Waddey Acheson, a new law firm based in Nashville, has been launched with a focus on intellectual property, artificial intelligence and high-stakes litigation.

Jack Waddey, a registered patent attorney, brings over 50 years of experience to the firm. He has secured hundreds of patents and trademarks for clients and served as a mediator since 1998, the firm reports.

The Georgetown Law School graduate was previously a partner at Willis & White, Hooker & Waddey, Waddey Lundin & Newport and Waller Landsen Dortch Davis. He also was founding partner at Waddey-Patterson, an associate with Arent Fox and senior affiliate counsel at Holland Knight.

Chanelle Acheson, also a founding partner of Waddey Acheson, has a background in high-stakes litigation and experience as a Marine Corps officer. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado, the University of Sussex in Brighton, England, and Harvard Law School.

Bradley’s Bahou chairs Tennessee Bar’s AI task force

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP Nashville partner A.J. Bahou has been appointed to serve as chair of the Tennessee Bar Association’s newly established artificial intelligence task force.

Bahou, an experienced technology and AI attorney, will lead the task force’s efforts to explore the intersection of AI and the legal profession by driving initiatives to ensure that Tennessee attorneys are well-equipped to navigate the evolving landscape of AI technology.

Bahou helped form Bradley’s AI team in 2023, drawing on his background and practice focused on the relationship between law and technology. His practice includes intellectual property, data privacy and cybersecurity.

EO Nashville announces new class of members

EO Nashville, which marks 30 years of serving and championing Nashville’s entrepreneur community in 2024, has 19 new members. They are:

• Carey Bringle, Peg Leg Porker

• Garrison Coley, Home and Office Transitions

• Brian Eby, Think LLP

• Robert Erickson, Massive Mission

• Brian Fuente, Aero Build, LLC & The Aero Bar, LLC

• Amy Goldstein, Nashville Psych

• James Jamieson, EvidenceCare, Inc.

• Jessica Loseke, Midwest Barrel Co.

• Justin Lowe, Centric Architecture Inc.

• Tina McGill, MMAS CPA P.C.

• Scarlett Mulligan, Novus Behavioral Health

• Leslie Murphy, Murphy Maude Interiors

• Julie Podewitz, Grow Your Occupancy

• Chad Polk, CDP Architecture, LLC

• William Powell, Office Furniture and Related Services

• Ke Qin, Paros Group

• Samahria Richie, Two Sisters Maid to Clean

• Phillip Steen, Nashville Sports League

• Mark Stoner, Ashbusters Chimney Service

EO Nashville is the largest EO chapter in the country and the third-largest in the world with 355 members averaging $12.2 million in sales and employing over 15,000 individuals. The Nashville chapter was recognized at the EO Global Leadership Conference for having the most members added in 2023 and is the second-highest in new membership of female entrepreneurs.

CFMT names Marchetti Karim, vice presidents

Adnan Karim joins the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee as vice president of community impact, and Katie Marchetti has joined as vice president of philanthropic services.

Karim brings a background spanning over 14 years in the social impact sector. His journey began in New York City, where he dedicated himself to improving educational outcomes for some of the nation’s most marginalized communities. As a vital member of City Year, and later as a program manager, Karim spearheaded initiatives that enhanced literacy and math skills among at-risk students while cultivating environments rich in social and emotional learning and service.

His commitment to service learning and community empowerment continued at buildOn, where he led transformative programs across 16 high schools in New York City’s South Bronx and Brooklyn as program director. He eventually served as the organization’s inaugural director of foundation relations and later as chief program officer in the United States.

His leadership helped extend educational programs nationwide and supported the construction of schools in economically challenged regions worldwide, including Nepal and Malawi. Karim most recently served as managing director of human rights education at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

He is a Nashville native and a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and New York University.

Marchetti, who has more than two decades of expertise in international finance and law, played significant roles in global financial hubs across the US and Europe, culminating in a 15-year tenure in London. Her most recent role was as managing director and chief growth officer at a Nashville-based private equity startup.

In addition to her professional endeavors, Marchetti’s holds board memberships at Fisk University and Think Tennessee. She also co-founding Voices for a Safer Tennessee and works with Reshma Saujani’s Moms First initiative.

Fair joins leadership at Nashville General

Nashville General Hospital has added Alecia Malin Fair, DrPH, to the executive team as chief population health and research officer. Malin Fair, who has more than 30 years of experience working in health education and promotion within diverse communities, will focus on patient-centered wellness programs that reach underserved communities.

Malin Fair’s experience includes evaluating AIDS education programs in Western New York adolescents, community-engaged childhood obesity prevention in rural South Carolina middle school students, psychosocial health beliefs and health disparity factors impeding medically underserved women in Nashville and resolving abnormal mammograms. Recently, she led a national precision medicine project engaging a cohort of diverse study participants underrepresented in research to support the design, implementation and governance of the program.

Malin Fair will also oversee NGH’s Congregational Health & Education Network, which launched in 2017, is a 501(c)(3) faith-based initiative with a primary focus on reducing health disparities among Nashville’s African American community through education attainment, access to health care and health literacy. By partnering community health workers with churches to reach people where they are, CHEN seeks to address social determinants of health that disproportionately affect communities of color.

Java Medical Group adds to executive team

Java Medical Group, which partners with rural hospitals nationwide to ensure quality patient care and improve financial performance, has added Ray Burns as chief compliance officer and Alison Morris as chief administrative officer.

Burns leads the implementation and oversight of compliance programs, bringing more than three decades of health care and compliance experience to the company. He previously served as director of compliance for Emergency Care Partners, LLC in Pensacola, Florida. Burns earned his master’s degree in health care administration from St. Joseph’s University and bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Morris oversees the administrative functions and streamlines and optimizes the company’s operations. Morris also leads the strategic implementation of technology to drive value and efficiency for the company. She holds a degree in business administration from Aquinas College.

Forbes honors Alexander of KraftCPAs as top CPA

Forbes has chosen Vic Alexander of KraftCPAs PLLC for its inaugural America’s Top 200 CPAs list.

Alexander, who has been chief manager of the firm since 1993, was one of two from Tennessee chosen for the Top 200 CPAs list and the only one from Middle Tennessee.

Forbes compiled its list through independent nominations. Nominees were rated on criteria such as expertise, innovation, thought leadership, experience, and service to the community and to their profession, as well as responses to selected questions.

REED promotes Binner to agency president

REED, a full-service public relations and marketing agency, has promoted Macey Cleary Binner, longtime employee and business development lead, from vice president to the newly created role of president.

Collaborating closely with CEO Lauren Reed Williams and the leadership team, Binner will guide all aspects of the organization’s growth to advance the agency’s commitment to being a data-driven PR agency with long-term clients.

Binner, a graduate of Auburn University, joined REED in 2016. After holding coordinator, manager and supervisor positions, Binner was promoted to a leadership role in 2022 as an agency vice president. Her duties included managing new business leads and REED’s growth trajectory. She secured nearly two dozen new clients in 2023, including one of the firm’s biggest accounts to date. As a result, REED experienced a 40% growth in revenue for 2023.

Binner was named a 2023 Rising Star by PRNEWS.

LDA Engineering names Daniel president

LDA Engineering has announced that Zack Daniel, PE, has joined as its new president.

Daniel is joining LDA from his leadership position at national engineering firm, CDM Smith, where he held various positions including client service leader for the firm servicing clients throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Arkansas. He rose through the ranks of shareholder, advancing from associate to principal to vice president.

Daniel’s deep industry involvement extends to his recent recognition as the alumnus of the year for the Herff College of Engineering Civil Engineering Department at his alma mater, the University of Memphis.

He is past chair of the Kentucky Tennessee American Water Works Association and recipient of its highest honor, the George Warren Fuller Award.