Shirley Zeitlin

Shirley Zeitlin, CEO and founder of Zeitlin & Company, Realtors, has won in the “Lifetime Achievement” category in the international Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

Zeitlin’s competition for the award included the president and CEO of a financial firm in Toronto, the EVP of international finance for a Turkish bank (Akbank) and the president & CEO of WomenOnBusiness.com. More than 1,300 entries from around the world were submitted this year for consideration in 75 categories. A full list of those recognized can be found at stevieawards.com.

Zeitlin was the first female president of the Tennessee Association of Realtors and is former president of the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors. Beyond real estate, Shirley was chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta-Nashville Branch and a director of Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. Currently, she’s a director for O’Charley’s Inc. and serves as the board chair of the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville.

Heart Assocociation honors 36 local ‘fit’ companies

The American Heart Association has awarded 2011 Fit-Friendly recognition to 46 Middle Tennessee companies for their notable efforts to promote physical activity and health in the workplace.

In recognition of the vital role of healthy lifestyle choices, Fit-Friendly companies implement various activities and programs at the workplace to encourage physical activity, nutrition and culture enhancements such as walking routes, healthy food choices in cafeterias and vending machines, annual employee health risk assessments and online tracking tools. Fit-Friendly companies are named twice per year across the nation.

Local companies designated as Fit-Friendly for the second half of 2011 were honored at the recent Nashville and Rutherford Heart Walks. They include American Heart Association, Baptist Hospital, Batten & Shaw, Inc., Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC., Bridgestone Americas, Inc., Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation, Comdata Corporation, CVS Caremark, Earl Swensson Associates, Inc., Enterprise Electric, LLC, Fleet One, LLC, Franklin Synergy Bank, G4S Secure Solutions, Gaylord Entertainment, Gaylord Opryland & Attractions, Healthcare Management Systems, Inc., HealthSpring, HealthStream, Healthways, Inc., LifeWay Christian Resources, Lipscomb University, Maury Regional Medical Center, Metro Nashville Public Schools, Middle Tennessee Medical Center, MidSouth Bank, Murfreesboro Medical Clinic, Nashville Fire Department, Nissan North America, Inc., Reeves-Sain Family of Medical Services, Regions Bank, Resource Communications Group, Rutherford County Government, Saint Thomas Hospital, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, Schneider Electric, Schneider Electric – Smyrna, SMS Holdings Corporation, The Crichton Group, Thomas, Miller & Partners, LLC, Trane - Nashville Sales Office, Trane-Clarksville Operations, UPS, Vanderbilt University, Verizon Wireless, Williamson Medical Center and WSMV-TV.

Summit Medical Center welcomes new surgeon

Brandon Harrell, M.D., general surgeon, has joined The Surgical Clinic at Summit Medical Center.

Harrell earned his medical degree from the Texas A&M University Health Science Center College of Medicine. He then completed his residency in general surgery at the Scott and White Hospital in Temple, TX.

Dr. Harrell is board certified by the American Board of Surgery and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Zralek to chair litigation committee

Stephen Zralek, a member at Bone McAllester Norton PLLC, has been appointed to chair the American Bar Association’s IP Law Copyright Litigation Committee.

The IP Law Copyright Litigation Committee focuses on disputes involving copyrights, monitoring recent decisions across the nation, and providing advanced educational seminars for lawyers on cutting edge topics. Mr. Zralek recently served as vice chair of this committee. He helped to urge Congress to amend the Copyright Act to clarify the requirements required to file a lawsuit for copyright infringement, since no uniform standard exists as interpreted by the various federal courts around the country.

Mr. Zralek is a member at Bone McAllester Norton. He helps clients from the creative, technology and entrepreneurial fields avoid and resolve intellectual property disputes, and is a highly-sought after speaker and author on intellectual property and social media legal issues.

Education Foundation names 2011-12 board

The Nashville Public Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to securing philanthropic investments that result in significant and transformational impact on public education, has announced the officers of its 2011-2012 board of directors.

Margaret Dolan, vice president of community relations for Ingram Industries Inc., will serve as chair. Vice chair is Michael Carter, managing partner of Pinnacle Construction Partners. John Ferguson, chairman of the board for Corrections Corporation of America, serves as treasurer, while Darrell S. Freeman, executive chairman for Zycron, Inc., is secretary.

Adventure Science names 2011-12 board

Adventure Science Center (ASC) recently announced a new slate of officers and members for its Board of Trustees, beginning with the center’s 2011-2012 fiscal year.

They are: Chair, John Gawaluck, Ernst & Young; chair elect, DeVan D. Ard Jr., Reliant Bank; immediate past chair, Ed Lang, New Orleans Hornets; secretary, J. Thomas Trent, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP; Treasurer, Allen Oakley, Region’s Bank; ASC president & CEO, Susan Duvenhage.

New Board Members: Jeb Beasley, Corrections Corporation of America; Jeffrey D. Cogen, Nashville Predators; Kevin Howard, Community Health Systems; Brett Kern, Tennessee Titans; Dr. Divya Shroff, HCA Healthcare; Kay Simmons, Metropolitan Parks and Recreation.

Returning Board Members: Honey Alexander, community volunteer; Sarah Baker, Metro Nashville Public Schools; Ronald L. Corbin, community volunteer; Beth Courtney, Seigenthaler Public Relations; Robert A. Frist, Jr., Healthstream; Donald MacLeod, community volunteer; David C. McGowan, Jr., Regent Development LLC; Lyn Plantinga, News Channel 5; Dowell Hoskins Squier, Gresham, Smith and Partners; Butch Spyridon, Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau; Ronnie Steine, Metro councilman; Marc K. Stengel, Historix; James S. Turner, Jr., Marketstreet Enterprises; David Williams II, Vanderbilt University; Leslie Wisner-Lynch, BioTN Foundation, Inc; Jack Wood, Barge, Waggoner, Sumner & Cannon; Uzi Yemin, Mapco Express, Inc.

Schaffner honored with mentoring award

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) awarded William Schaffner, M.D., professor and chair of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, with its Walter E. Stamm Mentor Award at its annual meeting in Boston.

IDSA is the premier academic and professional society devoted to the prevention, treatment and investigation of infectious diseases. The Walter E. Stamm Mentor Award is granted to an IDSA member or fellow who has been exceptional in guiding the professional growth of infectious diseases professionals.

Baker Donelson merges with Orlando law firm

In its second major expansion in less than a month, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC has merged with the Orlando law firm of Litchford & Christopher Professional Association. The merger gives Baker Donelson its first Florida location and, with the firm’s move into Texas in October, marks the second new market the firm has added to its footprint in the last month.

The combined firm, which will continue with the name of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, has more than 620 attorneys and advisors across 18 offices in seven states and Washington, D.C.

Pinnacle adds Wasson, Simmons

Financial services professionals Ellis Simmons and Debbie Wasson have joined Pinnacle Financial Partners’ client advisory group.

Simmons brings 25 years of experience to his role of senior vice president and financial advisor. He comes most recently from Tennessee Commerce Bank, where he was a commercial banker. Simmons holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of the South in Sewanee.

Wasson brings 20 years of experience and also comes from Tennessee Commerce Bank where she was a commercial loan assistant. Simmons and Wasson are based at Pinnacle’s downtown Nashville location at Pinnacle at Symphony Place.

Fifth Third names new PR manager

Fifth Third Bank Tennessee has named Amanda Sluss the new public relations manager for Nashville. Assigned to Fifth Third’s marketing department, she is spearheading the bank’s external and internal communications efforts.

Sluss comes to Fifth Third from Metro Nashville’s Office of Emergency Management and Emergency Communications Center, where she served as the public information officer and agency spokesperson for the past five years. In this role, she was responsible for managing the public affairs, community relations, internal and external communications functions.