Lane

Firestone Building Products Company, LLC, which provides roofing and building envelope solutions, has named Michelle Lane executive director of marketing. In this role, Lane will be responsible for the overall marketing strategy for FSBP, including programs, product development, channel management, education and communications.

Lane brings more than 16 years of marketing experience to her new role, 13 of those with Bridgestone, where she has held various roles of increasing responsibility. Most recently, Lane was director of marketing for the truck bus radial business, where she led marketing strategy and initiatives for the overall TBR portfolio.

Previous roles within the company include director of marketing for the commercial off-the-road business; channel marketing manager, mining division; and commercial marketing research and training manager.

Lane holds a degree in economics from the University of Northern Iowa and an MBA from the University of Iowa.

Uncle Nearest enlists ‘The Lifestyle Specialist’

Burns

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey has enlisted “The Lifestyle Specialist,” Kenny Burns, to join its growing team of industry veterans.

Burns is known for serving as brand ambassador for Grey Goose Vodka, CIROC and DeLeon Tequila. Uncle Nearest plans to expand into 45 domestic and international markets this year.

The brand is the first to honor an African-American in the whiskey industry. Its namesake was the first African-American master distiller on record in the United States.

He also was the first head stiller, now commonly referred to as master distiller, for Jack Daniel Distillery and remained in that capacity until at least 1881.

He is thought to have helped perfect the Lincoln County Process, a special charcoal filtering method required to be considered Tennessee Whiskey, named after the county in which Nearest lived and made whiskey.

Pinnacle adds systems, technology project leader

Gallagher

Pinnacle Financial Partners has hired Paul Gallagher as a senior strategic project manager with a focus on technology and systems conversions.

Gallagher has 28 years of varied experience in financial services across the country, having most recently served as PayPal’s director of enterprise risk and compliance. He also spent time at Silicon Valley Bank as the head of private bank operations and at Wells Fargo as a strategic planning manager in the technology and operations group.

Gallagher earned a degree in political science and international relations from Brown University and an MBA in finance and organizational behavior from the Yale School of Management.

Also at Pinnacle, Akakia Dillard, Beth Wood and Linda Zaderiko have been hired as collections and recovery support associates.

Dillard has 15 years of experience and comes to Pinnacle from State Farm in Atlanta, where she served as an underwriter. Previously she was with State Farm in Murfreesboro, where she was in the payment plan department.

Wood, with more than 20 years of experience in the collections field and 10 years of financial experience, comes to the firm from the law offices of Buffaloe & Associates, PLC, where she was in the collections area.

Zaderiko brings 10 years of experience and most recently was with Tennessee Credit in Smithville.

MP&F promotes 2, hires 3 staff associates

MP&F Public Relations has promoted Brooke Kelly from assistant account executive to account executive and Viviana Bertorelli from staff associate to assistant account executive.

Kelly joined MP&F Public Relations in 2015 and has a lead role on several accounts, including Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, Transit For Nashville, Skanska Construction and Cumberland Consulting Group. She is a native of Jackson, Mississippi, and a graduate of Jackson State University with a degree in mass communications.

Bertorelli works with national and local clients, including Cumberland River Compact, Opry Mills, ECI Defense Group and Integral Senior Living. She spent the first half of her life in her native Caracas, Venezuela, before moving to Florida, where she graduated in 2016 from the University of Central Florida with a degree in advertising and public relations.

Also at MP&F, Ian Dinkins, Ty Fiesel and Maggie McBrayer have been hired as the firm’s newest staff associates.

Dinkins, a Nashville native, graduated from the University of Alabama in May 2017 with a degree in communication and information sciences. He was an intern at MP&F during the summer of 2016.

Fiesel joined MP&F in November 2017 after graduating from Illinois State University, where he earned a degree in public relations. After graduating from ISU, Fiesel interned for MP&F and worked with clients such as Cloud Hill, Acumen Physician Solutions and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Corps program.

McBrayer, a native of Chattanooga, graduated from Auburn University in May 2017 with a degree in communication and a minor in nature-based recreation. She most recently served as an intern for MP&F from September to December of 2017.

The Jones Company appoints sales manager

Neal

The Jones Company, a Nashville-based home builder, has hired Jessica Neal as a sales manager.

She joins The Jones Company after spending over five years with Goodall Homes as a new home consultant.

Neal, a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, has won several awards from the Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee, including rookie of the year, sales agent of the year and platinum award winner of the Sales and Marketing Council Circle of Excellence.

In addition to her career, Neal serves as a board member of the Sales and Marketing Council of the Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee.