Alé Dalton, a partner in the firm’s Nashville office, has received Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s 2024 Diversity Leadership Award.

Established in 2015, the annual Diversity Leadership Award recognizes a Bradley partner who demonstrates an exceptional commitment to promoting and advancing the firm’s goal of being a diverse and mutually supportive community.

Dalton joined Bradley in 2016 as a member of the firm’s health care practice group and was elevated to partner in 2024. She concentrates her practice on guiding clients through the highly regulated landscape of the health care industry. She also is involved in efforts to meet gaps in the legal services industry through Bradley’s pro bono program and by helping staff community legal clinics.

She serves as the vice chair of the firm’s Lawyers of Color Resource Group and is a liaison for Bradley’s Women’s Initiative.

In 2024, Ms. Dalton was appointed to a two-year term as chair of the American Health Lawyers Association’s Early Career Professionals Council. She helped establish the Nashville Hispanic Bar Association and has worked with organizations to support the advancement of Hispanic families and students in the Nashville area.

She is a recipient of the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s Alumni Promise Award and the Nashville Emerging Leaders Award in Legal Services. She also received Bradley’s Cameron J. Miller Award for Excellence and Community Service.

Dalton earned her J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law and is a graduate of Lipscomb University.

Also at Bradley:

• Ann Peldo Cargile, a partner in the firm’s Nashville office, has been elected as a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

The ABF Fellows are a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of the communities. Membership in the fellows is limited to 1% of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction.

A member of the firm’s real estate practice group, Cargile represents parties in all aspects of commercial real estate, including leasing, finance and joint ventures. She is the former president of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. She regularly speaks on real estate related topics to national, regional and local groups composed of both attorneys and non-attorneys in the industry, as well as authors articles for national legal publications.

• Christopher C. Puri, counsel in the firm’s Nashville office, has received the Elizabeth Jacobs Distinguished Service Award from AgeWell Middle Tennessee, an organization that champions informed and positive aging and serves as the Middle Tennessee area’s catalyst for collaborative solutions for the elderly.

Named for AgeWell founder and well-known and respected community volunteer Elizabeth Jacobs, the Distinguished Service Award recognizes a volunteer or collective group of volunteers who have given selflessly of their time, talents, resources and abilities in furthering AgeWell’s mission.

Puri has served as a member of AgeWell’s board for nine years, including as the board’s vice president, president and immediate past president.

A member of Bradley’s health care practice group, Puri has a nationally recognized practice advising long-term care and senior housing providers, and he handles the full array of legal issues for those providers.

He has played an active role in helping to develop long-term care policy at the state and national levels, and to educate clients and attorneys in the long term-care and senior housing industries. Puri served for seven years as legal counsel for the Tennessee Health Care Association/Tennessee Center for Assisted Living, the state trade association representing the majority of Tennessee nursing homes and assisted care living facilities.

General Hospital board selects board officers

The Nashville General Hospital Authority Board has elected new officers for fiscal year 2025. They are:

• Board Chair: Pastor Frank Stevenson

• Vice Chair: Dr. Raymond Martin

• Secretary: Christy Smith, CFP, CIMA, AIF, CRPC

Stevenson has served as the board chair since October 2023, and Dr. Raymond Martin has served as vice chair since July 2023. Both were reelected for fiscal year 2025.

The Hospital Authority board also has added new members, David R. Esquivel and Arie L. Nettles, Ph.D., NCSP, HSP, to serve five-year terms.

Esquivel is the pro bono partner at Bass, Berry & Sims. In addition, he advises clients on investigations and litigation matters focused on the financial services sector. He also serves as board chair of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.

Nettles recently retired from Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, where she was professor of clinical pediatrics. She previously served as assistant professor and research scientist at the University of Michigan School of Education and clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Medicine.

The 11-member Hospital Authority board oversees Nashville General Hospital for Metropolitan Nashville. Members are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by Metro Council.

Reliant Talent Agency has new hires, promotions

Reliant Talent Agency has relocated its headquarters to Broadwest at 610 West End as part of its continued growth and expansion. It also has added personnel and promoted existing staff:

• Keith Richards has joined the company’s festival department. He has more than a decade of industry experience, including four years as a leader in the Paradigm festival department (now Wasserman).

• Kailey Edgerton, Cole Speed and Robert Baugh have been promoted from coordinators to agents.

Edgerton will continue her work in the fairs and festivals department, leveraging her extensive background in live entertainment.

Cole, after beginning his career at Reliant following his graduation from Belmont University, will now manage clubs and theaters in the Mid-South territory, with a focus on expanding the Texas Country roster. Cole also works with Kody West, Kyle Park, Coffey Anderson and Tyler Reese Tritt.

Baugh, having developed his expertise through roles at WME and touring with Alan Jackson, will aid in the growth of the country roster.

• The agency has also promoted Ron Kaplan and Garry Buck to executive vice presidents.

Tennessee Flight Training names Shrum vice president

Tennessee Flight Training has promoted Isaac Shrum to vice president of business development, based at the company’s main location at Nashville International Airport.

Shrum recently was a featured speaker and panelist at the Flight School Association of North America’s annual conference. He has also been a featured speaker with the Aircraft Owner and Pilots Association’s “You Can Fly” initiative.

Shrum graduated from Western Kentucky University with a degree in business. He also is also a graduate of Davidson Academy in Nashville. He has been on staff at Tennessee Flight Training since 2015.

Tennessee Flight Training offers a range of customized options, from recreational to career pilot training.