Quinn

Bridgestone Americas, Inc. has hired Shannon Quinn as president, original equipment tire sales, U.S. and Canada, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations. Quinn succeeds Mike Martini, who recently retired after a 40-year career with Bridgestone Americas.

As president, Quinn will provide strategic oversight and direction for all OE activities in North America including long-range planning, new business development, sales and operational initiatives, as well as marketing and program management. She also will play an instrumental role in maintaining strong working relationships with automotive manufacturers based in the U.S., while also supporting global OE initiatives in partnership with Bridgestone OE teams based in Europe and Japan.

Quinn joins Bridgestone from Adient, where she served as vice president, Ford Business Unit, overseeing business development, commercial negotiations and overall strategy for the global Ford account. She also was responsible for new business development and the generation of revenue plans supporting overall business projections.

Previously, Quinn was vice president and general manager, FCA Customer Group, Seating, for Adient, where she improved key customer scorecard metrics including cost, quality, delivery and engineering.

Prior to joining Adient, Quinn spent 11 years at Visteon Corporation in roles of increasing responsibility. She led the company’s Ford and Chrysler accounts, before ultimately assuming the position of director of business development and strategic planning. Early in her career, Quinn spent nine years working for the Ford Motor Company as a product design engineer.

Quinn has a degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Eastern Michigan University.

Also at Bridgestone:

Stefano Mezzabotta has been named chief information officer for Bridgestone Americas. Mezzabotta will be based in Nashville and will report to Bill Thompson, COO, Bridgestone Americas.

In this role, Mezzabotta will be responsible for leading and overseeing the vision, strategy and operations of the Bridgestone Americas Information Technology departments throughout North and South America.

He will provide strategic IT leadership and direction for all Bridgestone Americas business units and functions and deliver technology solutions that help power our businesses and drive innovation and operational excellence throughout the organization.

Rob Olds, who has concurrently served as Acting CIO since October 2016, will return to his role as Executive Director of IT Business Strategy and Governance for Bridgestone Americas.

Mezzabotta is a global technology executive with nearly 30 years of experience. He joins Bridgestone most recently from Procter & Gamble, where served as director, global business units – Global Shared Services and Information Technology, leading IT and Shared Services for four Global Business Sectors across 17 different product categories. Prior to his move to the U.S. in 2007, Mezzabotta had been the CIO for Procter & Gamble Western Europe, based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Mezzabotta earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Ancona, Italy. Additionally, he was a member of the Naval Academy in Livorno, Italy, where he served as an officer.

Tractor Supply’s Sandfort joins Kirkland’s board

Sandfort

Kirkland’s, Inc. has appointed Gregory A. Sandfort, CEO of Tractor Supply Company, to the company’s board of directors. The addition of Sandfort expands Kirkland’s board to eight members, and he will serve on Kirkland’s Audit Committee.

Sandfort has more than 30 years of experience across a wide range of retail companies. He has held his current role at Tractor Supply since December 2012. He also served as president of Tractor Supply from December 2012 to May 2016, president and COO since February 2012, and president and chief merchandising officer since 2009.

Sandfort joined Tractor Supply in 2007 as executive vice president and general merchandise manager.

Prior to joining Tractor Supply, Sandfort was president and COO of Michaels Stores, Inc. from March 2006 to August 2007, and executive vice president, general merchandise manager from January 2004 to February 2006.

He currently serves as a director of Tractor Supply Company and WD-40 Company.

Palmucci named CEO of Vanderbilt-Stallworth

Palmucci

Jeffrey Palmucci, who has served as the interim chief operating officer for Vanderbilt-Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital since April, has been named the hospital’s CEO.

Vanderbilt-Stallworth, which offers a full continuum of care for patients who suffer traumatic injuries, stroke and other serious conditions, is a joint venture between Vanderbilt and HealthSouth Corp., one of the nation’s leading rehabilitation services provider.

As CEO, Palmucci will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the nationally recognized rehabilitation facility, and will work closely with Vanderbilt University Medical Center and HealthSouth leadership as well as with clinicians in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation to ensure the hospital’s continued growth and success.

In his new role, Palmucci will report to C. Wright Pinson, MBA, M.D., deputy chief executive officer and chief health system officer for VUMC.

Also at Vanderbilt:

Lance

Fletcher Lance, MBA, has joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center as executive vice president for Vanderbilt Health Professional Solutions.

In this new role, Lance will help facilitate the growth of Professional Solutions Services, a new VUMC subsidiary coordinating the development and management of emerging business enterprises. He will work with leaders of both VUMC and the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network to identify new concepts for business development.

Lance joins VUMC from North Highland Worldwide Consulting, where he was a managing director and leader of Global Healthcare for the past 12 years. As part of his work with North Highland, Lance served VUMC as their client leader for the past 10 years.

Most recently, he worked with members of VUMC’s leadership team to help establish the new Professional Services Solutions business, Vanderbilt Health Rx Solutions.

Malin

Bradley Malin, Ph.D., has been appointed to the Technical Anonymization Group, recently established by the European Medicines Agency to advise it regarding best practices for the anonymization of patient information used in research.

The European Medicines Agency is a European Union agency for the evaluation of drugs and other medical products.

To support patient privacy and dissemination of research data, the agency has adopted policies for the publication of clinical data gathered in medical products research.

Malin is professor of Biomedical Informatics and Computer Science and associate professor of Biostatistics, vice chair for research in the department of Biomedical Informatics, and founder and director of the Health Information Privacy Laboratory.

He co-directs the Health Data Science Center, the Center for Genetic Privacy and Identity in Community Settings, and the Big Biomedical Data Science Ph.D. program.

Kleinpell

Ruth Kleinpell, Ph.D., R.N., an internationally recognized nurse researcher, scholar and educator, has joined Vanderbilt University School of Nursing as assistant dean for Clinical Scholarship and professor of Nursing.

Kleinpell comes to Vanderbilt from Rush University, where she had been director of the Center for Clinical Research and Scholarship at Rush University Medical Center and professor in the Department of Adult Health and Gerontological Nursing in the College of Nursing. She had been a visiting professor at VUSN since 2012.

She is a certified acute care nurse practitioner and experienced researcher, clinician and educator in acute and subacute care and advanced practice nursing. Her research interests include telemedicine, ICU nursing care, elder care and outcome assessment, as well as advancing faculty and clinical scholarship.

XMI CEO receives business leader award

Phillips

Jim Phillips, CEO of XMI, a provider of business process management services for entrepreneurial, high-growth businesses, has received the Leader with Purpose Award from Lipscomb University.

The award, given at the seventh annual Business with Purpose Awards luncheon, recognizes individuals who exhibit outstanding leadership in corporate governance, ethics, and a significant commitment to community service.

Phillips’ award was the only individual award of the ceremony. Five awards and other honors were given during the event which was supported by multiple corporate sponsors. The proceeds of the Business with Purpose Awards Luncheon benefits scholarships at Lipscomb University and support the Student Center for the Public Trust.

Truxton Trust adds associate wealth advisor

Nokovich

Truxton Trust has hired Samuel “Sam” D. Nokovich, J.D., as associate wealth advisor. Nokovich joined Truxton Trust from Regions Bank Private Wealth Management in Nashville, where he provided a wide array of fiduciary and wealth management services.

He joined Regions Bank in 2015 as a participant in the Regions Management Associate program.

Nokovich earned his JD at the Cumberland School of Law, where he focused on tax law and business and estate planning. While earning his law degree, he also attended Samford University’s Brock School of Business, where he earned his MBA with an emphasis in finance and investments.

Originally from Alabama, Nokovich earned degrees in philosophy and a political science at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama.

Lipscomb University selects School of Music leader

Bannister

Music industry veteran Charlie Peacock is passing the baton as director of Lipscomb University’s School of Music to Grammy-winning producer Brown Bannister.

Bannister brings nearly four decades of experience in the music industry as one of the most successful music producers in the contemporary Christian music world, having sold more than 50 million records that he has produced, to Lipscomb’s George Shinn College of Entertainment & the Arts, which houses the School of Music.

Peacock, founding director of the university’s contemporary music program, is stepping down to devote time to addressing health issues that have been developing over the past year but will remain a member of the school’s advisory board. Peacock, who joined the George Shinn College of Entertainment & the Arts faculty as artist-in-residence in 2014, was named director of Lipscomb’s School of Music in 2015.

Bannister has won 15 GRAMMYs, more than 20 Dove Awards and has been named “Producer of the Year” five times by the Gospel Music Association. He is a member the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.