With an extensive background in international accounting and licensed as both a lawyer and CPA, Jarett “Jerry” Decker hopes to bring his global and legal experience to bear as the new Joey A. Jacobs Chair of Excellence in Accounting and Professor of Practice within MTSU’s Jennings A. Jones College of Business.

The chair is sponsored by veteran health care executive and MTSU board of trustees member Joey Jacobs. The inaugural chair was Tom Walker (Class of 1978), former managing partner of Deloitte’s Nashville office.

A former head of the World Bank’s Centre for Financial Reporting Reform in Vienna, Decker has advised governments on reforms to improve corporate accounting, auditing and governance in more than 30 developing and transitional countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Decker most recently was an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law, where he designed courses on anti-money laundering and offshore financial centers. He has also taught accounting, auditing and business law as an adjunct at the business school of Nova Southeastern University, a private university in Fort Lauderdale.

In recent years, he has worked on improving capacities for corporate accounting in developing and former communist nations and hopes to pursue academic research and writing in that area in collaboration with other MTSU faculty.

Decker was the first person to serve as deputy director and chief trial counsel for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, the entity created by Congress to police corporate auditing in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals.

He established and led the PCAOB’s program of disciplinary litigation against Big Four and other public accounting firms for violations of auditing standards, ethics, and securities laws in the auditing of publicly traded companies and broker-dealers.

Before his PCAOB service, Decker was senior trial counsel for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Chicago.

He served as an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute 1995-2003 and has published articles in the New York Times and Reason magazine, among others.

Moore retires after 49 years at Southwestern

Dan Moore, president of Southwestern Advantage, will be retiring at the end of this year, his 49th with Southwestern Family of Companies. Moore trained more than 100,000 people how to sell, lead and get on the path toward achieving their goals.

SWFC was established in 1855, and the sales and leadership program, now known as Southwestern Advantage, was founded in 1868.

Moore joined Southwestern in 1974 as a student dealer in the Southwestern Advantage summer sales and leadership program. He made enough to pay his tuition at Harvard University by selling educational systems to families and building sales teams throughout his undergraduate years. From college to retirement, he has never had another job or worked with any other company. He also met his wife, Maria, during their time selling together as students participating in the program. They have been married 44 years.

Moore has held the positions of district sales manager, vice president of marketing and president of Southwestern Advantage. Moore is also co-founder and senior partner of SBR Consulting, which is dedicated to helping clients grow revenues and increase profits by transforming their sales effectiveness and capability.

Moore is a graduate of Harvard University and earned an MBA from Vanderbilt University. He has served as an adjunct faculty member at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Business and speaks regularly to business audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe. He serves on the SWFC board of directors, as well as the board of directors of the Direct Selling Association and the Direct Selling Education Foundation.

Tennessee Chamber adds to gov’t affairs, events team

The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry has announced five new appointments to the Chamber’s government affairs, public policy and events team. They are:

• Ryan Baird: Previously a legislative liaison to the Tennessee Board of Parole and legislative assistant to Rep. Gary Hicks. Baird will serve as associate vice president for government affairs.

• Zach Roberts: Previously with McMahan, Winstead & Richardson, a Nashville government relations firm, Roberts brings significant campaign and communications experience to the team. He will serve as associate vice president for political strategy & engagement.

• Laura Leigh Harris: Most recently an assistant director of public policy with the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, Harris joins the Tennessee Chamber as a manager of government affairs, leading the team’s environmental and energy practice and other agribusiness and workforce development initiatives.

• Karrington Anderson: A member of the Tennessee Chamber’s government affairs team, Anderson advances to the role of manager of government affairs with expanded lobbying and public policy duties.

• Jazmin Grimm: Previously with the Gallatin Economic Development Agency and the Gallatin Chamber of Commerce, Grimm is the Chamber’s new manager for events and special projects. She will also assist with special projects for the Tennessee Manufacturers Association.

Correnti named VP, GM of Affinity Technology

Casey Correnti has been named vice president and general manager of Affinity Technology Partners, a managed IT firm.

Most recently, Correnti founded Invoice Bright, Inc., an accounting technology startup. He previously spent more than a decade at W Squared as COO and head of sales and was intimately involved in its sale and transition of the firm to LMBC. His background includes business development, management, accounting technology and health care, having also spent time at Premise Health, Princeps, Inc., THG Management Services and UnitedHealthcare.

Originally from San Diego, he is a graduate of the University of Southern California with a degree in business finance.

TriStar Summit selects chief operating officer

TriStar Summit Medical Center has named Charlie Boyd as its new chief operating officer. Boyd brings more than 10 years of health care leadership experience to the role, most recently serving as vice president of operations at TriStar Centennial Medical Center.

Boyd has served in various leadership positions across HCA Healthcare, working to enhance clinical service capabilities, including projects in rehabilitation, laboratory and imaging. He spearheaded the addition of a new emergency transport service that improved patient throughput and provided leadership for many construction projects across the 741-bed hospital campus.

Boyd is a graduate of Sewanee: The University of the South and earned an MBA from Belmont University.

ServisFirst hires pair of experienced bankers

ServisFirst Bank has hired George Mabry and Meridith Hobbs for its Nashville team.

Mabry joins ServisFirst as senior vice president, commercial and private banking team leader. Mabry will be building a small production team focused on both commercial and private banking clients in the Middle Tennessee area.

The native Nashvillian has worked in the Nashville financial services industry since graduating from Centre College in 1991. In 2008, he was one of the initial employees to help Capstar Bank open its doors as a startup. He spent 14 years at Capstar Bank, developing private banking and commercial banking relationships.

Hobbs will serve as assistant vice president, commercial and private banking relationship manager, specializing in developing and serving private banking and commercial clients in the Middle Tennessee area.

Hobbs is a Kentucky native who began her banking career while in college. After graduating from Western Kentucky University with a master’s degree in psychology, she worked full time in the financial sector providing banking and investment services for commercial and private banking clientele. Before joining ServisFirstBank, Hobbs served as a senior client service representative with Capstar Bank.

TennGreen conservancy welcomes new leadership

TennGreen Land Conservancy has announced changes to its executive leadership team and board of directors. The organization has named Alice Hudson Pell of Nashville as its interim executive director following the retirement of Steve Law, who oversaw the conservation of more than 30,000 acres of land since 2015.

TennGreen also has added Green Faircloth (Erwin) and Christy Moberly (Brentwood) to its board and appointed Laurel Graefe (Nashville), Ryan Bailey (Nashville), Jim Garges (Franklin) and Matt McClanahan (Crossville) to new board leadership positions.

In addition to Law’s retirement, the official service of two longtime Board members, John Noel (Nashville) and Mary Lynn Dobson (Rockwood), has come to an end.

Pell was the organization’s associate director for nearly four years. She previously was TennGreen’s director of development for five years.

Faircloth is a senior industrial account manager with Atmos Energy Corporation and has been with Atmos since 1989, helping large industrial and commercial accounts manage their energy uses and costs.

Moberly is a retired senior vice president of agency & marketing for State Farm Insurance Companies. She was responsible for leading 7,000 associates in sales, marketing, customer care center, creative services, and convention and travel functions.

Graefe, vice president and regional executive at the Nashville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, will serve as TennGreen Land Conservancy’s president-elect and board development committee chair.

Bailey, vice president of finance and operations at The Bailey Company and founder/owner of Cumberland Kayak & Adventure Company, will serve as TennGreen Land Conservancy’s justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion committee chair in addition to his role as secretary.

Garges, former park and recreation director for Mecklenburg County, will serve as TennGreen land conservancy’s conservation committee chair.

McClanahan, an attorney and executive director of the Tennessee Association of Conservation Districts, will serve as TennGreen land conservancy’s governance committee chair in addition to his role as East Tennessee vice president.