Castlerock Asset Management, an integrated real estate development, ownership, marketing, hospitality management and asset management firm specializing in distinctive hospitality-driven properties, has appointed three industry experts to assume pivotal roles. The new executive leaders will report directly to founder and CEO Seamus Ross.

Jeff Crabiel will assume the role of Chief Hospitality Officer, overseeing the operational management function and day-to-day success of Castlerock’s branded and independent hotels, including future developments. Bringing over 17 years of experience, Crabiel has a long-standing relationship with Castlerock, previously serving as the Area General Manager for the award-winning Bobby Hotel and The Westin Nashville. Crabiel also served as the Director of Rooms and Executive Assistant Manager at The Westin Nashville where he spearheaded the property’s opening and migration into the Marriott portfolio.

Joel Morales, who will lead the overall business marketing strategy, advertising, communications and brand-building functions as the Chief Marketing Officer, has more than 20 years of experience shaping luxury and lifestyle brands. Previously serving as the company’s Area Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Bobby Hotel and The Westin Nashville, Morales will continue to work closely with leadership to develop a framework in support of the company’s future growth objectives. Prior to joining Castlerock, Morales was the Chief Executive Officer for ext. 54 in Chicago where he led integrated marketing efforts for global clientele such W Hotels, Lollapalooza, AllSaints and more.

Hart Wilson has joined Castlerock as Vice President of Acquisitions & Development, leveraging his decade-long experience in hotel real estate. Before Castlerock, he served as a Vice President in JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group, specializing in investment sales and debt & equity placement. He initially joined JLL in 2019 through their acquisition of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler. Beginning his career at Access Point Financial in Atlanta, Wilson has underwritten and transacted on over $2 billion in hotels. His appointment underscores Castlerock’s commitment to recruiting industry experts for real estate portfolio expansion.

Miller earns Bradley’s community service award

Casey L. Miller, an associate in Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Nashville office, has been named as the recipient of Bradley’s 2023 Cameron J. Miller Award for Excellence and Community Service.

The annual award recognizes an associate who exemplifies excellence in his or her legal work coupled with a high degree of involvement in community service for the betterment of the community in which the associate lives and works. The award is named for, and given in memory of, Cameron Miller, who died in June 2012 after battling cancer during his first year as an attorney at Bradley.

The award includes a donation to a charity in Mr. Miller’s memory. This year, a $10,500 charitable donation will be made to the Nashville Humane Association, the organization selected by Ms. Miller.

Casey Miller is a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group, representing clients in a variety of commercial litigation and dispute resolution matters. Her diverse practice is focused on business tort litigation, contract disputes, fiduciary-duty claims involving corporate directors and officers, intellectual property litigation, securities litigation, disputes over noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements, and real estate litigation.

Light joins Affinity Technology Partners

Jeremy Light has joined Affinity Technology Partners as Technical Alignment Engineer, announced Betsy Wright, partner and vice president of business development for the managed IT firm.

“Jeremy is an experienced IT professional with leadership experience,” Wright sys. “His technical alignment role is crucial for our clients’ IT environments and cybersecurity posture. His expert assessments provide our team insight that enables Affinity to provide proactive and strategic solutions for our clients.”

Light will be responsible for proactively managing clients’ technology environments and ensuring Affinity clients’ technology aligns with industry best practices and security frameworks. Previously, he served as Professional Services Manager with Concept Technology, Inc. A Nashville native, Light has more than 20 years of IT experience.

Lee appoints Foster, Phillips to TPA board

The Tennessee Pharmacists Association announced TPA members Nichole Foster, MBA, Med, CPhT-Adv and M. Kyle Phillips, Pharm. D, BCPS, have been appointed by Gov. Bill Lee to serve on the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy.

Foster’s appointment establishes her as the first pharmacy technician to serve on the Board of Pharmacy, making a mark on the history of healthcare in Tennessee. With more than 19 years of experience in different areas of pharmacy practice, Foster is committed to the growth and advancement of pharmacy technicians. This commitment to technicians at the state and national level earned her the honor of being the first pharmacy technician to receive the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Distinguished Service Award in 2020. Additionally, she was the 2022 recipient of TPA’s Health-System Pharmacy Technician of the Year Award.

Foster earned her master’s in education and bachelor’s in biology from Cumberland University and her master’s in business administration from Trevecca Nazarene University. She is the manager of pharmacy technician and client education at CEimpact. Prior to her current role, she was the program director of the Pharmacy Technician Education and Training Program at Vanderbilt University. Foster is a member of the Certification Council for PTCB and a former member of the Pharmacy Technician Accreditation Council for ASHP.

Dr. Phillips has served the VA Tennessee Valley of Healthcare (TVHS) in a variety of roles since beginning his pharmacy career 13 years ago. He is currently the chief of pharmacy service for TVHS, overseeing more than 200 team members at the two main campuses of Nashville and Murfreesboro as well as the 19 outlying community-based outpatient clinics, which encompass tertiary care, long-term care and psychiatric care with budget preparations of over $200 million. Dr. Phillips’ previous roles at TVHS include associate chief of pharmacy service, clinical pharmacist and inpatient and outpatient pharmacy supervisor, where he led the pharmacy’s restructure, providing seven-day-a-week clinical pharmacist coverage on all medicine and surgery teams.

Dr. Phillips earned his bachelor’s in biochemistry from Freed-Hardeman University, followed by his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy. He is board certified in Pharmacotherapy and is an alumnus of the Leadership VA Class of 2019.

NEXT Awards finalists announced

Nashville Entrepreneur Center announced the finalists for the 2023 NEXT Awards, an annual ceremony that recognizes entrepreneurs who are transforming industries and strengthening the Middle Tennessee community and beyond.

Presented by Amazon, the 2023 NEXT Awards will be hosted at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center on Monday, Oct. 23.

The program honors businesses across different industry categories, including: FinTech (new this year); Healthcare; Music, Sports, and Entertainment; Products, Services, and Retail; Real Estate, Hospitality, and Construction; and Technology.

There will be three winners in each category – startup companies with revenue up to $1 million, market mover companies with annual revenue between $1 to $8 million, and market leaders with more than $8 million in annual revenue. Finalists for this year’s industry awards are:

Financial Services

Startup: Baker Bookkeeps, Joy Baker; Raise Financial, Wesley Belden and Patrick Cason; Workloop, Katy Schmitt

Market Mover: Adams Wealth Partners, David Adams; Excelsior Capital, Brian Adams; Wealth Access, David Benskin

Market Leader: Celero Commerce, Kevin Jones; Core10, Lee Farabaugh and Jeff Hanson; Wesley Financial Group, Chuck McDowel

Health care

Startup: Care Sherpa, Jessica Walker; Healing Innovations, Luke Benda, Braden Davidson, and Scott Benda; Thrive Therapies Group, Kristin McGraner and Liz Malugen

Market Mover: RxGenomix, Brad Tice; Thalamus, Jason Reminick and Suzie Karan; Winnow, Paul Vernich and Ray Guzman

Market Leader: Archimedes, Brenda Motheral and Adam Hobgood; ObjectiveHealth, Colleen Hoke and Don Lazas; Spero Health, Steve Priest

Sports, Music and Entertainment

Startup: Grayscale Marketing, Tim Gray; TuneHatch, Inc., Christal Hector, Nathan Youssef and Reece Franklin; Wagr, Mario Malave and Eliana Eskinazi

Market Mover: Absolutely Ridiculous, Kyle Mauch; The Climb Gyms, Drew Sloss and Lance Brock; Genni & Co, Johnny Cloherty and Louis O’Reilly

Market Leader: Soundstripe, Travis Terrell, Micah Sannan and Trevor Hinesley; Moo TV, Scott Scovill

Products, Services and Retail

Startup: Blueprint Expansion, Krissy Manzano and Chuck Brotman; InnerG Juice & Yoga, Nielah Burnett; Trace Femcare, Inc., Claire Crunk, Olaf Isele, and Megan Galaske

Market Mover: Covert Results, Robert Young; Daily Crunch, Laurel Orley and Dan Stephenson; Southern Domestic Diva, Allie Williamson

Market Leader: Archangel Protective Services, Ken Thomas; pH-D Feminine Health, Deeannah Seymour and Mark Faulkner; Turnip Truck, John Dyke

Real Estate, Construction and Hospitality

Startup: AGB Real Estate, Adam Rosenberg; Comma Designworks, Eric McGinnis; Pillars Development, LLC, Edward Henley

Market Mover: Adroit Restoration, Gabe Chrismon and Lindsey Chrismon; Eshelman Construction, Andrew Eshelman; Holladay Ventures, Evan Holladay and Jined Lamata

Market Leader: The Clear Blue Company, Nicholas Ogden; Hardaway Construction, David Frazier; Strategic Hospitality, Benjamin Goldberg and Max Goldberg

Technology

Startup: Azra AI, Chris Cashwell; Calm Waters AI, Joe Ferro; Couture Technologies, Deanna Meador, Marcelino Rodriguez, and Danny Pippin

Market Mover: Orange Thread LIVE, Luke McElroy; Pivot Technology School, Joshua Mundy and Quawn Clark; Possip, Shani Dowell and Christine Fisher

Market Leader: Acklen Avenue, Colin Callahan; BluWave, Sean Mooney; FreightWise, Chris Cochran, Scott Samuelson, and Phil Forte

NEXT Awards will also honor two innovative founders across all industries with the Emerging Entrepreneur of 2023 Award (less than $8M revenue) and Entrepreneur of 2023 Award (more than $8M revenue).

Entrepreneur of 2023: Tammy Hawes, Virsys12; Colleen Hoke, ObjectiveHealth;

Brenda Motheral, Archimedes Emerging Entrepreneur of 2023

Luke Benda, Healing Innovations; Allie Williamson, Southern Domestic Diva; Robert Young, Covert Results

“Once again, we are excited to bring together the entrepreneurial community for an evening of celebration,” says Sam Davidson, CEO of the EC. “We’re honored to shine the spotlight on so many deserving entrepreneurs and promising companies so that they have their chance to celebrate their achievements with this community. This is a night for the innovators, the risk-takers, the dreamers, and the disrupters.”

To be announced at a later date, the EC will welcome the 2023 Entrepreneur Hall of Fame inductees for their lifelong contributions to Nashville’s entrepreneurial community.