Allyson E. Lynch and Michael Zimmerman have joined Butler Snow’s government relations advisers within the Regulatory & Government Relations practice group in Nashville.

Before joining Butler Snow, Lynch was a judicial clerk for three Tennessee Supreme Court justices, including most recently the Hon. Jeffrey S. Bivins. She researched complex legal issues in both civil and criminal matters to draft majority and separate opinions, judgment orders and more.

Lynch is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and the Belmont University College of Law.

Zimmerman brings two-plus decades of public policy and political and legislative experience. After graduating from California State University, Sacramento, Zimmerman served as a campaign manager, adviser, consultant, chief of staff and more for several high-profile campaigns and caucuses. Most recently, he served as chief adviser to William Lamberth, the majority Leader in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Baker Donelson adds 6 Nashville associates

Baker Donelson has added 46 new associates across the firm including six in Nashville. They are:

• Chris Biller, an associate in the advocacy department, assists clients in a wide range of litigation matters. He previously served as a summer associate for the firm. Biller is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and the University of Tennessee College of Law.

• Katherine Denney, an associate in the health law group. While attending law school, Denney clerked at a Nashville law firm where she researched and drafted memoranda on legal issues arising out of tort, contract, real estate and privacy law. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and the Vanderbilt Law School, where she was executive editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law, symposium editor – Environmental Law & Policy Review and winner of the Lightfoot, Franklin and White Best Oralist Award.

• Dayne P. Geyer, an associate in the real estate group. Geyer completed a two-year clerkship with the Hon. Judge Richard Dinkins of the Tennessee Court of Appeals in Nashville. Before that, he clerked for the Hon. Kelvin Jones of the Davidson County Circuit Court and the Hon. Joseph A. Woodruff, Michael W. Binkley, James G. Martin III and Deanna B. Johnson in the 21st Judicial District Circuit and Chancery Courts in Williamson County. He is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and the Belmont College of Law.

• Gabby Haddad, an associate in the corporate group. Haddad worked as a summer associate at the firm, during which time she researched legal topics such as material breaches in supplier contracts and procedural rules in Tennessee. She also prepared memoranda and ancillary documents for deals. She is a graduate of Furman University and Vanderbilt University Law School, where she was student note editor for the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law.

• Mackenzie Hobbs, an associate in the advocacy department. Before joining Baker Donelson, Hobbs served as a pro bono fellow and summer associate at the firm. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and the University of Tennessee College of Law, where she was editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender and Social Justice.

• Stefan Kostas, an associate in the corporate group who clerked for two summers at the firm while attending law school. Kostas also interned for a market-leading underwriting agency in New York that specializes in transactional insurance and claims handling for representations and warranties, contingent liability and tax insurance coverage. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and the University of Tennessee College of Law.

Mitchell joins Nashville Conflict Resolution Center

Stephanie Mitchell has joined Nashville Conflict Resolution Center as a victim-offender mediation coordinator. She oversees victim-offender mediation for both adult and juvenile cases and is responsible for managing relationships with program referral partners including district attorneys, Metro Nashville Police Department, the Community Oversight Board, courts and schools.

Mitchell is a former staff attorney and general counsel for the State of Tennessee, where she spent 18 years in various roles, including law clerk, staff attorney and general counsel.

She holds a degree in political science/history at Lambuth University and earned her J.D. at the University of Oklahoma. She also holds a certificate in nonprofit management from Tennessee State University.

ESa adds to architecture, interiors, contract teams

Local architecture firm ESa has added to their interior design, architecture and construction contract administrations teams.

Joining the architecture team are recent graduates Lilly Johnson and Allie Pelafos. Johnson earned a degree in architecture science from Western Kentucky University, and Pelafos holds both interior architecture and architecture degrees from Auburn University.

Joining the interior design team are Madison Underwood, Katie Koretchko and Macy

Davenport.

Underwood graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in interior architecture. She most recently was employed as an interior designer at a Georgia architecture and interior design firm.

Koretchko earned an interior design degree from the University of Florida. She previously worked as a junior interior designer for a firm in Gainesville, Florida.

Davenport joins the teams having recently graduated from Auburn University with a degree in interior design.

Wendell Kimbrough has joined the construction contract administration team. He most recently worked as a project manager.

DeAngelis Diamond hires for preconstruction

DeAngelis Diamond has hired Heath Cahoon as director of preconstruction for their Nashville Division.

Cahoon is responsible for overseeing the Nashville preconstruction services to meet clients’ design, budget and schedule goals and collaborating with the company’s estimators, project managers and superintendents to prepare budgets, estimates and schedules.

Cahoon has 20 years of experience in the commercial construction industry with an extensive background in preconstruction and estimating, having served as director of preconstruction, senior preconstruction manager and chief estimator.

Grand Hyatt adds sales, marketing director

Grand Hyatt Nashville in the 18-acre Nashville Yards development has hired Cherylanne Thomas as the hotel’s new director of sales & marketing. Thomas brings an extensive marketing and strategic planning background with a diverse portfolio of experience.

Most recently, Thomas served as director of sales and marketing at Hilton Mark Center in Alexandria, Virginia, where she led the sales, catering, conference services, public relations and revenue management teams. She previously served as director of sales and marketing at several other properties, including Westin Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, Hyatt Regency in Princeton, New Jersey, and Westin Hotels in Las Vegas.

OZ Arts hires 3 for various roles

OZ Arts Nashville has hired Nicholas Gulick as director of development and Thea Jones as director of community engagement.

Gulick will help foster the organization’s culture of philanthropy to ensure the continued success of Nashville’s nonprofit contemporary arts center. He joins the OZ team after serving as the director of grants for Tennessee Performing Arts Center and, before that, as corporate and foundation relations manager at the Nashville Ballet.

Gulick is the creator of “Coaching Your Donors to Give: Relationship-Building Skills for Fundraisers,” a program developed to empower professional fundraisers through powerful coaching skills. He also is an active member of Nashville in Harmony and currently serves on the board of directors for Nashville Pride.

He earned a degree in strategic communication and leadership from Belmont University, degrees in music and speech pathology from the University of Tennessee and a graduate certificate in performance coaching from Lipscomb University.

Jones will collaborate with local arts institutions, community leaders and change-makers to create purposeful, meaningful and synergistic multidisciplinary engagements that reflect and affirm the beauty and diversity of the local community. Jones has previously engaged with OZ Arts as a teaching artist and a featured performer in December’s premiere production of Steal Away.

Jones earned a BFA in dance from Howard University and an M.S. in education from Mercy College in New York City. She is a professionally trained concert dancer, educator and international cultural curator with experience in several esteemed dance companies.

Joining Gulick and Jones is recent hire Rachel Ebio, who joined the team in late March 2022. As an operations and administrative associate. With a background in marketing and creative writing, Ebio was a 2021-2022 ArtWire Fellow, a member of a cohort of writers brought together through an ongoing collaboration between OZ Arts and The Porch. Her recent art criticism has appeared in publications such as the Nashville Scene, Number Inc., and The Nashvillian. Rachel holds a degree in commerce and business administration and marketing from the University of Alabama.

Nashville Public Radio hires education reporter

Alexis Marshall has been hired as WPLN’s new education reporter.

Marshall began her career at WPLN as an intern in 2018 before joining as a full-time producer and host for Morning Edition. She also reported on a variety of subjects, including immigration, labor and economics.

Her work has appeared nationally on NPR, Here & Now and Marketplace Morning Report. She recently wrapped up a weeklong seminar in Germany as one of 25

Fulbright scholars.

Marshall grew up attending Rutherford County public schools and graduated from Middle Tennessee State University.