Nashville School of Law honored distinguished alumnus and board member Tom Cone at its annual Recognition Dinner.

More than 500 guests gathered to celebrate the business leader and philanthropist, including NSL faculty, staff, board members, alumni and many family members and close friends.

Tom Cone, NSL class of 1964, joined the NSL board and became chairman in 1993. He served as chairman until 2015 and remains on the board today. The Cones’ generosity includes the Charlotte and Tom Cone Scholarship Fund.

He is chairman and president of Cone Oil Company Inc. and founder of Cone Solvents Inc., Tennessee Adhesives Co. and B&C Aviation.

Cone graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1960. He was elected to the Vanderbilt Board of Trust as alumni trustee in 1994 and served through spring 1996.

In 1989, Cone was appointed by Gov. Ned McWherter to the board of directors of the Tennessee-European Economic Alliance, an organization designed to increase Tennessee exports to Europe and strengthen investments in Tennessee. Cone is a Life trustee of Battle Ground Academy in Franklin. He has been a member of Meharry Medical Board of Trustees, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Governors, and was a director of NationsBank (now Bank of America).

Fourth Capital adds driver Phinny as VP

Fourth Capital, a Middle Tennessee leading community bank, has selected Ryan Phinny as the bank’s new vice president of sports & entertainment.

Phinny joins Fourth Capital after a career as a professional racer representing numerous major brands and businesses. He will focus on growing deposit relationships for the bank with a particular focus on the sports and entertainment industries intertwined throughout the Nashville community.

Phinny represented a series of major brands and partners such as The Nashville Predators, Casamigos Tequila, MGM Grand, General Motors, and more across premiere racing leagues, including the Firestone Indy NXT, NTT Data IndyCar Series reserve driver and IMSA. He was also co-founder of The Motoring Club, a private automotive social club and storage facility for collector car enthusiasts in Los Angeles.

Pharmacists Association honors 3 from Nashville

The Tennessee Pharmacists Association has honored three from the Middle Tennessee area for their contributions to the practice of pharmacy and delivery of exceptional patient care. They are:

Paul E. Petersen, Pharm.D., MPH, CEM: The Barbara McAndrew Herald Award

Petersen, of Franklin, is director of the Tennessee Department of Health’s Emergency Preparedness Program and the interim director for the VaccinePreventable Diseases and Immunization Program.

He serves as lead in Tennessee’s response to all public health and medical emergencies, as well as the National Chair for the Directors of Public Health Preparedness. In addition, he serves on various national preparedness policy committees, including work with the National Academies, National Emergency Management Association, and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

The award is presented in recognition of Barbara McAndrew, who served as the first consumer member of the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy.

ONE Tennessee: Partner in Excellence Award

ONE Tennessee is a nonprofit established in 2018 to better address the gaps in the opioid epidemic. ONE Tennessee is dedicated to saving lives, preventing and treating substance abuse disorders and promoting wellness for Tennesseans. Its focus is to facilitate better collaboration among organizations, health care providers and others to promote patient safety and better health through education about safe pain management of opioid therapy.

Created in 2015, the award provides visible recognition to an organization, association or other entity that has worked closely with the TPA to improve patient outcomes, promote patient safety, increase the quality of care within the health care system and elevate the standards of pharmacist-provided patient care.

Kim Roberts, Pharm.D., ABAAHP, FAARFM: Tom C. Sharp Pharmacist of the Year

Roberts is distinguished within the profession of pharmacy due to her excellence as a clinician, colleague, advocate and mentor in addition to the passion she shows for her patients.

She decided to expand her pharmacy practice to provide bio-identical hormone therapy in 2012, which has developed into the role of a functional/integrative health provider in 2016. Roberts is a board member of Unity Medical Center in Manchester and serves as a member of Coffee County Teen Pregnancy Prevention.

Serving over 20 years as a part of the Tennessee Pharmacy Recovery Network, Roberts has invested in the recovery of hundreds of individuals struggling with addiction and dependency.

The award is named in honor of Tom C. Sharp, Sr., who served as TPA’s chief executive officer for 30 years, and his son, Tom C. Sharp, Jr., who served as TPA’s chief executive officer for 30 years following his father’s tenure.

Barge Design names first chief people officer

Barge Design Solutions, a regional engineering and architecture firm, has selected Karen Cosentino as its first-ever chief people officer.

Cosentino, who brings two-plus decades of experience across multiple industries, will spearhead the firm’s employee experience strategy and serve as the cultural ambassador to Barge’s leadership team.

As CPO, Cosentino will focus on aligning human resource initiatives with Barge’s overall business goals during a significant phase of growth and expansion.

Before joining Barge, Cosentino held senior HR leadership positions at organizations such as Wellpath, ASLAN Training and Development and HCA Leadership Institute, among others. Cosentino earned her undergraduate degree from The University of Memphis.

Nashville Public Radio names Sanchez COO

Robert Sanchez has joined Nashville Public Radio as the organization’s first chief operating officer, working with President and CEO Steve Swenson in leading content, financial and technical day to day operations.

Most recently, Sanchez served as vice president of news at iHeartRadio’s Boston’s WBZ NewsRadio. In addition, he was the regional news director for iHeartRadio’s News/Talk stations in the Northeast.

Sanchez spent nearly two decades at CBS Radio working in New York City and Washington, D.C., in varied roles such as leading programming departments in all-news stations and as head of DC’s Spanish language music radio station El Zol.

During his time in Washington, he created and launched a new all-news radio station. He also created a digital publishing and content enterprise focused on veteran-centric news and resources. In 2000, he joined WCBS NewsRadio 880 in New York City as news operations manager, subsequently becoming managing editor and then assistant news director.

Leadership TN names 30 to NEXT Program

Leadership Tennessee, a collective with a mission to foster non-partisan dialogue on issues of state importance, has selected 30 individuals to its Leadership Tennessee NEXT program, the seventh class to participate.

This year’s class includes representatives from 16 Tennessee counties with diverse professional experience ranging across such sectors as business, government, medical, nonprofit and education.

The cohort is Tennessee’s only statewide leadership program focusing on existing and emerging leaders and spanning geographic and industry boundaries. It offers early- to mid-career professionals in-depth personal and professional development while fostering a better understanding of our state.

Individuals named to the cohort by county are:

Anderson: Virginia Moon, managing editor, Warner Bros. Discovery

Blount: Jessica Belitz, director of workforce development, Blount Partnership

Cannon: Joe Patterson, lieutenant, Tennessee Highway Patrol

Davidson:

• Christiane Buggs, director of partnerships / MNPS Board Member, TECA / Metro Nashville Public Schools

• Judith Clerjeune, campaigns and advocacy director, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition

• Indira Dammu, senior analyst, Bellwether

• Aleah Guthrie, vice president of policy and government relations, SCORE

• Omaràn Lee, Nashville General Hospital/NewWork Fellowship; director of spiritual care/pastor

• Cooper McCormick, legislative liaison, The Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

• David Pemberton, sales and strategic partnerships, Delta Dental of Tennessee

• Ben Sterling, vice president of content and public relations, tnAchieves

Hamilton

• Terran Anderson, vice president of community and corporate engagement, United Way of Greater Chattanooga

• Tucker McClendon, deputy county mayor, education and workforce development, Hamilton County Government

• Arch Trimble IV, director of strategic relationships, RSS Insurance

Knox

• Josh Andrews, owner/president, Finish Point

• Brewton Brownlow Couch, chief of staff, Howard Baker School of Public Policy

Madison: Lauren Saliba, director of leadership development, Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce

Maury: Adam Jarvis, assistant commissioner, State of Tennessee

Obion: Charles Peery, partner, ATA CPAs

Rutherford: Shanice Cheatham, presidential fellow, Meharry Medical College

Sevier: Austin Williams, CEO, Compass

Shelby

• Jamal Boddie, executive director, Bloom, Inc.

• Dre Jones, manager, Deloitte Digital

• Jarlecia Jones, VP of lending, PathwayLending

Sumner

• Lacie K. Dunn, associate officer senior financial analyst, AllianceBernstein

• L. Maverick Flowers, associate attorney, Polsinelli P.C.

Unicoi: Natalie Willis, security director, Nuclear Fuel Services

Washington

• Daryl Carter, associate dean, director and professor of history, East Tennessee State University

• Melissa Nipper, executive director of communications, East Tennessee State University

Williamson: Chris Fears, deputy director, State of Tennessee

Ascend appoints Harris associate financial adviser

Ascend Federal Credit Union has promoted Kristy Harris to associate financial adviser on the Ascend Retirement and Investment Services wealth management team.

Harris will develop and execute retirement and investment plans for members in the Murfreesboro, Columbia and Spring Hill locations.

Previously, Harris served as a sales assistant at Ascend Retirement & Investment Services. In this role, she assisted financial advisers with member needs, opening accounts, trades and scheduling.

Harris holds a degree in business administration from Middle Tennessee State University. In addition, she is designated as a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor by the College for Financial Planning.