Patterson Intellectual Property Law shareholder and co-founder Edward Lanquist has been honored with a Tennessee Bar Association President’s Award.

The award recognizes “members that go above and beyond the call of duty in service to the organization.”

As 2019-2020 general counsel, Lanquist was integral in the formation of an affordable group health care plan for TBA members, especially in small firms and solo practitioners. He also was commended for his involvement as a key member of several ad hoc TBA groups that evaluate bylaws, building needs and contract obligations coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lanquist has been reappointed to serve as the TBA’s 2020-2021 general counsel, a position that he has held since 2016.

District attorneys choose Jones as executive director

Guy R. Jones has been named executive director of the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference, succeeding Jerry Estes, who recently retired. Jones, of Gallatin, had previously served as deputy director since 1997.

The election occurred at the organization’s annual meeting earlier this month following a national search and interview process.

As deputy director, Jones was primarily responsible for developing, managing and securing legislative approval of the conference budget, overseeing public education and community outreach efforts, serving as a liaison with various law enforcement and government agencies and advising and supporting DAs and their staffs.

Jones is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and Nashville School of Law.

Estes was elected in June 2015 for one year in an unexpired four-year term. In June 2016, he was reelected to a full four-year term.

Beyond that role, he served in numerous conference positions, including president, vice president, secretary-treasurer and various committee roles. He served as district attorney general for Bradley, McMinn, Monroe and Polk counties for 24 years.

Tennessee Justice Center welcomes Moser as COO

The Tennessee Justice Center has hired Mika Moser as chief operating officer. Moser will manage operations at TJC, a nonprofit public interest law firm and advocacy center serving families throughout the state.

Moser is presently president of DirectorCorps, publisher of Bank Director Magazine. Her sabbatical from that role will allow her to transition her duties from board member of TJC to that of fulltime chief operating officer. She will remain on the DirectorCorps board of directors, on which she has served since 2010.

Moser has a background in assisting financial institutions in their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, areas of great importance to Tennessee Justice Center and TJC clients.

GBT adds senior investment, strategy role

GBT Realty Corporation, a national commercial development and investment company based in Brentwood, has added Eric Spencer as vice president of investments and strategic planning to the firm’s senior management team.

Spencer will focus on business finances and cash management for the corporation and act as a corporate strategy liaison between various internal departments including accounting, capital markets and asset management.

Most recently, Spencer served as vice president asset management — head of analytics for Jamestown Properties, where he oversaw an analytics team that supported a portfolio of more than 50 assets collectively valued at over $10 billion. Before Jamestown he held positions at Jones Lang LaSalle, ACG Professionals, Inc. and CWCapital Asset Management.

He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, Spencer is looking forward to returning to his native Nashville.

Nashville General hires chief marketing officer

Nashville General Hospital has announced that Sherry Gibbs has joined the hospital in the newly created role of chief marketing officer. She will be responsible for leading strategic marketing, corporate communications and brand management.

A leader in health care, business development and brand strategy, Gibbs will work with Nashville General Hospital’s executive team to develop new strategies, expand lines of revenue and help guide the hospital through its diversification of services.

Gibbs most recently was vice president of marketing and growth at Government Employees Health Association. She has 25 years of marketing experience, including 12 years in health care.

Before GEHA, Gibbs was the director of marketing at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City and public information officer for Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics. Gibbs holds a degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Duke University.

DHG Healthcare picks managing principal

DHG Healthcare, the national health care practice of Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP, has selected Kevin Locke to succeed Brad Benton as managing principal. Locke’s appointment follows the rigorous transition plan established in anticipation of Benton’s formal retirement from DHG Sept. 30.

Locke was admitted to the DHG partnership in 2010 with the merger of the boutique strategy firm, Charis Healthcare, which he co-founded. Most recently, he served as DHG Healthcare’s Transformational Solutions leader and was the principal architect of the DHG Healthcare Transformational Pathways Methodology.

Dowdle Construction adds assistant project manager

Dowdle Construction Group has added Korey Benedict as an assistant project manager. Benedict will be working with partner Allen Buchanan overseeing two projects at Fifth + Broadway: Blanco and the Twelve Thirty Club.

Benedict joins Dowdle from Alston Construction in Nashville, where he served as project engineer for three years. Prior, he worked in various industries, including plumbing, auto sales and insurance before landing in construction.

Benedict’s past projects include a five-story office building at 1 Music Circle South, an office buildout for BMG and, most recently, several large warehouses.

A native of Manchester, Benedict earned his construction management degree from MTSU in 2016.

Wong named associate publisher for Nelson Books

Thomas Nelson has named Jessica Wong as the new associate publisher for Nelson Books, a nonfiction imprint of Thomas Nelson. Wong has spent seven years working in editorial for Thomas Nelson, most recently serving as the executive editor for Nelson Books.

As associate publisher, Wong will lead the editorial strategy for Nelson Books, overseeing the editorial process and helping to shape the acquisitions strategy for the imprint. She will continue her market-leading acquisitions and brand author management work and assume day-to-day management of the editorial production team.

Wong began her career at Thomas Nelson in 2007 as an editorial assistant and returned in 2014 as a senior acquisitions editor for Nelson Books. She has excelled in both acquisitions and author relationship management and is the trusted editorial strategist for top industry author brands, including Lysa TerKeurst (“Uninvited,” “It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way,” and forthcoming book, “Forgiving What You Can’t Forget”) and Jen Hatmaker (“Of Mess and Moxie” and “Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire”).