Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has added five associate attorneys in the firm’s Nashville office. They are:

• Bethany Breeze Davenport, tax and bankruptcy practice groups. She earned her J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Kentucky Law Journal. She is a graduate of Transylvania University.

• Madison Crooks Haynes, economic development practice group. She earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School, where she was senior publication editor for the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law. She also is a graduate of Belmont University.

• Daniel L. Lawrence, litigation practice group. He earned his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School, where he served was a member of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. He also is a graduate of Tulane University.

• Sarah Staples, health care practice group. She earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School, where she served as president of the Black Law Students Association and as a member of the Council for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Before law school, she worked in consulting, specializing in community relations. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University.

• Richard W.F. Swor, litigation practice group. He earned his J.D. from Belmont University College of Law, where he was elected team captain of the Moot Court Team that won first place at the 2018 Emory Civil Rights and Liberties Moot Court competition. While in law school, he interned for Judge Joseph A. Woodruff in Tennessee’s 21st Judicial District. He also is a graduate of Belmont University.

Baker Donelson’s Douse named pro bono chair

Baker Donelson has appointed Christopher Douse to serve as pro bono committee office chair for the firm’s Nashville office.

Douse will work to identify and address local pro bono needs while coordinating with Baker Donelson pro bono shareholder Samuel T. Bowman for global pro bono initiatives.

Douse is a shareholder in Baker Donelson’s Nashville office. From 2016 through 2019, Douse coordinated a monthly pro bono clinic known as the Homeless Experience Legal Protection Clinic in Nashville in conjunction with The Room In The Inn shelter and local area law firms.

In 2012, he was recognized with the Pro Bono Publico Award by AIDSLaw of Louisiana, Inc. for providing pro bono services in connection with the strategic merger of AIDSLAW of Louisiana, Inc. and NO/AIDS Task Force. Douse is a graduate of the Tulane University Law School.

Bridgestone announces management changes

Bridgestone announced several changes in top management this week affecting its Americas and Europe, Middle East, India and Africa regions. They include:

• Gordon Knapp, vice chair and executive officer of Bridgestone Corporation and president, chief executive officer and chief operating officer of Bridgestone Americas, based in Nashville, will transition out of his executive roles effective Jan. 15, 2020. To facilitate a smooth transition, Knapp will serve as a strategic adviser to the company until March 31, at which time he will retire. He has served as president and CEO of Bridgestone Americas since 2016.

• Paolo Ferrari, currently executive vice president, executive officer and global digital strategic officer of Bridgestone Corporation, and member of the board, CEO and president of Bridgestone Europe NV/SA (Bridgestone EMIA), and chairman of the Bridgestone Americas Board, will become president, CEO and chief operating officer of Bridgestone Americas, succeeding Knapp, effective Jan. 15, 2020.

• Masaaki Tsuya, currently the chairman, CEO and representative executive officer of Bridgestone Corporation, will assume the role of chairman of the Bridgestone Americas board.

• Laurent Dartoux, vice president and officer of Bridgestone Corporation and member of the board, chief strategy and marketing officer and chief operating officer of Bridgestone EMIA, has been named president and CEO of Bridgestone EMIA effective Jan. 15, succeeding Ferrari. He has also been promoted to vice president and senior officer of Bridgestone Corporation, effective Jan. 1.

• Emilio Tiberio, vice president and officer of Bridgestone Corporation and chief technology officer of Bridgestone EMIA, has additionally been named chief operating officer of Bridgestone EMIA, succeeding Dartoux, effective Jan. 15.

Knapp joined Bridgestone Americas in 2013 as president, Integrated Consumer Tire, U.S. & Canada. He was promoted to vice president and officer of Bridgestone Corporation and chief operating officer of Bridgestone Americas, Inc. in 2014. Before joining the company, Knapp spent his career – both in the U.S. and internationally – in the consumer products area leading the operations of many of the world’s foremost brands. Knapp served as president, Family Care North Atlantic, Consumer Tissue Division for Kimberly-Clark. He also held leadership positions in the consumer products businesses for Pfizer, Inc. and for Warner-Lambert, Inc.

Ferrari began his executive career at luxury brand Zegna in New York in 1994, gaining experience in sales, marketing and retail. Over the following years, he built his expertise in general management, technology and finance and M&A at companies such as Credit Suisse First Boston in London and Telecom Italia Group in Italy, Germany and France, where he also managed assets in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Ferrari’s experience in automotive, tires and mobility began in 2012, when he was appointed Chairman and CEO of Pirelli North America and later CEO of Pirelli Latin America. He joined Bridgestone in 2016 and has served in his current role as CEO of Bridgestone EMEA since 2016. Having lived and worked in three continents over the last 25 years, Ferrari is fluent in Italian, English and French.

Firestone Industrial names pair of directors

Firestone Industrial Products Company LLC has announced two new executive sales directors. Justin Monaghan has assumed the role of executive sales director, global commercial vehicles, and Ben Rosenblum has assumed the role executive sales director, global consumer vehicles.

As a key member of the FSIP senior leadership team, Monaghan will assume accountability for the business’ work to defend and grow replacement market share globally, as well as ensure FSIP is aligned with the right OE partners to improve reoccurring global sales. Monaghan joined Bridgestone in 2013 as director of financial planning and analysis before moving to the Commercial Group in 2014. He most recently held the role of executive sales director, truck, bus and retread tires, Canada, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) since 2016.

Rosenblum will be responsible for the multiyear work to scale FSIP for growth in the consumer vehicle market. He first joined Bridgestone in 2014 as director of marketing for Bandag and most recently served as managing director for Europe and Asia within FSIP. Before Bridgestone, he held management and consulting roles at Bain and Company and Ford Motor Co.

Jones named state’s chief medical officer

Tim Jones, M.D., has been named chief medical officer for the Tennessee Department of Health. Jones has been serving as acting chief medical officer since the retirement of David Reagan, M.D.

Jones will serve as medical director for the department and will work to assess the health needs of Tennesseans and establish statewide health objectives. He will collaborate with other members of the TDH executive leadership team to assess the health needs of the state, establish health objectives and develop, implement and evaluate coordinated, effective public health programs.

Jones first came to TDH in 1997 as a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Epidemic Intelligence Service assignee. Following this assignment, he joined TDH as a general medical epidemiologist and directed the FoodNet surveillance program for foodborne diseases.

He was later promoted to deputy state epidemiologist and has served as Tennessee’s state epidemiologist and director of the TDH Communicable Environmental Disease and Emergency Preparedness division since 2007. He was promoted to assistant commissioner in 2012.

Jones is an internationally recognized expert in epidemiology and communicable and foodborne diseases. He has been a subject matter expert and consultant on foodborne disease to the World Health Organization, has worked as a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adviser in numerous countries and served as a Polio Eradication Project Consultant in the Republic of Yemen.

He was named “Public Health Worker of the Year” in Tennessee in 2005, received the Tennessee Public Health Association Dr. William Schaffner Public Health Hero Award in 2016 and was the 2017 recipient of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists’ Pumphandle Award.

Jones earned his medical degree from Stanford University and completed postgraduate training in family medicine and maternal and child health. He cared for underserved populations as a family practitioner in Salt Lake City, Utah, before joining CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service. He is licensed to practice medicine in Tennessee and is certified by the American Board of Family Practice.

Bethmann promoted to senior VP at Argent Trust

Argent Trust Company has named Cort Bethmann vice president and wealth adviser to senior vice president and wealth adviser in the firm’s Nashville office.

Formerly with Franklin-based Independence Trust Company, which he joined in 2012, Bethmann joined Argent Trust Company in 2017 with the merger of Independence Trust Company into Argent. As an Argent senior vice president, Bethmann’s duties include working directly with clients to deliver practical and proactive wealth management advice in estate planning, strategic asset protection, directed trusts, challenging family dynamics, charitable giving strategies and legacy planning.

Bethmann earned his J.D. from Texas A&M University School of Law and his B.A. from the University of Tennessee. He also recently earned his LL.M. in wealth management from Texas A&M University School of Law, a program focused on long-term wealth creation and preservation, including governance, investment and expansion, exit strategies and estate and family planning.