Strobel

Charles Strobel, founding director of Room in the Inn, will be honored with the 25th annual Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award.

Established in 1993, the Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award recognizes community leaders who embody the strength of character and unwavering integrity of the late Joe Kraft.

Past honorees include Amy Grant and Vince Gill, John Seigenthaler, Francis S. Guess, Clayton McWhorter, Aubrey Harwell, Jayme and McDonald Williams, Monroe J. Carell Jr., Pauline Gore, Martha Ingram, Karl Dean, Jim Haslam II, Steve and Cal Turner Jr., Phil Bredesen and Andrea Conte, Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley, Jack B. Turner, and Jerry B. Williams, among others.

A native Nashvillian and a revered member of the Catholic community, Strobel has dedicated his life to offering hospitality and hope to the city’s homeless population.

Room in the Inn has, since 1986, provided shelter for nearly 1,500 homeless individuals each winter through the combined effort of what are now nearly 200 Nashville-area congregations and more than 7,000 volunteers. In 1995, the organization opened its downtown campus, which offers emergency services, transitional programs and long-term solutions to help people rebuild their lives.

The Kraft luncheon will be held Friday, Nov. 9, at the Music City Center’s Davidson Ballroom. Tickets are $80 per person, and tables of 10 can be reserved for $800. Reservations for the event can be made through Oct. 31 online at www.cfmt.org or by calling 615 321-4939.

Joe Kraft, whose parents were Russian immigrants, was a Davidson County native and graduate of Vanderbilt University. Prior to receiving his degree, Kraft put his athletic scholarship on hold to enlist in the Army Air Corps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. During the war, Kraft flew 31 missions over Italy, Germany and Czechoslovakia as a navigator on a B-17 bomber. He graduated from Vanderbilt in 1948 and received a law degree from what is now Nashville School of Law in 1958. Kraft then founded one of Nashville’s largest certified public accounting firms, Kraft Bros., Esstman, Patton & Harrell.

Russ elected president of CASA Nashville

Russ

Marissa Moses Russ, partner at MTR Family Law, PLLC, has been elected president of Court Appointed Special Advocates of Nashville. CASA’s mission is to advocate for hope, heeling and permanency for abused and neglected children in juvenile court by providing trained volunteer advocates.

Russ is a member of the Nashville and American Bar Associations, and a fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation. She currently serves as chair of the Nashville Bar Association’s Domestic Relations Committee. She is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers, a worldwide association of practicing lawyers who are recognized by their peers as the most experienced and expert family law specialists in their respective countries; membership is by invitation.

Russ is a graduate of Tulane University and earned her J.D. degree from the University of Tennessee. She serves on the UT Law School Alumni Board and is an adjunct professor at Belmont University College of Law.

Southeast Venture adds 2 architects, promotes 4

Sanchez

Commercial real estate and design firm Southeast Venture added two project architects and promoted four design team members to the position of design director.

Jeong

New project architect Jacqueline Sanchez recently graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Design with a master of architecture degree. During both her undergraduate and graduate programs, she worked in architecture for various organizations in Kentucky, such as Deco Architects and the College of Design, as well as Cermont Arquitectos, a residential architecture firm based in Nicaragua.

New project architect Euychan Jeong graduated from the University at Buffalo with a master of architecture degree. He has experience working as an intern for South Korea-based architectural firm Tomoon Architects & Engineers and as a designer for Soul Design Workshop and Open Architecture School.

The four design team members promoted to design director are Beau Brady, Samantha O’Leary, Nathan Narwold and Iain Shriver.

MTSU names Distinguished Young Alumni honorees

Middle Tennessee State University is again recognizing outstanding alumni who represent excellence and distinction through their professional careers, loyal support and service to the broader community.

From 1960 to present, the MTSU Alumni Association has recognized accomplished alumni with the association’s highest honor, the Distinguished Alumni Award.

This year’s recipient is Nic Dugger of Nashville who has enjoyed an extensive career in the broadcasting field since he was 12.

This year’s Young Alumni Achievement Award, given to a graduate age 35 or younger making a positive impact in the world, goes to Casey Pash of Columbia, South Carolina.

True Blue Citations of Distinction include:

-- Achievement in Education (MTSU faculty): Frank Michello of Murfreesboro, who has exceled at teaching, research and service in a 30-plus year career at MTSU.

-- Achievement in Education (non-MTSU): Mark Hall of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who is one of the nation’s leading scholars in the areas of health care, public policy and bioethics at the Wake Forest University School of Law.

-- Service to University: Tom and Martha Boyd of Lebanon, who established the Tom and Martha Boyd Endowed Lecture in Ethical Leadership at MTSU in 2011.

-- Service to Community: Whit Turnbow of Murfreesboro, former senior associate athletic director and golf coach, who helped create the True Blue Turnbow Project to provide coats for those who need them in cold weather.

Awards will be presented during Homecoming Week at the Distinguished Alumni Awards Reception, which will be held Friday, Oct. 19, in the Sam H. Ingram Building, 2269 Middle Tennessee Blvd.

Dugger began his television career in Jackson. While an MTSU student, he became the student TV station manager as a freshman. While working on countless mobile production and years of production work with MT10, Dugger also worked as a freelance producer and editor.

After graduation, Dugger worked on milestone projects with the Discovery Channel and National Geographic, such as the first live multi-camera production from an active volcano and the first underwater ocean-to-ocean broadcast. In 2004, he founded his company TNDV and completed the construction of his first mobile television production truck. His fleet has grown to eight mobile trucks, which have been used for major television events from presidential inaugurations to awards shows, sporting events and other live productions. It is now the largest mobile television production facility provider in the Southeast. National productions can be seen nightly on PBS, CMT, GAC, ABC and other networks.

Pash was president of her sorority, growing it to one of the largest on campus, and was an active Student Ambassador.

A position with First Tennessee Bank, where she advanced quickly to become a private client relationship manager, helped her hold several board positions within groups such as Cable, Nashville Area Junior Chamber of Commerce, Young Leaders Council and others.

After making a name for herself in Nashville, Pash was chosen to manage the Governor’s Residence for the Bill Haslam family, which oversaw all daily operations, residence staff and overseeing all projects and more than 100 events per year at the residence. While there, she was also serving MTSU on the Alumni Association board. In 2012, she became one of the youngest National Alumni Association presidents. Upon moving to South Carolina, Pash was chosen by then-Gov. Nikki Haley to be the executive director of The Original Six Foundation, a nonprofit focused on education, quality of life and job readiness initiatives. Pash earned an MBA and now serves as president and CEO of Junior Achievement of Greater South Carolina, serving 34 counties and providing leadership to 11,000 students, managing 500 volunteers and receiving a 5 Star Award from Junior Achievement USA.

Benesch promotes 2 to manager positions

Clinard

Alfred Benesch & Company has named Thomas Clinard, PE, Southeast regional manager and Sammie McCoy, PE, Tennessee division manager.

McCoy

During his 25-year career, Clinard has overseen a variety of projects for the Tennessee DOT and municipal clients in the areas of transportation planning, traffic analysis and modeling, highway design and hydraulic design. Clinard served as both regional manager and Tennessee division manager for the past several years and will now focus on the development of the entire region, which includes offices in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

McCoy will oversee operations in both the Brentwood and Nashville office. Formerly a senior project manager, McCoy has managed several major Tennessee DOT projects, including Benesch’s design of the I-240 CM/GC project in Memphis.

Both Clinard and McCoy have been with the firm for the past 19 years.

Tennessee Bank & Trust rehires key executive

Young

Jeff Young is rejoining Tennessee Bank & Trust as senior vice president of commercial banking and strategic planning, a newly created role at the bank.

Young joined Tennessee Bank & Trust in 2008 from Regions Bank and has been involved in several roles throughout the company. He is returning to the bank after a brief stint with Studio Bank in Nashville.

Young is a graduate of The University of Georgia and holds an MBA from Georgia State University.

After graduation, he completed AmSouth Bank’s Management Training Program, the Tennessee Bankers Association Commercial Banking School at Vanderbilt University and the LSU Graduate School of Banking.

He will be based out of the bank’s Green Hills office.