James H. Maners, Jianne D. McDonald, Wilson Roe Moore and Alexandra M. Ortiz have joined Butler Snow’s Nashville office. Maners and Ortiz will practice with the firm’s commercial litigation group, McDonald will practice with the firm’s health law group and Moore will practice with the firm’s business services group.

Maners is a graduate of Clemson University and earned an MBA from the College of Charleston and his juris doctor from Vanderbilt University.

McDonald earned a degree from Fisk University and her juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was a member of the senior editorial board of the Virginia Sports & Entertainment Law Journal. She also interned with Judge Pamela L. Reeves in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Moore earned his bachelor’s degree and juris doctor from the University of Tennessee. During his time in law school, he served as the student materials editor of the Tennessee Law Review.

Ortiz earned her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and her juris doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and served as the notes development editor for Vanderbilt Law Review. Most recently, she clerked for Chief Judge Thomas A. Varlan of the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Stevens joins Stites & Harbison

Stites & Harbison, PLLC has added one attorney, Kelso Stevens, to its Nashville office, as well as three for its Louisville office and one in Lexington.

Stevens is a member of the Business & Finance Service Group. He also was a 2018 summer associate for the firm.

Before law school, he worked as an events specialist for Speedway Motorsports, Inc. and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Stevens earned his J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2019. While at UT, Stevens served as president of the Sports and Entertainment Legal Society and was a student attorney for the UT Knoxville College of Law Pro Bono Clinic. He also was a founding member and executive board member of Vols for Vets, a student organization created to better assist area veterans.

Burr & Forman adds commercial litigator

Burr & Forman’s Nashville office has added attorney Ross Johnson, who joins the firm in the General Commercial Litigation practice group. Johnson is the sixth attorney hire the firm has made in Nashville in just the last eight months, boosting the office roster by 20%.

Johnson began his legal career in Washington, D.C., focusing on labor and employment, government ethics and administrative law matters. Before becoming an attorney, he was an associate at a public affairs firm where he provided communications, government relations and public policy advice to clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to national nonprofits and trade organizations.

Johnson earned his undergraduate degree from Tulane University and his law degree from Washington & Lee University School of Law. He is licensed in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Tennessee.

Lyons joins Pinnacle’s capital markets group

Lyons

Morgan Lyons has joined Pinnacle Financial Partners as senior vice president and managing director of loan syndications.

Lyons comes to Pinnacle from First Midwest Bank in Chicago, where he launched and managed the bank’s loan syndication program and partnered with bankers and their clients to structure, arrange and distribute multibank syndicated loans in the interbank market.

Lyons has 19 years of financial services experience, including roles at Northern Trust and Chicago Partners, both in Chicago. He is a graduate of Drake University and earned an MBA from University of Chicago.

VUMC’s Rathmell to receive Schonfeld Award

The Kidney Cancer Association is recognizing the research accomplishments and leadership achievements of W. Kimryn Rathmell, M.D., Ph.D., with its most prestigious honor, the Eugene P. Schonfeld Award.

The Eugene P. Schonfeld Award recognizes highly respected health care professionals who have made significant contributions in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma.

Rathmell, the Cornelius Abernathy Craig Professor of Medicine and director of the Division of Hematology and Oncology, is the first woman to receive the honor.

The only drug available for kidney cancer when Rathmell received her medical degree from Stanford University in 1998 was interleukin-2, which was effective in only a small subset of patients. Now, targeted therapies and immunotherapies are the mainstream.

Rathmell’s career has paralleled the trajectory of advancements in kidney cancer research and treatment, some of which she helped bring about through her advocacy and her own studies. She was an investigator with the Cancer Genome Atlas, a landmark genomics program that molecularly characterized cancers, including specificity about the diversity of kidney cancers.

She also is a clinician who ushered in new life-saving treatments and a leader who has advocated for funding for kidney cancer research, including rare forms.

In 2016, she championed the needs of patients with a rare form of kidney cancer called renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) that afflicts children, adolescents and young adults, particularly African Americans. She convened a panel of leading experts to meet in Nashville that year and invited families affected by the disease. The meeting led to the creation of RMC Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy organization.

Nalley is newest member at KraftCPAs

Scott Nalley has been added to the membership team at KraftCPAs PLLC as the 16th partner at the firm.

Nalley, a 2003 graduate of the University of Memphis, has an extensive history with Kraft. He started in December 2004 with the audit team, then left in 2007 to work at Vanderbilt’s internal audit department before returning to Kraft in 2013. Now as part of the firm’s Risk Assurance & Advisory Services team, Nalley oversees several of Kraft’s largest internal audit engagements.

In addition to those key roles, Nalley is heavily involved in the firm’s system and organization controls practice, as well as consulting engagements for HITRUST and HIPAA clients. He also helps lead the firm’s campus recruiting efforts and is active with multiple community and professional organizations, including the TSU Accounting Advisory Board, Internal Auditors Academic Relations Committee, Leadership Health Care and Rebuilding Together Nashville.

Southwestern promotes Nowak to CFO, VP

Tim Nowak has been promoted to vice president and chief financial officer of Southwestern Family of Companies where he will work alongside the CFOs of the company’s 29 operating businesses. The Southwestern Family of Companies operates worldwide and is composed of 18 companies.

Nowak has been CFO for Southwestern Consulting since 2014 and added the duties of leading Southwestern Speakers in 2019. Before joining Southwestern, Nowak spent 11 years serving clients in the public accounting practice, most recently as an audit director for Crosslin & Associates. He is a graduate of the University of North Florida and a member of the Tennessee Society of CPAs.

Reiss named publisher of Thomas Nelson unit

Thomas Nelson has selected Damon Reiss, former senior director for HarperCollins Christian Publishing’s custom and backlist program, as well as the Christian bookstore key accounts and distributor channels, to become vice president and publisher for its nonfiction imprint W Publishing.

Reiss will lead the acquisition and editorial strategy in addition to marketing oversight for the imprint, reporting to Don Jacobson, senior vice president, Books Group publisher for HCCP. He also will be responsible for maintaining relationships with the roster of current W Publishing authors and discovering and growing new Christian voices in the market.

Reiss has worked in the industry for nearly 17 years, starting his publishing career as a tele-sales representative. In 2011, he began working for Thomas Nelson as a key account manager for ministry sales, and in 2016 was promoted to expand the company’s custom publishing program.

Tennessee State Parks chooses hospitality director

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has named Shannon Bowles as director of hospitality for Tennessee State Parks.

Bowles, who has been in the hospitality business for over 30 years and for the last 20 years was general manager of the Nashville Airport Marriott, will oversee six lodges, nine golf courses, eight restaurants and 372 cabins in Tennessee’s state parks.

While under Bowles’ leadership, the Nashville Airport Marriott consistently ranked in the top 5% of all Marriott properties in guest satisfaction and operating metrics. Bowles received multiple national awards during her tenure with Marriott for financial results and operational leadership, along with guest and employee satisfaction. Shannon is also a recipient of the Hotelier of the Year award from the Tennessee Hospitality and Tourism Association.

Bowles has been an active member of many hospitality industry related boards including the Tennessee Hospitality & Tourism Association, Greater Nashville Hospitality Association, Music City Bowl, Nashville Sports Council, Nashville Chamber of Commerce, and Nashville Convention Visitors Bureau.