Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon G. Lee will be honored this month with the Tennessee Bar Association’s Justice Frank F. Drowota III Outstanding Judicial Service Award. The award will be presented at the Bench Bar Luncheon as part of the association’s annual convention in Knoxville.

Lee has been a member of the state Supreme Court since 2008and served as chief justice 2014-2016.

Before joining the state’s highest court, Lee served four years –2004-2008 – on the Tennessee Court of Appeals, the first woman to serve on the Eastern Section of the court in its 79-year history.

Lee’s involvement in the legal community has been extensive including service with the Tennessee Judicial Conference, Tennessee Bar Foundation, Knoxville Bar Foundation, American Bar Foundation, Tennessee Bar Association House of Delegates, University of Tennessee College of Law Alumni Advisory Council and Dean’s Circle, Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women, East Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women, Monroe County Bar Association, Knoxville Bar Association, National Association of Women Judges, Tennessee Municipal Judges’ Association, Tennessee County Attorneys Association, American Judicature Society, and Scribes: The American Society of Legal Writers.

Lee also has been a strong advocate for women in the law, serving as a role model for many young women interested in the law and as a mentor for those who are building their practice.

The Drowota Award is given to a judge or judicial branch official of a federal, state or local court in Tennessee who has demonstrated extraordinary devotion and dedication to the improvement of the law, the legal system and the administration of justice as exemplified by the career of former Supreme Court Justice Frank F. Drowota III – the award’s first recipient. It is the TBA’s highest award for service to the judiciary and has been given annually for more than a decade.

Cooper named president of Amerigroup Tennessee

Amerigroup Tennessee, a subsidiary of Elevance Health, has named Natalie Cooper has been president of the health plan, which provides health benefits for Tennessee residents enrolled in TennCare.

Cooper is responsible for all aspects of the health plan’s operations across the state, which serve nearly 540,000 members. She also will also lead efforts to strengthen relationships in the community with state leaders, providers and other key stakeholders.

Cooper has more than 20 years of experience and executive leadership within a variety of industries, including nine years at Elevance Health focused on state and federal programs, active duty and reserve command with the United States Air Force as well as key strategic roles at the Department of Defense. Most recently, Cooper was regional vice president at Elevance Health, where she was responsible for Medicaid growth strategies and development centered on health plan retention and operations.

Cooper is a graduate of Park University in Parkville, Missouri, and holds a Master of Health Sciences and an MBA from Trident University International in Cypress, California. In addition, she is the recipient of a Women in Leadership Certificate from Yale University and serves as a mentor to females in business.

Guerrero to step down Symphony music director

Conductor Giancarlo Guerrero says he will step down as music director of the Nashville Symphony at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, his 16th in that role.

Beginning with the 2025-26 season, he will serve as music director laureate. During the 2026-27 season, he will return to lead the orchestra four weeks per year as the organization transitions to new artistic leadership.

To date, Guerrero and the Orchestra have released 21 commercial albums, most of which were recorded live before Nashville audiences, featuring the work of a wide array of American composers, including John Adams, Michael Daugherty, John Harbison, Jennifer Higdon, Jonathan Leshnoff, Tobias Picker, Terry Riley, Christopher Rouse and Joan Tower. To date, these recordings have won 11 Grammy Awards and have garnered 18 nominations across categories.

Born in Nicaragua, Guerrero immigrated during his childhood to Costa Rica, where he joined the local youth symphony. He came to the U.S. to study at Baylor University in Texas and at Northwestern University, where he earned his master’s degree.

Guerrero is a frequent guest conductor with North American orchestras including the Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, Seattle and Toronto Symphonies, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. Guerrero spent a decade conducting the Cleveland Orchestra and held the post of principal guest conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra Miami Residency. He has also served as music director of the Eugene Symphony, and associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.

Guerrero has also been responsible for hiring 26 of the Nashville Symphony’s orchestra musicians, nearly a third of the ensemble, including principal second violin, principal cello, principal oboe, principal clarinet, principal bassoon, principal trumpet, principal trombone, principal timpani, principal keyboard and principal librarian.

A committee with representatives from the board of directors, musician, administrative and volunteer leadership will be assembled to search for his successor.

TriStar Centennial selects chief medical officer

Dr. Tim Grant has joined TriStar Centennial Medical Center as the hospital’s chief medical officer.

Grant comes from HCA Healthcare’s Parkridge Health System in Chattanooga, where he served for five years as chief medical officer of their five-campus health system.

In addition to his responsibilities overseeing medical staff operations at TriStar Centennial, Grant will also serve as chief administrative officer of TriStar Centennial Women’s Hospital and The Children’s Hospital at TriStar Centennial.

Grant earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Clemson University. He attended medical school at the University of South Carolina, followed by a residency in anesthesiology at Duke University Medical Center. He then completed a fellowship in pediatric anesthesiology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Grant practiced pediatric and adult anesthesia in Macon, Georgia, for many years, where he also served as clinical professor of anesthesiology at Mercer University School of Medicine.

Before Parkridge Health, he served as chief medical officer at Coliseum Health System in Macon, Georgia, where he also served as the division institutional official overseeing the development of three new graduate medical education programs.

Pennington joins FirstBank as chief accounting officer

Nashville-based FirstBank has selected Jonathan Pennington as its chief accounting officer. Pennington will be responsible for managing, planning and coordinating all aspects of FirstBank’s accounting operations.

As a certified public accountant and longtime industry veteran, Pennington most recently served as the chief financial officer of a notable fintech organization. Before that, he worked at a large financial institution in Birmingham for 20-plus years and was the chief accounting officer for the last six of those years.

Pennington earned a degree in accounting/finance from Birmingham-Southern College.

Waste Pro names divisional vice president

Jon Snyder has been selected to serve as divisional vice president of Waste Pro’s Tri-State Region.

He is a 24-year industry veteran who began his career as a driver and quickly rose through the ranks including leadership roles such as operations supervisor, operations manager and, most recently, for the last seven years as general manager for the state of Wisconsin for a major corporation.

Snyder will lead Waste Pro’s operations in Tennessee, Arkansas and parts of Mississippi, as well as two landfills in Star Landing/Lake Cormorant and Desoto/Olive Branch, both in Mississippi. The Tri-State Region has 430 employees who operate more than 200 trucks providing service to more than 115,000 residential and commercial customers.