Insurance defense firm Tyson & Mendes LLP is launching its first office in Tennessee and has named litigator William Johnson managing partner for the new Nashville branch.

Johnson brings more than 20 years of litigation experience, most recently serving as partner at Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A. His practice focuses on defending against claims of catastrophic personal injury, sexual torts, including childhood sexual abuse and sexual assault, medical malpractice and employment practices liability. Johnson has represented skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, physicians, hospitals, religious institutions, and many others throughout state and federal courts in Tennessee and California.

Johnson earned his J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law and is a graduate of the University of California at Davis. He is licensed to practice law in Tennessee and California.

Tyson & Mendes has 11 other offices serving California, New York, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Washington, New Jersey, Connecticut, Utah, Oregon, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska.

Carrick, DeLoache join Buffkin / Baker

Buffkin / Baker, a national retained search firm, has added Ken Carrick and Janny DeLoache, veteran executive recruiters, for its higher education practice. Carrick will serve as partner and DeLoache will be a principal at Buffkin / Baker.

Carrick previously served as president of Coleman Lew Canny Bowen, a national retained search firm with dual headquarters in New York and Charlotte, North Carolina. With more than 35 years’ experience, he has cultivated a diverse roster of clients in the education, retail, nonprofit and government sectors.

Carrick has conducted searches for colleges and universities, athletic conferences, public school systems, public charter schools, independent K-12 schools and clients in a variety of other sectors.

Carrick began his career as an accountant with Duke Energy and later worked for a national insurance company before entering the executive search profession in 1986.

DeLoache previously served for nearly 22 years as a consultant with Coleman Lew Canny Bowen. She specializes in higher education, secondary education, government entities, sales and marketing, and is active in client relations, consultations and assisting clients with neutral site interviews.

DeLoache began her career as an admissions counselor and assistant dean of students at Converse College, where she earned a bachelor’s in fine arts and master’s in education. Deloache was also assistant to the vice president of student affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Wilkins tapped to lead new public radio station

Nashville Public Radio has selected Jason Moon Wilkins as program director of its new music radio station, which launches later this fall. Wilkins has been host of All Things Considered on 90.3 FM WPLN News.

Wilkins is a Leadership Music alumnus, a founding member of the Mayor’s Music Council, served on the Grammy board, co-founded Do615, consulted for Red Bull Sound Select and worked at Thirty Tigers before making the move to public radio.

Wilkins has earned multiple honors from the Associated Press and PRNDI/PMJA and landed numerous features and musical obituaries on NPR’s national shows. Most recently he produced and hosted the special program A Radio Wake for John Prine which was carried by multiple stations nationwide and was the most streamed feature in the history of WPLN News.

Working with Wilkins on the new station’s launch is Mike Henry of Paragon Media Strategies who has helped launch or relaunch some of the top music discovery stations across America including WFUV/New York, KUTX/Austin, WXPN/Philadelphia, and “The Current”/Minneapolis, among many others. Steve Davis of DK Media Solutions also will work closely with Wilkins and Henry.

AMA Nashville announces 2020-21 board, officers

AMA Nashville, the Nashville chapter of the American Marketing Association, has announced its 2020-21 board members and officers. The new officers of the organization are:

• President, Jennifer Renshaw (founder and CEO, Brand Mark Digital)

• President-elect, David Ross (consultant, director of entrepreneurship, DevDigital)

• Secretary, Mandy Arola (director of marketing, Nashville Software School)

• Treasurer, Jason Hoard (partner, Cherry Bekaert)

• Reporting treasurer and immediate past president, Ilex Pounders (president and founder, Made in TN)

• Vice president of member engagement, Stephanie Verheyen (founding partner and chief operating officer, Trove Hospitality)

• Vice president of programming, Jeff Bradford (president, Bradford Dalton Group)

• Vice president of Communications, Kelley Robbins (communications manager, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center)

• Vice president of Sponsorship, Joy Lewis Hassler (senior business development manager, Horton Group)

• Vice president of special events, Dominique Jara (co-founder and senior marketing strategist, SidebySide Solutions)

Other members of the board include:

• Member at large, Emily Fay (marketing manager, Fidelitone)

• Member at large, Eric Jackson (CEO, Element 47)

• VP-elect of membership engagement, Katie Marcario (client account manager, Lawrence Merchandising Services)

• VP-elect of programming, Daniel Williams (VP of business development, Southeast Regional Magazine Association)

• VP-elect of communications, Mary Carol Coleman (trade show & events coordinator, Built Technologies)

• VP-elect of sponsorship, Richard Halchak (business development consultant, Absolute AV Consulting)

• VP-elect of special events, Jacqueline Pfeiffer (entertainment coordinator, Tennessee Titans)

• Social and digital media chair, Lauren Turner (digital marketing coordinator, Hunt Brothers Pizza)

• Volunteers chair, Anthony Govic (account director, National CineMedia)

• Hospitality chair, Edwin Acevedo (SEO & analytics lead, TruStar Marketing)

• Collegiate relations chair, Melissa Smithson (business development & marketing manager, DWC Construction Co.)

• Marketing in health care chair, Kevin Reynolds (director, Client Strategy, TruStar Marketing)

• Marketing in B2B chair, Tim Earnhart (chief marketing officer, Log Still Distillery)

• Marketing in sports & entertainment chair, Robert Rosario (vice president of development, Nashville Sports Council)

• Marketing in technology chair, Grant Owens (senior project consultant, DevDigital)

• Historian, Bill Selph (business development, Marshall & Bruce Printing Company)

Founded more than 50 years ago as one of Nashville’s first marketing organizations, AMA Nashville is one of over 75 AMA local chapters in the U.S. and Canada. Information: amanashville.org.

Roberts joins board at ReVIDA Recovery

Gabe Roberts has joined the ReVIDA Recovery Centers board of directors.

Roberts is the former CEO of TennCare as a member of Gov. Bill Lee’s cabinet. In this role, he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the $12 billion annual budget, leading 1,200 employees, and providing essential health care services to 1.4 million Tennesseans. After leaving TennCare, Roberts founded the Roberts Consulting Group.

Roberts was elected to the board of directors of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, and was selected as a fellow of the Medicaid Leadership Institute. Before serving as the TennCare CEO, Roberts served as the agency’s chief operating officer and General Counsel.

Roberts is a 2008 graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School, where he was a member of The Vanderbilt Law Review, joined TennCare in 2013 from the Nashville law firm Sherrard, Roe, Voigt, and Harbison, where he practiced corporate law. Before law school, he was a CPA and public company auditor with the international accounting firm Ernst & Young.

Roberts serves as a board member and advisory board member of several health care companies, is a senior strategic adviser for Sellers Dorsey and is a fellow with the Nashville Health Care Council.

WBA Architecture hires 2 new team members

WIER BOERNER ALLIN Architecture has added Amy Daniels, AIA, NCARB, LEED BD+C, and Dennis Daniels, AIA, NCARB, as project managers in its Nashville office.

Amy Daniels joins the firm from Newman Architects, PC in New Haven, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., where she led a firmwide project management group responsible for project staffing, performance and personnel management. She is a graduate of Mississippi State University’s School of Architecture and the Rhode Island School of Design, where she earned a master’s in interior architecture and adaptive reuse.

Dennis Daniels was previously the Office of the Architect of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. He was an intern at WBA architect 2011-2012. Dennis is a graduate of Mississippi State University’s School of Architecture earned master’s in architecture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Dowdle Construction Group adds controller

Dowdle Construction Group has hired Lori Hanning as controller for the Nashville-based general contractor. Hanning has more than 20 years of experience in accounting and will oversee the company’s financial and accounting reporting.

Hanning joins Dowdle from her role as corporate director of credit and collections at the Cook & Boardman Group, formally known as Girtman & Associates. There she was responsible for the daily financial operations, human resources, formulating credit policies and sales.

Hanning started her career as an account manager in accounts receivable at Norvell & Wallace and quickly moved into the role of credit controller, where she oversaw all accounting and human resource functions.

Hanning earned a degree in business administration from Cumberland University. She is a member of the National Association of Credit Managers (NACM) and the MT SHRM Middle TN Society for Human Resource Management. She is an elected member of Mid-South NACM Credit Advisory Board.