F. Michael Minch, MD, a Nashville surgeon, will be installed as the 157th president of the Tennessee Medical Association during the annual TMA House of Delegates meeting here Saturday.

As the TMA’s president, Minch will serve on the TMA Board of Trustees (BOT), which is responsible for the implementation and direction of Association activities between sessions of the House of Delegates (HOD), the Association’s governing body.

He will also serve as the public spokesman and official representative for the TMA’s nearly 8,000 physician members.

Minch received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the Ohio State University College of Medicine and trained as a surgical resident at Vanderbilt University. He practiced surgery in Nashville for 15 years. Minch is also co-founder and former CEO of Diabetes Care Club, one of the nation’s largest suppliers of mail-order diabetes testing supplies.

Also at Saturday’s meeting, Tom E. Nesbitt, Sr., MD, Keith W. Hagan, MD, and Hands On Nashville are among recipients of 2011 Tennessee Medical Association awards.

Nesbitt, a former president of both the TMA and the American Medical Association, will receive the Outstanding Physician Award. This award is presented annually by the TMA House of Delegates to member physicians who have made their personal mark on the profession of medicine in Tennessee and on those they have worked with and known during their illustrious medical careers.

Hagan will receive the TMA Distinguished Service Award, presented annually since 1963 by the TMA Board of Trustees to exemplary members of the association for their notable achievements during the past year. He was nominated by the Nashville Academy of Medicine for his recent work with the Baptist Healing Trust, a private grant-making foundation which supports Middle Tennessee nonprofit agencies that provide health services especially to vulnerable and underserved populations.

Hands On Nashville is receiving the TMA Community Service Award for helping people transform the world around them through volunteering, most recently in response to floods that devastated the Nashville area.

Last year, HON connected nearly 200,000 volunteers with service opportunities, facilitating volunteer work for 737 Middle Tennessee nonprofits, schools, government agencies, faith-based organizations, civic groups and businesses. One of the largest nonprofits of its kind in the U.S., HON is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2011.

Lanquist elected fellow of TN Bar Foundation

Edward D. (Ed) Lanquist, Jr., managing shareholder of Nashville law firm Waddey & Patterson, P.C., has been elected a Fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation.

He was one of 35 Tennessee attorneys were invited this year to membership in the Tennessee Bar Foundation by the Board of Trustees.

Lanquist focuses his practice on patent and trademark litigation, intellectual property counseling, and trademark prosecution. He received his J.D. with Honors from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1988 and a B.S. in Civil Engineering with Honors from the University of Tennessee in 1985.

Powell Creative adds two to team

Powell Creative LLC, a branding design and interactive agency located on Music Row in Nashville, has added two new staff members.

David Schwartz has been named director of client services and brings more than a decade of branding experience to the firm having worked at other agencies on well-known brands such as Diet Coke, Home Depot and Stoney River Legendary Steaks.

Ashley Buckberg, a graduate of Belmont University, will serve as account coordinator responsible for social media research and postings, along with other client service details for Powell Creative’s interactive clients

Powell Creative is an award-winning branding design and interactive firm providing expertise to a wide range of clients and industries. It specializes in branding, print design, website design, email marketing, advertising and social media.

Health advocacy group chooses Baptist’s White

Baptist Hospital Guest Services Director Perri Lynn White has been named the Middle Tennessee Representative for the Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Healthcare Consumer Advocacy (SHCA).

As the Middle Tennessee representative, White’s responsibilities include being a member of the Tennessee board of the SHCA, serving as a liaison with the Tennessee Hospital Association, setting up two to three meetings per year for Middle Tennessee members, recruiting new members and attending SHCA board meetings and the Tennessee Hospital Association’s annual meeting.

The Society for Healthcare Consumer Advocacy (SHCA) is a non-profit healthcare organization comprised of patient representatives, guest relations professionals, physicians, nurses, social workers and others currently employed in the healthcare industry that are dedicated to patient advocacy.

Waller Lansden wins legal marketing award

Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP, received top honors at the 2011 Legal Marketing Association annual Your Honor Awards, taking home first place in the recruiting category for the firm’s innovative Schola2Juris recruiting program.

Founded in 2010, Schola2Juris is a first-of-its-kind program that offers third-year law students an intensive apprenticeship opportunity to gain valuable law firm experience, apply for internal full-time job openings and receive a $10,000 scholarship.

The “Your Honor Awards” is the only program of its kind in the legal marketing industry that distinguishes law firms, law-related organizations and service providers who set new standards for innovation in finding, developing and retaining profitable business.

McNeely Pigott & Fox promotes Solano to VP

McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations has promoted Javier Solano to vice president from senior account supervisor.

Solano, 43, joined MP&F in 2001 as an account executive and has managed award-winning efforts on behalf of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Department of Labor. Through the years, he has served as a senior account executive, account supervisor and, most recently, senior account supervisor. He is a frequent presenter on Latino outreach and is also one of the staff’s media trainers, leaning on his 10 years of experience as a reporter, mostly with the Orlando Sentinel.

Born in Santa Marta, Colombia, and brought up in metropolitan Washington, D.C., Solano graduated from Columbia University in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in English. He lives in East Nashville.

Pathway announces new board members

Pathway Lending, a not-for-profit Community Development Financial Institution that provides loans to Tennessee businesses lacking access to traditional financing options, today announced three new members have been elected to its board of directors:

David Berezov, associate professor of the practice of engineering management at Vanderbilt University’s School of Engineering. He also taught as adjunct professor of management at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management in 1983 and 2000.

He holds a B.S. from Syracuse University, an MBA from Vanderbilt University and is a Nashville resident.

Joy Fisher is currently the director of marketing and business development for the University of Tennessee Research Foundation. She also oversees the business incubator on the Knoxville campus.

Fisher holds an MBA in marketing from Northern Illinois University and a B.S. in finance and marketing form Florida State University. Fisher is a Knoxville resident.

Kenneth Breeden is executive vice president of customer relations for Tennessee Valley Authority and is responsible for maintaining and enhancing customer relationships with its 155 local power distributors and 59 directly served customers. Breeden directs a staff that manages customer accounts totaling more than $10 billion in annual revenue. His division is also responsible for TVA’s economic development efforts and the delivery of TVA’s energy efficiency programs and products.

Breeden holds an MBA and a B.S. in business administration from Wichita State University. He is a resident of Nashville.

H.G. Hill Realty taps new general counsel

H.G. Hill Realty has appointed Aaron Kaalberg for the newly created position of general counsel. Kaalberg was previously a commercial associate with Bass, Berry & Sims PLC where his practice was focused in the areas of commercial real estate, commercial lending, secured transactions and general commercial law.

Kaalberg received his J.D. from Cornell Law School, with a concentration in business law and regulation. He was a John M. Olin Foundation Student Scholar in Law and Economics and was an Honors Fellow in the Legal Writing program. Aaron graduated from the Honors Program of the University of Iowa’s Tippie School of Business with a B.B.A in Economics and Finance.

Bank of Nashville names Carter VP

Wallace “Buzz” Carter has joined The Bank of Nashville as executive vice president-director of commercial banking with oversight responsibilities for mid-commercial, business banking, private client and treasury management.

“Buzz’s 28 years of experience in commercial banking and proven leadership abilities make him the right choice for directing our very talented team of bankers,” says Bill Nigh, President & CEO of The Bank of Nashville, a division of Synovus Bank. “He has spent over 23 years in this market, most recently as the Commercial Banking Line of Business Manager for FirstBank, and we expect he will be a great fit for our organization.”

Carter is a graduate of Mississippi State University and holds an MBA from Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

Account exec joins Robins Insurance

The leadership of Robins Insurance Agency, Inc. announces the hiring of Edward Dinker to the company’s insurance specialist team. As an account executive, Dinker will be responsible for client service, sales and support.

Dinker comes to Robins from Aflac in Charleston, S.C., where he served as a sales representative. He worked in this professional position concurrently while pursuing his B.A. and B.S. degrees in business administration and history from the College of Charleston. He was also involved in the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization. He is a graduate of Father Ryan High School.