Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP has announced the election of nine new partners: Tayo Atanda, Blake Bernard, John Bunge, Nathan Hertzog, Stacy Clark Hooper, Lindsay Jacques Irving, Nora Katz, Leanna Weinstein, and Josh Wood.

Atanda represents grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, e-commerce retailers, retail package stores, and other retailers of alcohol with their regulatory compliance and licensing needs. Also, he assists alcohol retailers and manufacturers with legislative and administrative matters, municipal and state regulatory law and other issues that could impact their business operations.

Atanda earned his J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law and is a graduate of Tennessee State University.

Bernard focuses on patent and trademark prosecution in the mechanical, electromechanical and industrial arts. Bernard earned his J.D. in 2013 from the University of Alabama School of Law after earning a degree in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Bunge provides guidance on tax planning, business succession planning and estate planning issues. He earned his LL.M in taxation from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, J.D., from the University of Alabama School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky.

Hertzog assists clients in private equity transactions including venture capital investments, leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, fund formations and investments in private funds and alternative assets. He earned his J.D. from Boston University School of Law and his A.B. and M.P.A. degrees from the University of Georgia.

Hooper advises employers across a range of industries on employee benefit plans and compliance, including health and welfare plans 401(k) and pension plans and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). Hooper earned her J.D. in 2012 from Harvard Law School and her B.A. from Vanderbilt University.

Irving assists hospitals, health systems, health care information technology companies and other clients in mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and other corporate transactions. Irving earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School. She also is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Katz represents health care providers, automakers and manufacturers with critical immigration matters including J-1 waivers for physicians, H-1B visas for specialty occupation professionals and L-1 visas for intracompany transfers. Katz earned her J.D. in 2013 from the University of Colorado Law School and her B.A. in 2008 from Tufts University.

Weinstein structures and closes complex mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, recapitalizations and divestitures in the health care industry. Her experience includes buy-side and sell-side transactions. Weinstein earned her J.D. and her B.A. from the University of Georgia.

Wood helps employers resolve day-to-day human resource and employment law issues. As a litigator, Wood also represents employers in breach of contract disputes and matters involving allegations of harassment, discrimination, retaliation and wrongful discharge. Wood earned his J.D./D.C.L. from the Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center and a B.A. in theater and political science from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Bass, Berry & Sims elects 7 new members

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC has elected seven new members from the firm’s Nashville office: Emily A. Burrows, Meredith Edwards Collins, Lymari Martinez Cromwell, Brad L. Hart, R. Davis Mello, Sarah B. Miller and J. Paul Singleton.

Burrows advises companies on a wide-range of business and technology-related transactions, including the intellectual property components of commercial transactions involving the development, transfer and licensing of technology assets. Before joining the firm, Burrows practiced at a firm in Austin, Texas. She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Lawrence E. Meyers with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Burrows earned a J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law and a B.S. from Vanderbilt University.

Collins advises health care companies, private equity groups and other investors through various types of transformative health care transactions. Collins earned a J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law and a B.S. from Belmont University.

Cromwell counsels clients in all aspects of employment and labor relations law, helping employers comply with the constantly changing regulations that impact the workplace and working to ensure correct implementation of the laws. She also serves as defense counsel on employment litigation. Cromwell earned a J.D. from Emory University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Georgia.

Hart advises companies on a broad range of transactional, corporate governance and securities law matters, including mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings and day-to-day SEC reporting and disclosure compliance. Hart earned a J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law and a B.B.A. from the University of Kentucky.

Mello represents buyers, sellers, investors and operators across a variety of industries in connection with mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, recapitalizations, growth equity investments, venture capital financings and other strategic corporate transactions. Mello earned a J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School and a B.A. and B.S. from Miami University.

Miller counsels clients in high-stakes civil litigation, including mass torts, class action claims and other complex business litigation matters. Miller earned a J.D. from William & Mary Law School and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina.

Singleton is a corporate attorney with a practice focused on public and private acquisitions and divestitures, private equity transactions and corporate law matters. Before beginning his legal career, Singleton served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Singleton earned a J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law and a B.S. from the University of Kentucky.

Bradley welcomes Leonard as real estate associate

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has secured Robert E. Leonard for the firm’s Nashville office as an associate in the Real Estate Practice Group.

Leonard is a business and commercial real estate attorney who focuses his practice primarily in the areas of commercial real estate transactions, commercial leasing, land development, commercial lending and general corporate work.

He earned his J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law and a degree in political science from the University of Tennessee.

Mayor names Fisher deputy chief of staff

Mayor John Cooper has named Robert Fisher as deputy chief of staff, who will report to Deputy Mayor and Chief of Staff Bill R. Phillips.

Fisher joined Mayor John Cooper’s team in June 2020 as his senior adviser for education, responsible for supporting Metro Nashville Public Schools, Nashville’s higher-education institutions and other public, private and nonprofit organizations dedicated to learning.

Fisher will also continue as a senior policy adviser with an emphasis on education.

Before joining Mayor Cooper’s team, Fisher was a director for strategy and innovation at Shelby County Schools in Memphis.

He is a Rhodes scholar and holds a master’s degree in education and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, as well as a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Nashville’s InfoWorks names Gallagher CEO

Local consulting firm InfoWorks, Inc. has a new CEO in Ryan Gallagher. Former CEO and founder Jim Clayton will remain with InfoWorks as executive chairman of the board.

Before joining InfoWorks in 2012, Gallagher was a senior associate at Booz Allen Hamilton in Washington, D.C., where he advised senior-level clients on various critical and strategic issues. Since then, Gallagher has served as InfoWorks’ president and has helped to more than triple its revenue in that time.

Gallagher serves as treasurer on the board of directors for High Hopes Development Center. He is an ambassador and past board member for TechBridge and a former board member for Alive Hospice and Junior Achievement.

LifePoint Health names Polite Eastern CFO

LifePoint Health has named Elmer Polite chief financial officer of its eastern division of hospitals. Polite will oversee financial operations for 26 hospital campuses located in Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Polite brings more than a decade of financial and operational leadership to LifePoint. Before joining LifePoint, Polite served as the chief financial executive of the Midlands market for Prisma Health in Columbia, South Carolina.

Polite earned degrees in accounting and agribusiness and economics from South Carolina State University and holds a master’s degree in finance from DeVry University. He is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and American College of Healthcare Executives.