980, is a founding member of the International Association of Conference Centers. Benchmark Hospitality is a worldwide organization operating properties in major metropolitan and resort destinations. Benchmark’s international headquarters is located in The Woodlands, Texas, near Houston. The company’s northeast regional office is in New Jersey, with international offices in Tokyo, Japan, and Santiago, Chile

LAWYERS

Sixty-seven attorneys with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC have been named to Mid-South Super Lawyers.

A total of eight of the Firm’s Chattanooga attorneys were named to the list: Joe A. Conner, Richard B. Gossett, Carl E. Hartley, Thomas O. Helton, James H. Levine, Virginia C. Love, Ross I. Schram III and Jerry Stauffer.

The publication also honored 19 Baker Donelson attorneys in its 2010 list of Mid-South Rising Stars, including Misty S. Kelley from the Firm’s Chattanooga office.

The selections for this list are made by the research team at Super Lawyers, which is a service of Thomson Reuters, Legal division. Each year, the research team undertakes a multi-phase selection process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, independent evaluation of candidates by the attorney-led research staff, a peer review of candidates by practice area, and a good-standing and disciplinary check. First published in 1991 by Law & Politics and acquired by Thomson Reuters, Legal in February 2010, Super Lawyers magazines will reach more than 15 million readers across the country in 2010.

As the 73rd largest law firm in the U.S., Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, gives clients access to a team of more than 560 attorneys and public policy advisors representing more than 30 practice areas to serve a wide range of legal needs. Clients receive knowledgeable guidance from experienced, multi-disciplined industry and client service teams, all seamlessly connected across 15 offices in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Washington, D.C.

ORGAN DONATION

Mandy Harrell, an 18 year-old, had just started college to fulfill her dream of being a special education teacher when she was killed in an auto accident on Labor Day 2006.

Mandy’s parents who experienced first-hand the miracle of organ donation 12 yeas previously, when Mandy’s grandfather, Poppy, was given the gift of a heart and kidney from a 17 year-old boy who died in an accident, made the easy decision to donate her organs and tissue.

As a result of Mandy’s gifts, six people were given a new lease on life. Her lungs went to a 54 year old woman from Ohio, her pancreas and one kidney went to a 43 year old man from Knoxville. Additionally, Mandy’s heart went to a little boy who was 11 at the time.

Jill Daniel married Tad Daniel one month from the day they met. While unusual, it worked for them. They were married for 20 years and had three children.

In September 2009, at age 50, Mrs. Daniel complained of a migraine headache and suffered several irreversible cerebral hemorrhages. The team that she worked with at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis as an ICU RN, ended up taking care of her during her final moments. Her husband said she would often speak of organ donation and made it clear that is what she wanted for herself in the event of her passing.

Arbeny Davis was a 13 year-old girl when she was diagnosed with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis – a disease that attacked the kidney’s filtering system, causing severe scarring.

During her freshmen year, of college her routine suddenly changed when she woke up very fatigued with no strength to make it out of bed. The diagnosis was end-stage renal failure; it was now time for dialysis and a transplant. In January 2008, she began peritoneal dialysis and dialyzed every night for eight hours. At this point, she was placed on the transplant list. Family members were tested, but no one was a match. Then her father was diagnosed with the same disease: focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.

Davis’ best friend from elementary, Kenesha, was tested and was a match. On December 18, 2009, Kenesha and Davis underwent surgery together; Davis was given a second chance.

Since the transplant, Davis has become involved in the transplant community. She and Kenesha were selected to be living donor spokespersons for Methodist Transplant Institute, and have participated in numerous activities in Memphis. She returned to college and has plans to pursue her dream of opening a dance studio.

Nationwide (as of 11/29/10), an estimated 109,982 people are waiting for an organ transplant. In Tennessee, 2,457 are waiting, with 2,080 of them in need of a kidney. Other needs include:

Liver 215 Heart 121

Lungs 17 Kideney & Pancreas 16

Pancreas 8 Kidney 2080

Tennesseans can sign up on the Tennessee Organ & Tissue Donor Registry at the Department of Safety when obtaining or renewing a driver’s license, or by visiting a County Clerk’s office that provides licensing services. Tennesseans can also go online at www.TnDonorRegistry.org.

Organ and tissue donations save and help tens of thousands of lives each year in the U.S. alone. Today, more than 109,900 candidates are on the national organ transplant waiting list. Largely due to the rarity of donation opportunities, only about 28,000 organs are transplanted each year. As a result, 18 candidates die each day for lack of a donor. A single donor can save the lives of eight people through organ donation, while a single tissue donor can save and heal 50 others through needed heart valves, corneas, skin, bone and tendons that prevent or cure blindness, heal burns and save limbs.

Now these three Tennessee families will forever be joined by death, pride and hope as they all travel to Pasadena and experience the Donate Life Float and Rose Parade firsthand.

Coordinated by Donate Life America member OneLegacy, the Donate Life float is supported by nearly 60 official partners from across the nation, including organ and tissue recovery organizations, tissue banks, state donor registries, transplant centers and affiliated organizations. Joining OneLegacy as top-level benefactors are Astellas Pharma US, Inc., a sixth-year sponsor of five float riders through the “Ride of a Lifetime” contest and supporter of 1,000 volunteer decorators; the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB), the Ann & George Lopez Foundation; the Dignity Memorial Network, North America’s largest network of funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers and sponsor of four floragraphs; Donate Life America; and UNOS and the National Donor Memorial. All float partners encourage viewers to save lives by registering in their states to be organ, eye and tissue donors and donating blood in their communities.

The Pasadena Tournament of Roses is a volunteer organization that annually hosts the Rose Parade presented by Honda, Rose Bowl Game and various associated events. The 122nd Rose Parade presented by Honda, themed Building Dreams, Friendships & Memories, will take place Saturday, January 1, 2011, at 10:00 am (CST) and 11:00 am (EST) featuring majestic floral floats, high-stepping equestrian units and spirited marching bands. Following the parade, will be the 97th Rose Bowl Game. For additional information on the Tournament of Roses please visit www.tournamentofroses.com.

For more information about the Donate Life Rose Parade float, visit www.donatelifefloat.org. For more information on how to become an organ and tissue donor in Tennessee visit the Tennessee Organ & Tissue Donor Registry at www.TnDonorRegistry.org.

UTILITIES

Tennessee Regulatory Authority Director Eddie Roberson has been appointed to the governing board of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). NARUC President Tony Clark of North Dakota made the appointment, effective immediately.

NARUC is the national association representing state regulators who oversee essential utility services, including energy, telecommunications, and water. NARUC members are responsible for assuring reliable utility service at fair, just, and reasonable rates. The NARUC Board of Directors performs critical oversight and sets official association policy by approving resolutions passed by NARUC membership.

Roberson chairs NARUC’s Education and Research Subcommittee and serves as a member of the Gas Committee and Consumer Affairs Committee. He also serves on the Advisory Council of the Center for Public Utilities at the University of New Mexico and on the board of the Center for Public Service and Urban Affairs at Tennessee State University. He also serves as president of the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.

The Public Service Commission (PSC), the predecessor to the Tennessee Regulatory Authority, hired Roberson, whom is from Chattanooga, in 1975. He rose through the ranks of the agency eventually serving as executive director from 1995 to 1996 and was appointed as director in 2006 by Governor Phil Bredesen. He served as agency chairman from 2007-2009. Roberson currently resides in Hendersonville where he is actively involved in the community, serves as elder of his church and is past president of the Hendersonville Rotary Club.

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

Although 2010 hasn’t wound down yet, the Young Professionals Association of Chattanooga (YPAC) is already gearing up for 2011. After celebrating a successful year of increased membership, interest, community sponsorship and partnership, YPAC is determined to maintain growth on several levels for the upcoming year.  YPAC is confident the newly appointed board of directors will lead the organization to another year of progress and success in the community.

The following individuals will serve on the YPAC 2011 Board: Elizabeth Crenshaw (President), Cara Hicks (President Elect), Tyler Spry (Financial Director), Ashley Finch and Lindsey Houston (Special Events Co-Chairs), Bradley Chambers (Membership Chair), Brandi Thompson (Corporate Sponsorship Chair), Maggie Hodges (Public Relations Chair), Nathan Frazier (Luncheon Chair), Hassan Najjar and Ryan Fugate (Community Service Co-Chairs), Daniel Ryan (Advertising & Branding Chair) and Tiffanie Robinson (Past President).

YPAC seeks to engage young, working people in Chattanooga by connecting them to each other and the community though civic, social and professional events and opportunities.

Crowe Horwath, LLP, one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the United States, announces the following promotions in its Knoxville office: in the audit and financial advisory department, Andrew Fraser has been promoted to senior staff and in the tax department, David Garmer and Jason McCarter have been promoted to senior staff.

Under its core purpose of Building Value with Values®, Crowe assists public and private company clients in reaching their goals through audit, tax, advisory, risk and performance services. With 26 offices and 2,400 personnel, Crowe is recognized by many organizations as one of the country’s best places to work. Crowe serves clients worldwide as an independent member of Crowe Horwath International, one of the largest networks in the world, consisting of more than 140 independent accounting and management-consulting firms with offices in more than 400 cities around the world.

Shannon Farr, a business valuation manager with Decosimo Advisory Services, has recently been awarded the Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) credential by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). The CFF credential, established in 2008 by the AICPA, is granted to qualified certified public accountants (CPAs) who meet the experience and education requirements specific to the field of financial forensics.

A certified public accountant accredited in business valuation (CPA*ABV) licensed in Tennessee and Alabama, Farr has more than 15 years of accounting experience. Farr specializes in business valuation and litigation support services relating to marital dissolutions, shareholder disputes, sale and purchase transactions, estate and gift tax determinations, shareholder settlements and minority interest buy-outs. Farr provides expert witness services related to business valuation and economic damages matters.

Prior to joining Decosimo, Farr was a partner in a public accounting firm in Birmingham, Ala., where she provided assurance, tax and consulting services to clients in numerous industries including healthcare, government, not-for-profit, construction and fabrication, manufacturing and insurance. A Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of Tennessee, she is a member of the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants, where she has served on the Healthcare Conference Committee. She is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Decosimo is a nationally recognized firm, perennially ranked as a Top 100 accounting and business advisory services firm. The regional firm has eight office locations in the United States and the Cayman Islands, with approximately 300 professionals and staff. Each of Decosimo’s offices provides a full range of accounting and advisory services to a wide array of industries. Decosimo Advisory Services is the business valuation, litigation support and transaction advisory practice of Decosimo.

The AICPA is the national, professional association of CPAs, with over 350,000 members, including CPAs in business and industry, public practice, government, and education. It sets ethical standards for the profession and U.S. auditing standards for audits of private companies, federal, state and local governments, and non-profit organizations. It also develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination.

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

Hart has joined the accounting firm in a staff position in the audit department.  Hart, previously in a staff position at Pugh & Company, is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.  His previous experience includes working closely with benefit plan audits and not for profit, banking and governmental entities.

LBMC, PC, and the LBMC family of companies has nearly 400 employees, with offices in Chattanooga, Nashville (Brentwood), and Knoxville, Tenn. Founded in 1984 as a traditional accounting firm, LBMC has expanded its focus to meet a broad range of financial, human resources and technology needs for its diverse client base.  Specific services offered by the LBMC family of companies include: accounting and assurance services, business and personal tax consulting, investment advisory services, professional staffing, human resources outsourcing, payroll services, technology solutions, healthcare consulting, planning services, litigation support, business valuations, and mergers and acquisitions.

BANKING

Longtime financial services professional Doug Welch has joined Pinnacle Financial Partners as senior vice president, financial advisor and office manager for Pinnacle’s Northshore Drive office.

Welch most recently served as a client advisor in SunTrust’s private wealth management area. Other roles have included serving as president of SunTrust’s Loudon County area, area manager and branch manager.

Welch is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and attended the LSU Graduate School of Banking. He is a licensed insurance agent for the state of Tennessee and a member of the Farragut Rotary Club. Welch is active in the community through volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity and the United Way.

Pinnacle Financial Partners provides a full range of banking, investment, mortgage and insurance products and services designed for small-to mid-sized businesses and their owners, real estate professionals and individuals interested in a comprehensive relationship with their financial institution. Pinnacle’s comprehensive wealth management services, such as financial planning and trust, help clients increase, preserve and distribute their assets. Based in Nashville, Tenn., Pinnacle is Tennessee’s second-largest bank holding company with $4.9 billion in assets and 31 offices in eight Middle Tennessee counties and three offices in Knoxville. In 2009, the firm was added to Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 index.

Engineering

Bruce H. S. Anderson, a civil engineer and attorney with more than 35 years of experience working with government agencies, hasjoined Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon, Inc. (BWSC), as vice president and federal program director. Anderson is responsible for overall direction and strategic oversight of the firm’s work with federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, NASA, and the Department of Energy. Prior to joining BWSC, he served in an appointed position with the state of Alabama as assistant director for Civil and Military Aerospace of the Alabama Development Office.

Anderson has served in senior leadership and management positions and provided legal services for engineering design, construction and operations, and maintenance projects in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and at Goddard Space Flight Center, Kennedy Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). His senior leadership positions at USACE include Memphis District Counsel, Missouri River Division Counsel and Transatlantic Programs Center Counsel. Working with NASA, Anderson was Kennedy Space Center Chief Counsel and Chief Operating Officer for the National Space Science and Technology Center at Marshall Space Flight Center.

A native of Petersburg, VA, Anderson began his career as a submarine design engineer at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Virginia. While associated with USACE, he also served as an instructor in the College of Engineering at the University of South Alabama, and as lead instructor for a number of USACE contract administration courses. He was appointed to the federal Senior Executive Service in 1998. Anderson has received a number of Department of the Army and NASA leadership and achievement awards. He received Vice President Gore’s Hammer Award for his work at Kennedy Space Center.

Anderson received a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 1972 from the University of Alabama. He returned to the university to receive his law degree in 1975. He is a member of several honorary and professional engineering and legal societies, including Theta Tau Professional Engineering Fraternity, Theta Chi Civil Engineering Honorary Fraternity, and the Capstone (University of Alabama) Engineering Society. He has been licensed to practice law by the Supreme Court of Alabama, the Supreme Court of Tennessee, the Supreme Court of Nebraska, various U.S. District Courts, various U. S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the Court of Federal Claims. Anderson currently resides in Huntsville, ALA.

Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon is an employee-owned engineering, architecture, planning, landscape architecture, and surveying firm. Celebrating over 50 years of service, BWSC is among the top 200 engineering and design firms in the United States.

Andrew C. Murr, PE, CFM, has been named civil group manager of the Knoxville office of engineering, architecture, and planning firm Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon, Inc. (BWSC). Murr, who was previously the office manager in the firm’s Birmingham office, will oversee the civil operations of the Knoxville office. In his role as civil group manager, Murr will have oversight and responsibility for civil engineering, surface transportation, and surveying design services.

Murr, who joined BWSC in 1994, has 16 years of experience in project management and design on a wide array of projects, including roads, sewer facilities, water lines, industrial parks, streetscape projects, and parks.  He has experience in complete project administration, from the planning stage, through design and construction, to project closeout, and has successfully managed multiple projects for a variety of different agencies including Metro Nashville Davidson County, Jefferson County in Alabama, and the City of Auburn.

Murr received his master of science in environmental and water resources engineering from Vanderbilt University in 1995 and his bachelor of science in civil engineering from the University of Tennessee in 1993. He is a professional engineer in Tennessee and Alabama and a certified floodplain manager (CFM). Murr is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Water Works Association, and the Water Environment Federation. Originally from Johnson City, TN, Murr currently lives in Knoxville.

Blair Trimble Jr., a longtime Gerdau Ameristeel employee who currently serves as senior advisor to the company, was recently named to the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute (CRSI) Education and Research Foundation Hall of Fame.

The CRSI Education and Research Foundation was founded in 1991 by a group of individuals dedicated to expanding the reinforced concrete construction industry’s educational activities. Hall of Fame inductees are recognized for significant contributions to CRSI, contributions as industry leaders, stature in business and the community, and moral and ethical reputations.

Trimble, a civil engineer and native of Nashville, co-founded the Steel Service Company in 1957. Trimble and his company joined CRSI in the early 1960s, and have since served on a number of CRSI committees. He was one of the original members of the board of directors and the second president of the CRSI Educational Fund Inc. (CEFI), founded in 1991 and now known as the CRSI Education and Research Foundation. During his term as president, he worked with civil engineering departments of colleges and universities to develop a relationship and understanding of steel reinforced concrete in the construction industry.

Gerdau Ameristeel is the second largest mini-mill steel producer in North America, with annual manufacturing capacity of approximately 12 million tons of mill finished steel products. Through its vertically integrated network of mini-mills, scrap recycling facilities, and downstream operations, Gerdau Ameristeel serves customers throughout the United States and Canada. The company’s products are generally sold to steel service centers, steel fabricators, or directly to original equipment manufacturers for use in a variety of industries, including non-residential, infrastructure, commercial, industrial and residential construction, metal building, manufacturing, automotive, mining, cellular and electrical transmission and equipment manufacturing. Gerdau Ameristeel’s majority shareholder is the Gerdau Group, a 100+-year-old steel company, the leading company in the production of long steel in the Americas and one of the major specialty long steel suppliers in the world. Gerdau Ameristeel’s common shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GNA.

Daniel Weiss

Daniel P. Weiss has joined Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon, Inc. (BWSC) as aviation project manager, responsible for the management of projects in the firm’s Aviation Division. Weiss has over 12 years of experience in the design, construction, and project management of aviation, roadway, commercial, and industrial projects. Most recently, he served as project manager for Aviation Services at PBS&J.

Weiss received his bachelor of science in construction management from South Dakota State University in 1998. His most recent airport experience includes serving as the construction manager at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport and as project manager / resident engineer at the St. George Replacement Airport in St. George, Utah.

HEALTH CARE

William Gibson

William C. Gibson, M.D., FACS, has joined Premier Surgical Associates as a general surgeon in the group’s Parkwest offices. Premier, headquarted in Knoxville, Tenn., is the region’s largest surgical group.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee (UT) at Knoxville, Gibson received his medical degree from UT Medical School in Memphis, Tenn. He completed his surgical residency at the Medical University of South Carolina and received his board certification in 2007. Prior to returning to Knoxville, Gibson practiced with Memphis Surgery Associates.

Gibson lives with his wife, Carolyn Gibson, and their three children in the Farragut area of West Knoxville.

Gibson is now accepting referrals in general surgery.

Premier Surgical Associates has 28 surgeons who perform general, vascular, endovascular, vein, bariatric, breast and laparoscopic (minimally invasive) procedures.

Aaron Smyth

Kathrine Smyth

Husband and wife duo Aaron Smyth, D.O., and Kathrine Smyth, M.D., both internal medicine physicians, have joined the staff of East Tennessee Medical Group (ETMG), 266 Joule St., Alcoa, Tenn. They currently are accepting patients.

With a clinical interest in geriatrics and preventative medicine, Aaron completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Tennessee (UT) Medical Center, Knoxville, following his medical degree from Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine, Pikeville, KY. He received his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from UT, Knoxville.

Katherine, who specializes in women’s health and preventative medicine, completed her internal medicine residency at the UT Medical Center, Knoxville, after receiving her medical degree from East Tennessee State University College of Medicine, Johnson City, Tenn. She received her bachelor’s degree in microbiology at the UT, Knoxville.

The Smyth’s are members of the American College of Physicians and the Christian Medical and Dental Association.

ETMG is a 50-provider multi-specialty medical group in Alcoa, serving Blount County for over 15 years.  For the second consecutive year, ETMG has been recognized as the # 1 Healthcare facility in Blount County by The Daily Times Readers’ Choice Awards.

NON-PROFIT

The Memorial Health Care System Foundation, the fundraising arm of Memorial Health Care System, is pleased to announce officers and new members on the Memorial Health Care System Foundation Board of Directors.

Jim Kennedy, a partner with Kennedy, Coulter, Rushing and Watson, will serve as chair of the Memorial Foundation’s Board of Directors. Scott Matice, of Morgan Stanley, will serve as the Board’s Vice Chair. Hicks Armor, of First Horizon Insurance Group, is the immediate past chair. Alexis Bogo, of the Hamico Foundation, will serve as the board’s secretary. Tonya Cammon, of Grant, Konvalinka and Harrison, will serve as treasurer, and Geoffrey Young, of Miller and Martin, will hold the group’s Member at Large post.

The Memorial Foundation Board also nominated several new members that include Nora Bernhardt, a freelance grant writer for organizations including Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy, the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and Louisville Public Radio Partnership and Speed Art Museum, where she once served as the director of development; Sophia Bridger, whose community involvement includes committees for Partnership for Families, Children and Adults, Interfaith Services, Board of Catholic Charities, among others; Kennedy Frierson, vice president and chief operating officer at the Dixie Group; Tahnika Rodriguez, senior advisor for Power Systems Operations at TVA; Jeff Tarumianz, a managing director of Pointer Management and founder of Beacon Verification Services; and Rev. Dr. Jim Vick, a priest in the Diocese of Knoxville for 11 years, he is currently pastor for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church.

Dr. Timothy Ballard, orthopedic surgeon, Cammon, Kennedy and Dr. William Oellerich, cardiologist, each were nominated to a second three-year term on the Board.

Other board members include Boofie Crimmins, community volunteer; Deborah Everhart, community volunteer; Joyce Godsey, community volunteer; Holly Harwell, of Keller Williams Realty; Laura Jefferies, of Pointe Property Group; Ward Petty, of Wachovia Securities; Christopher Ramsey Sr., of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee; Kurt Schmissrauter, of TCP Printing and Packaging; Dr. Bill Stacy, community volunteer; and Mike Webb, of Webb Financial Consultants. Ex-Officio members are Jennifer Nicely, vice president and chief development officer at Memorial; and James H. Hobson, Memorial president and chief executive.

Memorial Health Care System is a not-for-profit, faith-based healthcare organization dedicated to the healing ministry of the Church. Founded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and strengthened as part of Catholic Health Initiatives, it offers a continuum of care including preventative, primary and acute hospital care, as well as cancer and cardiac care, orthopedic and rehabilitation services. Memorial is a regional referral center of choice with 4,000 associates and more than 700 affiliated physicians providing health care throughout Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia.  Thomson recognizes memorial as one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals for excellence in quality of care.

REAL ESTATE

Crye-Leike, REALTORS welcomes the husband and wife real estate team of William and Stacy Bearfield. The Bearfield’s are based out of the company’s Cleveland branch and live in Cleveland with their four sons as foster and adoptive parents.

The Bearfield’s are licensed in Tennessee and assist buyers and sellers in and around Polk, Bradley and McMinn counties. They specialize in all types of residential real estate sales with focus on first-time homebuyers, relocation and land. The Bearfield’s are members of the River Counties Association of Realtors (RCAR), Tennessee Association of Realtors (TAR) and National Association of Realtors (NAR). With RCAR, William serves on the Adopt-A-School Committee for Polk County.

In addition to his real estate license, William has received special training from the Tennessee Housing Development Authority (THDA). He is knowledgeable about homeowner and homebuyer programs and the affordable housing opportunities available through the agency.

TECHNOLOGY

Larry Visk

PerfectServe, the premier provider of voice, online and mobile clinician-to-clinician communications, announced that Lawrence D. Visk has joined the firm as executive vice president of sales. In this role, Visk is responsible for building and leading the PerfectServe new business development effort and sales team to maximize growth opportunities.

Visk, 53, has 30 years of experience in the healthcare information technology field. Prior to joining PerfectServe, Visk was with QuadraMed Corp. where he served as national vice president, client relations. While at QuadraMed, he developed and led a team of 14 account executives and three sales vice presidents, and grew team sales booking more than four fold from 2005 to 2008. Before that, Visk was the national sales director, revenue cycle and HIM solutions at Cerner.

Earlier in his career, Visk served in a number of roles with increasing responsibility including regional vice president at Shared Medical Systems, now part of Siemens Medical Solutions, and was director, consulting services with Sheldon I. Dorenfest & Associates.

Visk earned his BA from the University of Illinois studying industrial and organizational behavior and his MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, where he was designated as a Hotchkiss Scholar for his graduating class. He resides in Overland Park, Kan.

PerfectServe offers intelligent voice, online and mobile clinical communication solutions that route calls and messages to the right doctor, at the right time. It gives physicians complete control over the communications they receive while enabling hospital clinicians to expedite and improve care coordination. Based in Knoxville, Tenn., PerfectServe processes more than 30 million clinical communication interactions each year involving more than 14,000 physicians in 154 markets across the U.S.

Document Solutions, Inc. (DSI), a litigation support services company, announced that Sterling Mills is joining the firm’s Knoxville office as an account manager. He comes to Knoxville from the DSI home office in Nashville, where he was a customer service representative.

Sterling Mills

Mills has worked at the Nashville office since 2007. He began his career in Knoxville where he worked at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the University of Tennessee Office of Public Relations.

Mills holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee and was a member of the National Honor Society and vice president of the Public Relations Student Society of America.

Serving nationwide from offices in Nashville and Knoxville, Tenn., DSI, a litigation support services company that provides a wide range of traditional and technology-driven services, including electronic discovery, digital forensics, data recovery, de-duplication of both digital and paper files, copying, photocopying, printing, trial boards, document management, document scanning, imaging, optical character recognition and more. From cutting edge work in digital forensics and e-discovery to extremely rapid imaging and photocopying within the highest quality standards, DSI’s goal remains the same: to make it easier for attorneys to provide their clients with timely, fully informed and well-prepared legal counsel.

Logan Laug

Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain, PC (LBMC), is pleased to announce the following promotion in the Knoxville office.

Logan Laug, CPA, has been promoted to a senior in audit.  Logan was previously a staff in the division.  He works closely with clients in the construction and not-for-profit industries providing a variety of services including audits of financial statements and retirement plans.

LBMC, PC, and The LBMC family of companies has more than 400 employees, with offices in Chattanooga, Nashville (Brentwood), and Knoxville, Tenn. Founded in 1984 as a traditional accounting firm, LBMC has expanded its focus to meet a broad range of financial, human resources and technology needs for its diverse client base.  Specific services offered by the LBMC “Family of Companies” include: accounting and assurance services, business and personal tax consulting, investment advisory services, professional staffing, human resources outsourcing, payroll services, technology solutions, healthcare consulting, planning services, litigation support, business valuations, and mergers and acquisitions.

BANKING

Chuck Tinker

Chuck Tinker has joined Pinnacle Financial Partners as vice president and credit analyst. He is based at the Northshore Drive office.

Tinker brings more than six years of experience and comes most recently from United Community Bank in Lenoir City, where he served as a credit analyst. Prior roles include serving as an assistant vice president in the credit department for Mountain Commerce Bank and as portfolio specialist for SunTrust Bank in Oak Ridge.

Tinker holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Tennessee. He is an advisory board member of the Boys and Girls Club of Knoxville, a United Way volunteer and a volunteer for the Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen Dinner.

Pinnacle Financial Partners provides a full range of banking, investment, mortgage and insurance products and services designed for small- to mid-sized businesses and their owners, real estate professionals and individuals interested in a comprehensive relationship with their financial institution. Pinnacle’s comprehensive wealth management services, such as financial planning and trust, help clients increase, preserve and distribute their assets. Based in Nashville, Tenn., Pinnacle is Tennessee’s second-largest bank holding company with $5 billion in assets and 31 offices in eight Middle Tennessee counties and three offices in Knoxville. In 2009, the firm was added to Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 index.

EDUCATION

Dr. Godfrey Saunders has been named director of the Principal Leadership Academy (PLA), a joint effort to train aspiring Hamilton County schools’ principals. The academy, which launches this month, is the outcome of a partnership among the Hamilton County Department of Education, the Public Education Foundation (PEF), the Chattanooga area Chamber of Commerce and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC).

Announcement of Saunders’ appointment, as well as the members of the firs class of principal candidates and their mentors from the business community, was made Friday, July 9, at Unum, one of the academy’s major investors along with Joe Davenport of Pointer Management and an anonymous businessman.

A veteran of 32 years as a public schools science teacher, counselor and administrator, Saunders comes to Chattanooga from Bozeman, Mont., where he served as principal of Bozeman High School and Bridger Alternative School from 1996 to 2009. Saunders wrote his doctoral dissertation on principal mentoring at Montana State University, served on the curriculum leadership and professional development teams in his school district, and trained 13 principal interns during his tenure as principal at Bozeman High.

The PLA will involve 13 Hamilton County schools’ assistant principals who have expressed interest in becoming principals. The academy will conbine a foundation in core business skills with advanced training in instructional leadership. Topics will include culture and climate, building management, finances, human resources, strategic leadersip and community relations.

Each academy participant will be assigned an executive from the business community as a mentor. Academy participants will have opportunities to shadow mentors and receive input and advice regarding leadership issues.

The UTC is also a core partner in the establishment of the PLA through the engagement of professors from the schools of education and business. The professors will help design and deliver a curriculum focused on critical leadership and management skills as well as instructional leadership, the use of instructional data and establishing a positive school culture.

Saunders holds a bachelor’s degree in science education, a master’s degree in counseling and a doctorate of education degree from Montana State University. He served on the board of directors for the National Merit Scholarship Corp. for nine years and currently serves on the Teachers Education Accreditation Board and the Board of Crime Control for the state of Montana.

ENGINEERING

Heather Buckberry

Heather L. Buckberry, PE, PMP, FPE, CEM, LEED AP BD+C, a senior mechanical and fire protection engineer in the Knoxville office of Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon (BWSC), has been certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute (PMI) after successfully completing the PMP program and examination. PMI is an international professional association involved in advancing the practice, science and profession of project management throughout the world.

Buckberry has over 17 years of experience in HVAC, plumbing, and fire protection systems for a wide variety of market segments, including industrial facilities, government, institutional, and specialty applications. She has been associated with BWSC since 2000 and her experience has included sprinkler system design, site piping system design, and fire pump layout design.

Buckberry obtained her master of science in engineering management from the University of Tennessee and her bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Johns Hopkins University. She is a registered professional engineer in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina. She is a certified energy manager, a fire protection engineer, and a LEED accredited professional BD+C. Buckberry is a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, the National Society of Professional Engineers, the National Fire Protection Association, the Association of Energy Engineers, and the United States Green Building Council. Originally from Sevierville, she currently lives in Knoxville, Tenn.

Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon is an employee-owned engineering, architecture, planning, landscape architecture, and surveying firm.  Celebrating over 50 years of service, BWSC is among the top 200 engineering and design firms in the United States.

ARCADIS, the international consulting and engineering company, today announced that Garry VanPool, PLS, PSM and Scott Manning, PE has joined their Chattanooga office. VanPool has been appointed survey department manager and Scott will be rejoining ARCADIS as a project manager in the geotechnical and dam safety department.

VanPool comes to ARCADIS from Mulkey Engineering in Jacksonville, FL, where he directed their overall survey operation. He brings 31 years of experience and is a registered professional land surveyor in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Scott is returning to ARCADIS after serving as manager of engineering services for Propex Operating Co., LLC since 2005. Prior to Propex, Manning worked for the Chattanooga office of ARCADIS as a staff engineer from 2001 to 2005. Both VanPool and Manning will be supporting the infrastructure division of the south region of ARCADIS U.S.

ARCADIS is an international company providing consultancy, design, engineering and management services in infrastructure, water, environment and buildings. They enhance mobility, sustainability and quality of life by creating balance in the built and natural environments. ARCADIS develops, designs, implements, maintains and operates projects for companies and governments. With 15,000 employees and $2.4 billion in revenues, the company has an extensive international network supported by strong local market positions. ARCADIS supports UN-HABITAT with knowledge and expertise to improve the quality of life in rapidly growing cities around the world.

Mike Martin

Mike Martin has joined ResourceTek, the technical staffing and professional recruiting subsidiary of Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon, Inc. (BWSC), as senior account manager. Based out of BWSC’s Knoxville office, Martin will be responsible for business development in the Knoxville and East Tennessee market, as well as an expansion of the firm’s technical and professional recruitment capabilities. Martin has had a successful career in the technical staffing services industry and was instrumental in establishing Knoxville presence for Johnson Service Group. He most recently worked with CDI in Oak Ridge. Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon is an employee-owned engineering, architecture, planning, landscape architecture, and surveying firm. Celebrating over 50 years of service, BWSC is among the top 200 engineering and design firms in the United States.

Steve Bostic

Steve Bostic, PE, vice president of Lamar Dunn & Associates, Inc., Knoxville, has been elected president of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Tennessee (ACEC of Tennessee) for 2010-2011. In addition, David Harrell, PE, regional vice president of the Tennessee operations of Vaughn & Melton Consulting Engineers, Inc., located in Knoxville, was elected second vice president of the organization that represents more than 100 engineering firms in Tennessee. Bostic has more than 26 years of engineering experience. After graduation from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville with a B.S. degree in civil engineering, he was employed by the Johnson City Water and Sewer Department for five years. He has been associated with Lamar Dunn & Associates for 21 years, providing consulting engineering services to private and public clients. Currently a resident of Farragut, Bostic is a native of Campbell County, Tenn.

Harrell has more than 22 years of experience in civil engineering and has been associated with numerous high-profile projects including the re-development of the 100 & 200 blocks of Gay Street in Knoxville, the SR-840 by-pass around Nashville, and the re-development of the South Knoxville waterfront. Harrell was chairman of the 2008 ACEC of Tennessee Engineering Excellence Awards Committee. He is a graduate of UT with B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering. Harrell, who is a resident of Powell, is a member of the Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers.

Also elected to serve as officers of ACEC of Tennessee for 2010-2011 were: President-Elect Mike Pohlman, PE, Pickering Firm, Inc., Memphis; First Vice President Steven Field, PE., Stantec Consulting Services, Inc., Nashville; Secretary John Wimberly, PE, I.C. Thomasson Associates, Inc., Nashville; Treasurer Chuck Saunders, PE, Fisher & Arnold, Inc., Nashville; National Director Steve Lane, PE., DEE, Smith Seckman Reid, Inc., Nashville; and Director at Large Stephen Meyer, PE, Volkert, Inc., Chattanooga.Ed Hargraves, PE, Secretary and Senior Partner of Askew Hargraves Harcourt & Associates, Inc., Memphis, is the immediate past president of ACEC of Tennessee.

ACEC of Tennessee officers assumed their offices on July 1, and will be formally installed during the organization’s annual meeting August 25-27 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

HEALTHCARE

Justin Neece

Shared Health®, Inc., a leader in the health information technology industry (HIT), has named health care industry veteran Justin L. Neece chief operating officer.

Neece, who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of Shared Health, oversees the sales and marketing, finance, client services, legal, security, privacy, compliance and risk management and contract management functions for the company.

A progressive executive, he has more than 20 years experience in the health care, automotive and retail industries, establishing a successful track record of improved operation, quality and financial performance throughout his career.

Neece’s expertise in leadership development, operations, supply chain management, quality and process improvement are an integral part of Shared Health’s future growth strategy.

Prior to joining Shared Health, Neece held a variety of leadership roles in optimizing operational performance, evaluating business financial strategies, guiding large capital expenditure projects, and running multi-location operations.

Neece most recently served as partner for The Viability Company, a Brentwood, Tenn., health care consulting firm. There, he led several successful operations implementations with health care firms focused in health solutions, renal care, health information technology, and acute care hospitals.

Neece was previously general manager of Tyco International’s medical division, and has served as senior director of operations strategy for Dollar Corp. He was also vice president of supply chain management with Manchester Tank & Equipment Co.

Neece, who was recently appointed to the board of the Tennessee Chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, is an adjunct professor at Lipscomb University’s College of Business, and is a nationally-certified Six Sigma leader. He is a member of the Nashville Health Care Council, Leadership Healthcare of Tennessee and the Tennessee Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (TNHIMSS). Neece has served on the board of the Nashville Chapter of the Council of Supply Chain Professionals, and is lean certified through the Toyota Production System model.

He holds a bachelor’s of science degree from Tennessee Technological University and a master’s of business administration from Middle Tennessee State University.

Neece and his wife Michelle have three children and live in Franklin, Tenn.

Shared Health was launched in 2004 with the mission to transform health care by offering secure, innovative HIT solutions. With the records of more than 3 million patients in its HIE, Shared Health’s web-based applications securely share and connect medical information across a patient’s network of clinicians, including 4,200 physicians in Tennessee. Shared Health strives to be the clinician’s trusted partner for sharing relevant patient information at the point of care, enabling both health care professionals and consumers to improve outcomes.

Todd Bonvallet

Spine Surgery Associates (SSA), PC, the region’s leading spinal surgery practice, announced the appointment of Todd C. Bonvallet, M.D., as medical director of The Spine Center, located at 1736 Gunbarrel Road.

Dr. Bonvallet will continue SSA commitment to quality conservative patient care, high outcomes and values as medical directorship of the Spine Center. He has been a partner for the last 13 years at Spine Surgery Associates’ Erlanger Medical Mall office.

Dr. Richard G. Pearce, M.D., and James M. Osborn, M.D., will also begin seeing patients at the Spine Center on selected days in addition to seeing patients at Spine Surgery Associates’ Erlanger Medical Mall office. The group will be welcoming Garrick Cason, M.D. from the prestigious William Beaumont Accredited Spine Fellowship in Detroit, Mich. on August 1, 2010.

Bonvallet, a fellowship trained and board certified orthopedic surgeon, received his medical degree and residency training at the University of Southern California Medical Center.

As medical director, Bonvallet will review and supervise the quality, availability, safety and appropriateness of the program’s medical services. He will conduct chart and case reviews to ensure compliance with national/community standards of care, participate in the development and evaluation of the program’s policies and procedures on an annual basis, and propose changes as necessary. He will also develop and implement a process to monitor current and future guidelines.

SSA, PC, is a five-member, board certified group of five fellowship-trained spinal surgeons. SSA also employs one fellowship-trained with spinal intervention physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist and a board certified nurse practitioner.  Since 1978, the group has maintained a focus on the appropriate management of patients with disorders of the cervical, thoracic, and lumbosacral spine, including tumors, trauma, neurologic deficit, degeneration, deformities (scoliosis), radiculopathy, and infections. SSA has earned a reputation as a leading provider of comprehensive and compassionate patient care.

Spine Center is a primary spine care treatment center focusing on all aspects of spine care with a primary focus on non-operative intervention. At Spine Care, the emphasis is on conservative spine care and if this does not help the patient, they will be

referred to a SSA surgeon. The Interventional Spine Center treats your pain using the most advanced technology and procedures to improve your quality of life.

Recently, at the seventh annual United We Stand Respect Life Banquet, the Chattanoogans for Life group awarded Karen and Paul Schulz with the Brother Cajetan Award. This award was named in memory of Brother Cajetan Gavranich, an Alexian brother who served at Alexian Village on Signal Mountain. Cajetan served as an activities director at Alexian Village and was also known for his defense of the sanctity of human life. Cajetan passed away in 2002, yet continues to be remembered by many as a man with a kind heart and a deep faith.

For nearly 800 years, the Alexian Brothers have served and cared for others. The same beliefs that inspired the founders of this ministry sustain its organization today. The Alexian Brothers mission is put into action by the commitment to promote the physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being of all individuals served through their 10 local ministries. Through this commitment, Alexian Brothers Senior Ministries has come to be recognized as the area’s leading innovator in the coordination and delivery of comprehensive services to older adults.

Alexian Brothers Senior Ministries operates in Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, and has 10 Chattanooga, Tennessee ministries, which include: Alexian Village of Tennessee, Alexian Grove, Alexian Brothers Live At Home Program, Lone Oak Free Health and Dental Clinic, Alexian Inn, Alexian Brothers Valley Residence, Alexian Village Health and Rehabilitation Center, Alexian Brothers PACE Program, Alexian Brothers Senior Neighbors and Alexian Brothers Home Care.

NON PROFITS

Michele Johnson, managing attorney for the Tennessee Justice Center, announced that the board of directors of the Tennessee Justice Center (TJC) has elected Cynthia R. Wyrick, shareholder with Ogle, Gass & Richardson, PC, Sevierville, as officer for chair for 2010-2011.

Wyrick concentrates her practice on personal injury, medical malpractice, worker’s compensation, wills and estates, and family law. She is a trial advocate and a Rule 31 listed mediator for civil and family law matters. She is a member of the board of governors of the Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) and chair of the TBA Programs Committee. She is past chair of the TBA General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Section and past president of the TBA Young Lawyer’s Division. A graduate of the TBA Leadership Law Program, she was a recipient of the 2006 President’s Award. Wyrick is a vice chair of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice (TIPS) Medicine and Law Committee of the American Bar Association (ABA) and a past chair of the Law in Public Service Committee of the TIPS Section. She has been named a Fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation, the TBA Young Lawyers Division and the ABA Young Lawyers Division, and also serves on the board of the Tennessee Bar Foundation. Wyrick is a 1990 graduate of the University of Tennessee with a B.A. in political science. She received her J.D. from the University of Tennessee’s College of Law in 1994. In addition to TBA and ABA, Wyrick is also a member of the Sevier County Bar Association and the American Association for Justice. She is a member of the 2009 class of Leadership Sevier.

The TJC is a non-profit public interest law and advocacy firm serving Tennessee’s families. It gives priority to policy issues and civil cases in which the most basic necessities of life are at stake and where advocacy can benefit needy families statewide. TJC was established in 1996 and is located at 301 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville, Tenn.

TOURISM

Representatives from the greater Knoxville area received high honors at the Stars of the Industry Awards dinner held in Murfreesboro this week. The Tennessee Hospitality Association (TNHA) held the 23rd Annual Stars of the Industry Awards dinner at the Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro on Wednesday, July 14, 2010.  Knoxville Tourism Alliance (KTA) members were recognized for their professional contributions to the hospitality industry.

Larry Ryan

Outstanding Lodging General Manager of the Year Small Property (1-100 rooms) recognizes a general manager who has demonstrated exceptional contributions of leadership, service and involvement in community and civic affairs:

Larry Ryan, general manager, Econo Lodge Inn & Suites east Knoxville.

Outstanding Restaurant General Manager of the Year National Chain recognizes a manager who has demonstrated exceptional contributions of leadership, service and involvement in community and civic affairs: Coby Leach, general manager, The Chop House in Franklin Square.

Community Service Award presented to restaurants that have provided service and demonstrated to residents that the company is responsive to the local community: Shoney’s of Knoxville.

Dave Jones

Associate Award of Excellence recognizes the professional contributions of associate members who provide valuable services and products that allow hotels and restaurants to offer excellence in hospitality and who work with them for their mutual success: Dave Jones, east Tennessee regional manager for the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development.

Carol Costello

Hospitality Educator of the Year recognizes exceptional educators who prepare students for hospitality related jobs and develop future hospitality employees through work experience, resume building and scholarships: Dr. Carol Costello, professor, University of Tennessee Culinary Institute Wine and Beer Program Director.

The TNHA represents the interests of Tennessee’s lodging and dining establishments and related businesses involved in the hospitality industry.

KTA is a not for profit membership organization of the tourism and hospitality industry that enhances the economic, legislative and social interests of its members throughout the Greater Knoxville area.

Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain, PC (LBMC), has announced promotions for the firm’s year beginning June 1, 2010 for its Chattanooga office.

Diane Dobbs, CPA, has been promoted to a senior in audit. She was previously a staff member in the division.

Christina Edwards, CPA, has been promoted to a manger in audit. She was previously a senior in the division.

The following LBMC staff has been promoted in the Knoxville office.

Andrew Pitts, CPA, has been promoted to a senior in audit. He was previously a staff member in the division.

Kristen Hicks, CPA, has been promoted to a manager in audit. She was previously a senior in the division.

Clay Irby, CPA, has been promoted to a senior in tax. He was previously a staff member in the division.

Natalia Berestovskaya, CPA, has been promoted to a manger in tax. She was previously a senior in the division.

Kelly Fitzpatrick, CPA, has been promoted to a manger in tax. She was previously a senior in the division.

BANKING

Missy Ratliff

Missy Ratliff has joined Pinnacle Financial Partners as a service specialist. Nathan Hunter, Pinnacle’s Knoxville president, made the announcement.

Ratliff has 10 years of experience, and was most recently with First Tennessee Bank, where she served as a teller. She will be based at Pinnacle’s Northshore Drive office.

Based in Nashville, Pinnacle is Tennessee’s second-largest bank holding company with $5 billion in assets and 31 offices in eight Middle Tennessee counties. The company has three offices in Knoxville. In 2009, the firm was added to Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 index.

ENGINEERING

Barney Fullington

Barney G. Fullington has joined Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon Inc. (BWSC), as director of Water Services, responsible for overall direction of water, wastewater and water resources services across the company. Fullington has over 15 years of experience in planning, design and project management for a variety of water-related projects nationwide. Most recently, he served as project manager for Black & Veatch, which ranks in the top 10 in water, sewer and wastewater services according to Engineering New-Record.

Bob Higgins, president and CEO of BWSC made the announcement.

Fullington received his master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign. He is a registered Professional Engineer and an active member of the Water Environment Federation and the American Water Works Association. Fullington is a native of Nashville.

Nathan Brown

Nathan A. Brown, PE and David Korda, PE, have joined BWSC. Brown is manager of electrical services, responsible for electrical services of the industrial and facilities groups in all BWSC locations in three states. Korda is manager of structural design services with responsibility for oversight of all structural activities of the industrial and facilities group in the Knoxville office. In addition, Korda will lead BWSC’s specialty structures efforts associated with the power generation market sector.

Brown was previously electrical division manager at The Cherokee Group, LLC, Sevierville, Tenn. He has more than 18 years of experience in electrical engineering design and construction, including lighting design, power distribution design and fire alarm and communications design. Brown received his bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee and is a registered professional engineer in Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. He is a member or the National Society of Professional Engineers and the National Fire Protection Association. Brown is a native of Strawberry Plains, Tenn.

David Korda

Korda was previously associated with Lambert Engineers, Inc., Knoxville. He has more than 13 years of experience as a civil engineer with extensive experience in design, engineering, project management and quality assurance. A native of Knoxville, he received both his master’s degree and bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Tennessee. He is a registered professional engineer in Tennessee.

Russell Moorehead

Russell D. Moorehead, PE, has joined the Chattanooga office of BWSC, as senior project engineer, responsible for water and wastewater projects. Moorehead has 24 years of experience as a civil engineer with extensive experience in design, engineering and project management.

He received his bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the University of Tennessee and is a Registered Professional Engineer in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. Moorehead is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the National Society of Professional Engineers and the American Council of Engineering Companies. He is a native of Nashville and currently resides in Ooltewah.

Christopher Umberger

Christopher W. Umberger, RA, PMP, MCARB, LEEF AP BD+C, an architect and senior project manager in the Knoxville office of BWSC, has been certified by as a Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute (PMI) after successfully completing the PMP program and examination. PMI is an international professional association involved in advancing the practice, science and profession of project management throughout the world.

Umberger has more than 35 years of experience in planning, design and project management. He has been associated with BWSC since 2009 and has served as project manager for numerous projects related to the fields of economic development, industrial and institutional design and research and development.

Umberger obtained his bachelor of architecture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and is a registered architect in Tennessee and Virginia. He is a member of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, a LEED Accredited Professional BD+C, and a member of the East Tennessee Industrial Council. He is a native of Wytheville, VA., and resides in Dandridge, Tenn.

GOVERNMENT

Mary W Freeman

The Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA) directors have elected Mary Freeman to serve as chairman of the agency for the upcoming fiscal year. With this election, Director Freeman becomes the first African-American woman to serve as chairman of the agency, whose mission is to promote the public interest by balancing the interests of utility consumers and providers.

Beginning July 1, Freeman will serve as the agency’s chief administrative officer, responsible for all administrative and fiscal operations.

Freeman is a native of Memphis, and began her term as a director on July 1, 2008. That joint appointment was made by Gov. Phil Bredesen, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Speaker Emeritus Jimmy Naifeh. She is a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUS) Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment and Committee on Consumer Affairs; Board of Directors for the Organization of PJM States Inc. (OPSI); and a member of the Eastern Interconnection States’ Planning Council (EISPC). She also serves on the executive committee for United Way of Tennessee and as chairman of the state’s 2-1-1 Advisory Council.

The TRA has jurisdiction over privately owned utilities including electric, telephone, water and wastewater, natural gas and methane gas. The TRA is also responsible for safety inspections of the state’s natural gas pipelines and several programs that assist Tennesseans through the Consumer Services Division, including the Telecommunications Devices Access Program (TDAP), the Lifeline and Link-up telephone assistance program, and the Tennessee Do Not Call program.

Jordana Nelson

Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation (KCDC), has recently hired Jordana Nelson as general counsel.

A graduate of Western Carolina University and the University of Tennessee College of Law, Nelson has five years of experience with Bass, Berry & Sims PLC (BBS). Working out the firm’s Knoxville office with Mark Mamantov, Nelson routinely handled KCDC business.

While with BBS, Nelson participated in representation relating to tax increment financing (TIF) as well as real estate and redevelopment issues.

Nelson’s hiring was announced by KCDC Chief Operating Officer Art Cate.

HOTELS

Jeff Mochel

Vision Hospitality Group Inc., has announced that Jeff Mochel has accepted the position of regional director of operations.

Mochel is received a bachelor’s degree in hotel restaurant and institutional management from Penn State University. He worked at Promus Hotels for seven years. From Promus, Mochel spent two years as the general manager of the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Las Colinas, Texas. While general manager, he was presented with the “President’s Award” and “Most Improved Service Award” of all Wyndham Hotels.

For the past 10 years, Mochel has been with Jameson Inn hotels as senior regional director of operations. He has overseen 50 hotels in the Southeast region, and was presented with “Regional Manager of the Year” in 2006 and the “Chairman’s Award” in 2007.

Chattanooga-based Vision Hospitality Group Inc. is a leading hotel management and development company. The company develops, owns and operates premium select and full-service hotels affiliated with Hilton, Marriott, Intercontinental Hotels and Hyatt.

HOUSING

Joe Belcher

Clayton Homes, the nation’s largest homebuilder, has announced that Joe Belcher has been named the inaugural winner of the James L. Clayton Award. He has been with the company 25 years, and is currently serving as zone sales manager.

The award represents the absolute pinnacle of personal recognition for career contributions to the well being of Clayton Homes, according to company officials. The award is named after Clayton Homes founder, James L. Clayton, whose entrepreneurial drive and insatiable demand for excellence have become legendary, said David Booth, president of Clayton Homes.

Belcher joined the company in 1985, and has served in numerous roles such as zone vice president and regional manager. He also serves as a member of the board for the North Carolina Manufactured Housing Institute.

Clayton Homes is a Berkshire-Hathaway Company. Through its family of brands, Clayton Homes builds, sells, finances, leases and insures a full spectrum of affordable housing and is the nation’s No. 1 retailer of modular and manufactured homes.

INSURANCE

Greg Reidy

UnitedHealthcare has named Gregory Reidy as CEO, Mid-South Health Plan, which serves 350,000 commercial health plan customers across Arkansas and Tennessee. The announcement was made by Dan Ohman, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Southeast Region.

As CEO, Reidy will lead the company’s commercial business, which offers employers and individual consumers health benefit plans and wellness programs that help people make better decisions about their health and well-being.

Previously, Reidy served as UnitedHealthcare’s vice president of Key Accounts, Southeast Region, helping drive sales to mid-sized employers. He has held various leadership positions since joining UnitedHealthcare in 1995.

Reidy earned bachelor’s degrees in history and political science from Brown University. He serves on the board of the Boys & Girls Club of Middle Tennessee, Access Tennessee and Arkansas Comprehensive Health Insurance Pool.

UnitedHealthcare contracts with more than 600,000 physicians and care professionals as well as 5,000 hospitals to offer their 25 million individual consumers convenient access to services nationwide. It is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group, a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

TekLinks, a regional information technology services provider headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., with offices in Chattanooga, Tenn., has announced the recent hiring of Jackson Ware, who will be heading up sales for the Nashville area. Ware, a graduate of Lipscomb University and previously employed at Dell, has an extensive background in systems integration and specializes in virtualization and cloud migration sales. Ware will represent the Murfreesburo, Franklin, Cool Springs, Nashville and surrounding areas as TekLinks continues to expand its service in the Tennessee market.

TekLinks partners exclusively with dominant players in their respective fields, such as Cisco and Microsoft.

MANUFACTURING

TAMKO Building Products Inc., has recently promoted Zach Guza to operations manager of its Knoxville facility.

Guza joined TAMKO in 2007 as a Six Sigma Black Belt at its Tuscaloosa, Ala., manufacturing facility. In his new position, he will be responsible for leading, managing and directing all operations associated with maintenance and engineering, shipping and receiving and office administration/human resources.

Guza will also oversee all Six Sigma Green Belt projects and project development, and will assist in the selection process for additional Knoxville Green Belts. He has a bachelor’s degree in human factors engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He as an officer and UH-1N pilot in the Air Force for nine years.

TAMKO is one of the nation’s largest independent manufacturers of residential and commercial roofing, decking and railing products, waterproofing, cements and coatings.

NON-PROFITS

United Way of Greater Knoxville (UWGK) has announced that Mike Hamilton, Men’s Director of Athletics at the University of Tennessee, will serve as the 2010 campaign chair. In one of his first activities as campaign chair, members of the Hamilton family recently toured two partner agencies supported by UWGK — the Wesley House Community Center and the Volunteer Ministry Center.

Hamilton has also visited local companies and organizations to discuss the impact that United Way has on the Knoxville community.

UTILITIES

Steve McMillen

Steve McMillen has been selected as vice president of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Talent Management Group.

McMillan has more than 20 years of experience in talent management and leadership development. He will oversee work force planning, performance and competency management, leadership development, succession planning, learning and development and compensation models.

The announcement was made by Janet Herrin, executive vice president of TVA’s People and Performance organization. Herrin has over 30 years with TVA, and is responsible for building and maintaining quality and effectiveness of TVA’s work force, coordinating personnel policies and operations, talent management and labor relations.

Before coming to TVA, McMillen worked with Hillenbrand Industries, the Thomson Corp. and O’Charley’s, where he identified, promoted, developed and retained talent. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Northern Kentucky University and a doctorate in education from the University of Cincinnati.

McMillen succeeds Susan Stout, who served as acting vice president of Talent Management since December 2009. She is returning to her position as senior manager of Talent Sourcing and Support Services group in TVA’s People and Performance organization.

TVA has named Robert M. “Bob” Balzar as the new vice president of Energy Efficiency and Demand Response.

Balzar comes to TVA after serving as director of conservation resources for Seattle City Light since 2007. He headed residential, commercial and industrial conservation and demand response programs for the municipal utility system that serves nearly 1 million Seattle area residents.

Balzar joined TVA June 21, and has more than 20 years of experience in energy efficiency, conservation and renewable programs. At TVA, he will direct targeted efforts to achieve more efficient use of energy and reduction of energy usage during periods of highest electricity demand on the TVA system. At Seattle Light, he exceeded energy efficiency goals and developed a five-year Conservation Action Plan for the company. He has served as a representative for the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. He also is on the board of directors for the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.

In addition, Balzar led efforts for the next generation of Energy Star and Water Smart Homes while working as director of marketing and product development for Pinnacle Homes in Las Vegas.

As director of efficiency and conservation at Nevada Power Co. and Sierra Pacific Power Co., he headed programs that reduced Nevada peak demand by more than 200 megawatts and saved more than $100 million in annual energy costs. He also established SolarGenerations, Nevada’s state-funded solar photovoltaic rebate program that delivers more than 1,700 kilowatts from 315 projects.

Balzar has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nevada-Reno, and is a professional engineer in Nevada and California.

TVA has named Russ Seward, a procurement executive at American Electric Power Co. Inc., as TVA’s new vice president of supply chain.

Steward, a contract administrator for major projects at Columbus, Ohio-based AEP, will oversee identification, acquisition and distribution of goods and information through TVA’s complete supply chain system. He succeeds Terrell Burkhart, who is retiring with 34 years of TVA service.

Steward started June 24, and will be based in Chattanooga. He has also served as AEP’s procurement director, responsible for managing more than $3 billion in purchases for 11 AEP operating companies. He managed procurement for generation, transmission, distribution and enterprise requirements, including material, equipment and related services. He also facilitated strategic sourcing profiles for major commodities within AEP.

Steward serves as the first vice chairman of the Utility Purchasing Management Group, an 86-year-old industry organization that shares emerging practices to improve supply chain management.

Emily Job

Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain PC (LBMC), has added Emily A. Job in its Chattanooga office.  She has joined the accounting firm in a staff position in the tax services department.  Her previous experience includes working as an accounting analyst at Ace Hardware.

Job is a graduate of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and is currently pursuing a master’s of accountancy.  She is a member of the Optimist Club and will be serving on the Ronald McDonald House Fall Festival Committee.

LBMC is one of the South’s largest accounting and business consulting firms, with more than 400 employees.  The firm has offices in Chattanooga, Nashville (Brentwood) and Knoxville.

BANKING

The Tennessee Bankers Association (TBA) recently conducted the 2010 session of The Southeastern School of Consumer Credit (TSSCC) with 14 bankers completing requirements for graduation.  The annual program was held at the Owen Graduate School of Management on the Vanderbilt University campus.  This year’s graduates included Will McCampbell, who is employed by BankEast in Knoxville.  Additionally, he was the top honor graduate for 2010, with a score of 100.

The TSSCC is one of four Southeastern schools sponsored by the TBA.  The Southeastern School of Consumer Credit is an intensive one-week school that exposes students to the major issues consumer credit managers face on a day-to-day basis.  The TBA conducts the school annually in cooperation with bankers associations in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.  Over 1,600 students have graduated from the program since its inception in 1987.

Delegates of the Young Bankers Division of the Tennessee Bankers Association (TBA) have elected new officers and directors for 2010-2011 during their annual Leadership Convention last month.  The convention also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Young Bankers Division.

Two executive officers have been chosen from the East Tennessee region.

Gregg Ketterman, vice president of National Bank of Tennessee-Newport, has been selected to serve as vice president.  Wes Farragut, vice president of Mountain State Bank-Sevierville, will serve as immediate past president.

One delegate has been selected to serve on the board from East Tennessee.  Bo Blanken is a loan officer for Citizens Bank and Trust of Grainger County-Rutledge.

Traci Todd, senior vice president/director of lending at The Peoples Bank-Knoxville, will continue to serve her term on the board.

Two East Tennessee board members completed their terms and rotated off the board.

Ketterman and Monte McBee, vice president for Peoples State Bank of Commerce-Dunlap were both honored at the convention for their two years of service to the Young Bankers Division.

EDUCATION
Douglas Horne, founder of Horne Properties in Knoxville, has bee-n appointed to serve on a new national high school achievement commission that aims to increase awareness of 12th graders’ academic preparedness for higher education and job training, keys to success in an increasingly competitive economy.

The National Assessment Governing Board, an independent bipartisan body that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), named Horne to its NAEP High School Achievement Commission.  He will join eight other commission members in studying and disseminating results of the Governing Board’s program of research about preparedness in reading and math.  The research is conducted in connection with NAEP, also known as “The Nation’s Report Card,” the only continuing, representative assessment of what the nation’s students know and can do.

In addition to Horne properties, which owns real estate nationwide, Horne founded Republic Newspapers Inc., in 1988.  In 1997, he founded Horne Radio Inc.  Horne is a University of Tennessee board trustee and serves on the board of Franklin Graham’s Samaritan Purse Christian organization.  He formerly served on the advisory board of The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and is a current member of the Tennessee Farm Bureau, the University of Tennessee Alumni Association and the International Association of Shopping Centers.

ENGINEERING

Gerald Stump

Gerald Stump, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Wilbur Smith Associates in Franklin, Tenn., has been named chairman of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC).

Elected by the ACEC Board of Directors, Stump will serve as chairman during the 2010-2011 term.  ACEC is the Washington, D.C.-based business association representing approximately 5,500 independent engineering companies throughout the U.S.  The Council is a federation with 51 state and regional chapters.

Stump has served in several ACEC leadership positions, at both the state and national level.  He is an ACEC Fellow, a former ACEC vice chairman, a past co-chair of the ACEC-PAC Champions Committee and a former member of the ACEC/Tennessee Board of Directors.

Stump is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and the Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers.
He received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Tennessee and earned a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Louisville.

HEALTH CARE

Jerry Rudd has been hired to serve as administrator of the Smoky Mountain Lodge, a 29-bed adult residential facility on Sevierville, Tenn.  Smokey Mountain Lodge is owned by Pasadena Villa, offering high quality clinical services within a physical environment that promotes health, well being, recovery and personal motivation.

Rudd brings more than 16 years of experience to his new position in a variety of roles and settings that have included psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals, residential treatment and extended care facilities.

Smoky Mountain Lodge offers a variety of therapies treatment of thought disorders, mood disorders, Asperger’s Syndrome and social and interpersonal deficits.  George Kachmarik serves as president and clinical director of the facility.

Nestle Nutrition Institute (NNI) has announced the recipients of the Enteral Nutrition fellowship.  The inaugural class of six fellows will receive intensive training in nutritional therapy as an integral part of trauma, surgery, gastroenterology, endocrinology and critical care specialties at some of the nation’s leading medical centers.

In Knoxville, Dr. Christy M. Lawson, a first year fellow at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, has been selected for the 2010-2011 class.  She specializes in surgical critical care, and has experience working on nutritional management for intensive care unit patients.

This new initiative is designed to help better integrate enteral nutrition therapy into medical practice, improve patient outcomes and manage chronic diseases in clinical settings.  NNI is committed to supporting, training and building a nationwide network of physician nutrition leaders working to advance clinical nutrition knowledge.

Parkridge Hospital has announced the winners of its 2009 Frist Humanitarian Awards, which re presented annually to an employee, a physician and a volunteer at each of the Parkridge Hospitals.

Volunteer recipients were Mary Rook from Parkridge East and Rita Salloga from Parkridge Medical Center.  Employee recipients were Kay Neal from Parkridge East Hospital, Leslie Whittenburg, an oncology nurse from Parkridge Medical Center and Terry Davis, a mental health technician in the Child and Adolescent program at Parkridge Valley.  Physician recipients were Dr. Hal Hill from Parkridge Medical Center, Dr. Michael Seeber at Parkridge East Hospital and Dr. Susan McGuire from Parkridge Valley Hospital.

Each of the honorees received a certificate and a cash award.  The Frist Humanitarian Awards were created to recognize one employee, one physician and one volunteer at each HCA-affiliated facility that demonstrates extraordinary concern for the welfare and happiness of patients and the community.  The awards are given annually in recognition of the humanitarian spirit and philanthropic work of the last Dr. Thomas F. Frist Sr., a founder of HCA.

Local recipients of the award are considered for the national 2009 Frist Humanitarian Award.  The national Frist award is the highest national honor an employee or volunteer can receive within HCA.

Honorees are recognized in the spring with a reception at the company’s Nashville headquarters.

Matt Fox

Darrell Moore serves as president and CEO of the Parkridge Health System.  Richard Bracken serves as chairman and CEO of HCA.

Alexian Brothers Senior Ministries has announced that Matthew Fox was recently named president and chief executive officer of Alexian Village of Tennessee.  Fox comes to Alexian Brothers Senior Ministries from Brookdale Senior Living, in Austin, Texas.  His positions with Brookdale included regional sales director, regional vice president of operations and executive director for three continuing care retirement communities.  Prior to his work at Brookdale Senior Living, Fox held the position of executive director for two Life Care Services retirement communities.

He holds a master’s degree in business administration and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southeastern Louisiana University.
John Turongian serves as vice president for Alexian Brothers Senior Ministries.

REAL ESTATE

Southland Realtors Commercial Group has announced that Solange Velas, senior investment specialist, has successfully obtained her CCIM designation.  She joined the firm in 1997, is a licensed real estate broker, and has specialized in the sale of investment property since 1984.

A CCIM designation is one of the highest awards that can be obtained

Scott Krueger

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

U.S. Cellular has announced that two East Tennessee associates have been recognized by the company as the “best of the best” with the company’s President’s Award.

Scott Krueger is a senior technical support engineer.  He is the son of Dee and Vinita Finnesy of Goodland, Kan., and resides in Farragut with his wife, Patrice.

Adam McChesney

Adam McChesney is a sales manager at the U.S. Cellular store in Turkey Creek.  He is the son of Joe and Rhonda McChesney of Seymour, Tenn., and resides in Sevierville with his wife, Debbie, and his daughter, Abby.

There were nine winners this year of the President’s Award.  Recipients were treated to a weekend for two in Chicago, hosted by Jack Rooney, president and CEO of U.S. Cellular. During the visit, April 23-April 25, winners and their guests attended a Chicago White Sox baseball game at U.S. Cellular Field as well as an award banquet held in their honor.  The honorees also received a President’s Award plaque and a check for $1,000.

Rooney said he was proud of the efforts of the winners, whose actions speak, “Believe in Something Better louder than words ever can.”