West

Attorney Dudley West, formerly with White & Reasor, has joined Miller & Martin’s Nashville office.

West has a diverse civil practice with an emphasis on business litigation and real estate. He has handled numerous commercial real estate acquisitions, dispositions and other transactions, and represented clients in a wide variety of business, real estate and other civil litigation matters in state and federal courts.

West earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University after graduating from Sewanee: The University of the South. He is a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation and the Tennessee Bar Foundation.

In the Nashville community, West currently serves as a member of the Sports Authority of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.

Butler Snow adds Bartz to business services group

Bartz

David A. Bartz has joined Butler Snow’s Nashville office and will practice with the firm’s business services group.

Bartz counsels publicly traded and privately-owned companies conducting business in the energy sector, as well as a broad array of industries, including international shipping and financial services in corporate governance matters, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and master limited partnership dropdown transactions.

He also has experience representing companies in equity and debt offerings, including public and private issuances and private investments in public equity transactions.

Bartz earned his bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Duke University and his juris doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School.

Pease reappointed to Tennessee Bar post

Pease

Greg Pease, member at Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, has been reappointed associate general counsel of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Board of Governors. This is his second term in this position.

In this role, Pease advises the Board on corporate matters and serves under the general counsel, Ed Lanquist.

Pease practices in the areas of general business law and health care law. His experience extends across a wide range of industries including health care, manufacturing, electronic payment processing, business services, distribution and publishing. He has represented companies in operational matters, acquisitions and divestitures, governance matters, private placements of securities, and debt and equity financings. Pease was recognized for his corporate law practice in the 2019 edition of Best Lawyers in America.

Pease earned his J.D. from the University of Memphis, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review and was one of two recipients of the Dean’s Distinguished Graduate Award for the Class of 2004.

Dinkins to join public schools hall of fame

Dinkins

Judge Richard Dinkins, civil rights activist and judge for the Tennessee Court of Appeals, will be honored with the Nelson C. Andrews Distinguished Service Award at the Nashville Public Education Foundation (NPEF)’s 15th annual Public Schools Hall of Fame event Oct. 2.

Kasar Abdulla, Dr. Adrienne Battle and Jimmy Granbery also will be inducted into the Public Schools Hall of Fame as Distinguished Alumni Award honorees.

The annual Hall of Fame luncheon, presented by First Tennessee, raises funds to support NPEF’s work and aims to inspire future innovators and leaders in the city by honoring those who are making a difference for public schools.

Dinkins is being honored with the Nelson C. Andrews Award, sponsored by Education Networks of America, in recognition of his dedication and service to the Nashville community, and his fierce advocacy for civil rights in public education. During his third year of law school at Vanderbilt University, Dinkins clerked for the Honorable Avon N. Williams Jr. and became involved in Nashville’s long-running desegregation case. Dinkins went on to successfully represent the plaintiffs in the case.

The Distinguished Alumni Award, presented by Belmont University, recognizes outstanding Metro Nashville Public Schools graduates who go above and beyond to support our city and its public schools. This year’s winners are not only outstanding MNPS graduates, they also all give back to our public schools in their own unique and impactful ways, representing the necessary collaboration of nonprofit, public and private sectors in supporting our students.

Abdulla

Battle

Kasar Abdulla immigrated to the United States, became a first-generation college graduate and became involved in several organizations for change, including the YWCA, Kurdish Women for Better Health, and Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. She was even honored by President Barack Obama as a Welcoming America Champion for Change in 2013. She now serves as chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Valor Collegiate Academies, and serves on the board of PENCIL Foundation. She is a graduate of Antioch High School.

Dr. Adrienne Battle is the first female director of Metro Nashville Public Schools and the first director to graduate from the district. Her 20-year career in education spans all the way back to her elementary school days in Nashville. She has held multiple executive principal positions through the elementary and high school levels, and was named the 2015 Academies of Nashville Executive Principal of the Year. She is a graduate of Overton High School.

Granbery

Jimmy Granbery is chairman and CEO of the H.G. Hill Realty Company and chairman of the H.G. Hill Company. He serves as a commissioner of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, was recently appointed to the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission and serves as vice chairman of the Martin Methodist College board and the Nashville Zoo board. He is also a longtime supporter of the YMCA of Middle Tennessee, which recently awarded him the organization’s highest honor, the Order of the Red Triangle Award. He is a graduate of Hillwood High School.

TEDxNashville hires executive director

Imbriale

TEDxNashville has named Kaleigh Imbriale its executive director. Imbriale will oversee the organization’s strategic plan and will work directly with TEDxNashville’s board of directors to support fundraising, marketing and community outreach.

Imbriale has more than nine years of experience in marketing, promotions, scheduling, media planning, acquisitions and post-production. She most recently was community engagement director for Lightning 100, Tuned In Broadcasting, where she was responsible for increasing audience engagement and implementing charitable initiatives.

Imbriale serves on the advisory board for Pearl Cohn High School and co-chairs the Arts & Entertainment Committee for the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Career Exploration Convention. She is a member of Women’s Music Business Association and served as director of programming for Women in Cable Telecommunications.

She is a graduate of Florida State University and has earned a certificate in Executive Leadership Essentials from Belmont University.

Lee appoints Boyd to MTSU board of trustees

Boyd

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has appointed Middle Tennessee State University alumnus Tom Boyd of Lebanon to a six-year term on the university’s board of trustees.

Boyd, an investment adviser representative with Decker Wealth Management in Nashville, will replace Andy Adams, who decided to not seek a second term on the 10-member board. The governor also reappointed business owners J.B. Baker and Pam Wright, who will also serve six-year terms.

With more than four decades of experience in financial management and banking, Boyd previously served as a senior vice president at Bank of America, where he handled areas ranging from treasury management to commercial banking to loan administration.

Boyd graduated from MTSU in 1973 and went on to earn his MBA from the University of Tennessee. He served with the Tennessee Army National Guard from 1970 to 1976.

Boyd has maintained strong ties with MTSU, having served on numerous boards and committees including the MTSU Foundation Board, Jennings A. Jones College of Business Professional Advisory Board and the Blue Raider Athletic Association.

Boyd is a past recipient of the Jones College of Business’ Exemplar Award recognizing outstanding alumni. He and his wife, Martha, also an alumnus (College of Education, Class of ’72, ’73), were previously awarded the MTSU Alumni Association’s True Blue Citation of Distinction in the category of Service to the University, in part for launching an ethical leadership week on campus for students, alumni and business leaders.

Financial adviser earns national recognition

Mayernick

Mike Mayernick, wealth management adviser at Mayernick & Associates with Northwestern Mutual in Nashville, has been announced as one of three national finalists for the Global Impact Award as part of the 13th annual Invest in Others Awards.

Mayernick is being honored for his work with Love One International, which will receive a $10,000 donation from the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation. If Mayernick wins his category, the donation will increase to $40,000.

Ten years ago, Mike Mayernick and his wife adopted a 3-year-old girl, JosieLove, from Uganda. When they went to pick up JosieLove and bring her back to the United States, the girl weighed 15 pounds and suffered from tuberculosis, malaria and was HIV positive. Stunned by how many children were like JosieLove, Mayernick and his wife founded a nonprofit now known as Love One to provide a place where children could get necessary care – love, food and medicine – in a country where resources are extremely scarce.

The Invest in Others Awards program recognizes the charitable work of financial advisers in communities across the country and around the world. Advisers are nominated for actively giving back to nonprofits to improve their communities and make a difference in the lives of others. Invest in Others received hundreds of nominations this year. Finalists are selected based on their leadership, dedication, contribution, inspiration, and impact on a nonprofit and the community it serves.

TN Bankers Association elects new leadership

Holmes

Chris Holmes, president and CEO of FirstBank in Nashville, has been installed as chairman-elect of the Tennessee Bankers Association during ceremonies at the organization’s recent 129th annual meeting. More than 600 members of the financial services industry and related businesses attended the convention.

After joining FirstBank in 2010 as chief banking officer, Holmes was named president in 2012 and CEO in 2013. In 2016, Holmes led FirstBank’s transition from a privately held, single-shareholder bank to a publicly traded company.