The Nashville law firm of Dodson Parker Behm & Capparella PC has added James Walker to the firm as an associate.

Walker will focus his practice on business services, nonprofit law and appellate litigation.

Walker graduated from the University of Georgia with degrees in English, history and linguistics. He graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Law, and earned a Business and Law Certificate.

At the University of Georgia, Walker was awarded the Zell Miller Award and was named to the dean’s list.

At Vanderbilt, Walker was a member of the Intellectual Property Association, Entertainment and Sports Law Society, and American Constitution Society. He was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Law Scholarship, which recognizes students who show commitment to diversity, leadership, character and academic achievement.

He clerked with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Public Defender’s Office of Augusta, Georgia, and with Judge Barbara Holmes of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Nashville Emerging Leaders announces 2020 Class

Nashville Emerging Leaders, an annual leadership program that brings together Middle Tennessee’s most promising young professionals with the region’s top community and business leaders to cultivate Nashville’s leaders of tomorrow, has announced the members of the class of 2020.

This year’s class consists of 30 Middle Tennessee emerging leaders who represent an impressive range of industries and backgrounds. Beginning in February, class members will participate in an 11-week program, during which they will learn from and interact with some of Nashville’s most influential business and civic leaders, discuss critical issues facing our city, and learning more about their own leadership styles and capacities in the process.

NEL’s class of 2020 consists of:

• Anna-Vija McClain, Piccolo Marketing

• Ashley Bassel Griffith, Division of TennCare

• Atarah Abdullah-Muhammad, The Family Center

• Bishakha Van Voris, State of Tennessee, Department of Finance and Administration

• Curt Johnston, Nissan North America

• Dave Sansom, JLL

• Hannah Davis, Office of Mayor John Cooper

• Jane-Coleman Cottone, Tennessee Historical Commission

• Jonathan M. Gill, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

• Joslyn Hebda, cityCURRENT

• Kaya Grace Porter, Lewis Thomason

• Kelsey Duff, ServiceSource

• Kevin Haggard, RePublic Schools

• Laura Baker, Tennessee Dept of Economic and Community Development

• Laura Delgado, Lipscomb University’s College of Education

• Maria Paula Zapata, Conexión Américas

• Matthew Taylor, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation

• Nadia Marie Roumanos, HCA Healthcare

• Raleigh Noland, Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation

• Rashad C. Sylvester, Metro Parks Cultural Arts Division

• Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye, West End United Methodist Church

• Sherry Rollins, Schneider – Electric

• Stephanie Kopel, Nashville Health Care Council

• Steven Gentile, Tennessee Higher Education Commission

• Steven Jenkins, Bridgestone

• Sunny Bray Cartmell, Catalyst Collective

• T. Kyle Turner, Lexis Nexis

• Tom Hayden, Nashville State Community College

• Vilmaris González, Conexión Américas

• William C. Scales, Jr., GSRM Law

The weekly sessions the class will participate in feature interactive exercises, issue exploration, self-assessments, community participation, group projects and in-depth discussions with Middle Tennessee’s top community and business leaders.

Galbraith named partner at Hawsgoodwin Wealth

HawsGoodwin Wealth has named Caroline Galbraith a partner in the firm. A wealth management adviser with HawsGoodwin Wealth since 2015, Galbraith is a certified financial planner, CFP practitioner and is enrolled at Yale School of Management’s Certified Private Wealth Advisor certification program. HawsGoodwin Wealth is focused on providing leading financial planning and investment management services.

Galbraith graduated from the University of Memphis before earning her certificate in financial planning from Belmont University’s Scarlett Leadership Institute. Galbraith began her financial advisory career at Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management before moving to SunTrust Investment Services where she served as assistant vice president and adviser.

Galbraith is co-chair of the Women in Pension Nashville Chapter, a past board member for FemCity Nashville and is a supporter and volunteer for Dress for Success, a global nonprofit that provides professional attire for low-income women to support their job search and interview process.

Artis joins PENCIL as a project manager

PENCIL, a Nashville organization linking community resources to Metro Nashville Public Schools, has hired Jacki Artis as project manager. Artis previously worked in Mayor John Cooper’s office as manager of the Music City Music Council, Entertainment and Neighborhood Investment.

Artis served as the mayor’s liaison to the entertainment community and led the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Community Development’s “Neighborhood Investment” Initiative. She began her career working with Creative Artists Agency, starting in the contracts department and eventually serving as the Southwest Lead for the CAA Foundation. There, she worked to advance relationships with Nashville nonprofit leaders, education professionals, and city officials to increase CAA’s footprint on the greater-Nashville learning landscape. Artis earned a B.B.A. in management from the University of Georgia.

Artis has supported the organization in a volunteer capacity for numerous years, first volunteering as a PENCIL partner coordinator and reading partner and most recently as the first chair of PENCIL’s Emerging Leaders Board. Artis will work to grow the LP Pencil Box and manage relationships between PENCIL and the greater Nashville community.

Barnes to join Metro Schools as HR chief

Chris Barnes, an experienced educator and human resources leader, has been hired to serve as the chief of human resources for Metro Nashville Public Schools.

Barnes has 15 years of experience in public schools throughout North Carolina, with 10 years of experience directly in schools as an assistant principal and then principal. Since 2015, he has focused his work on human resources.

Barnes serves as the assistant superintendent of human resources for Union County Public Schools in Monroe, North Carolina, a school district with more than 5,000 employees. He earned his doctorate in educational leadership from Western Carolina University and master’s in school administration from UNC at Greensboro.

Barnes will start his new role Feb. 17. Tony Majors, the current chief of human resources, is being transferred to a position to coordinate efforts to improve the academic and social emotional learning supports for students at alternative learning centers.

Saint Thomas Rutherford names chief nursing officer

Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital has chosen industry veteran Teresa Collins, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, as its new chief nursing officer, effective Feb. 3.

Collins’ 28-year health care career includes adult and pediatric critical care, emergency services, acute and post-acute clinical care quality oversight, and extensive executive leadership experience. She most recently served as chief nursing officer for the Duke/LifePoint Rutherford Regional Health System in Rutherfordton, North Carolina.

There, she developed a systemwide corporate compliance program, created a task force that standardized community nursing competencies and implemented a clinical dashboard program that used data aggregation to help elevate care team performance.

Collins earned her undergraduate degree in nursing and a Master of Science in nursing-health care administration from Walden University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a member of numerous industry organizations, including the American College of Healthcare Executives, the American Association of Directors of Nursing Services, and the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.

McNeely Brockman PR adds account supervisor

McNeely Brockman Public Relations, a boutique communications firm in Nashville, has hired Staci Kirpach as an account supervisor.

Kirpach is a communications strategist with 15 years of experience in the corporate, nonprofit and entertainment sectors. She has cross-functional expertise in community and media relations, crisis communication, civic engagement, strategic planning, program development, fundraising counsel and event management.

Before joining MBPR, she advanced the work of more than 60 companies and causes as a consultant in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Cooley Public Strategies hires senior team member

Cooley Public Strategies has hired Brady Ruffin to lead research projects in support of public policy objectives. As director of research and policy, Ruffin will lead projects that will include economic impact and budget analysis, issue analysis, media monitoring, oversight of external contractors and other research-related activities.

Ruffin brings experience from nonprofits and NGOs in the Nashville, Washington, D.C., and Little Rock, Arkansas, areas. He has also previously worked on statewide campaigns in Mississippi and worked heavily with community engagement, youth empowerment, and juvenile justice in the Mississippi Delta.

A native of Clinton, Mississippi, Ruffin graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in integrated marketing communications. He has also earned a master of public service from the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas.

LOGICFORCE promotes Campbell to VP

LOGICFORCE, a Nashville-based legal information technology consultancy, has promoted Kyle Campbell to vice president of litigation support services. He will be responsible for the successful implementation of all litigation support and forensic lab engagements.

Campbell has been with the company since 2016. He joined LOGICFORCE as a project manager and was subsequently promoted to director of litigation support in 2018.

Campbell’s industry experience spans almost two decades, and he holds multiple certifications.