Charles A. Trost

State Tax Notes recently named Charles A. Trost of Nashville-based Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP, one of the country’s Top 10 Tax Lawyers of 2011. Trost serves as counsel for Waller Lansden and is a former Commissioner of Revenue of the state of Tennessee.

This is the first year State Tax Notes has honored tax leaders through a specialized awards program. Recognition was awarded in four categories: Person of the Year, Tax Lawyer of the Year, Organization of the Year and Tax Administrator of the Year. Recipients were selected based on interviews, polling and input from the State Tax Notes editorial staff. Trost and the nine other Tax Lawyer of the Year honorees were considered the best in their field by both their peers and adversaries.

Trost first joined Waller Lansden in 1981 and returned to the firm as of counsel in early 2011 after leading the Tennessee Department of Revenue for four months. He also serves as associate dean of external relations at Belmont University’s College of Law.

Trost received his J.D. from the University of Alabama and his master of law in taxation from New York University. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University.

Metropolitan Bank adds managing director

Metropolitan Bank has announced the location of its initial Nashville office and the hiring of Sarah Johnson as senior managing director for the Nashville area.

Subject to receipt of pending regulatory approval, Metropolitan’s Nashville team will work out of its new office at 1612 West Gate Circle, Suite 222, in Brentwood, while continuing to seek a location in Nashville proper.

Johnson, who joins Nashville president Bill Menkel as part of Metropolitan’s Nashville office, brings more than 18 years of experience in the Nashville banking industry to the position. Most recently, she served as a vice president and commercial lender for Reliant Bank after spending 10 years in various leadership roles with NBC and SunTrust Bank. Johnson received her undergraduate degree in financial institutions management from Middle Tennessee State University and a graduate degree in retail and commercial banking from the Southeastern School of Banking.

Metropolitan Bank, the banking subsidiary of Metropolitan BancGroup, Inc., is a $560 million bank presently co-headquartered in Memphis and Ridgeland, Miss. Metropolitan operates six full-service banking offices in Mississippi and Tennessee.

Hamilton Springs wins planning award

Hamilton Springs, the first transit-oriented development in Middle Tennessee, received the “Outstanding Planning Award: Green Development for a Small Community” from the Tennessee chapter of the American Planning Association (TNAPA) at its annual statewide conference in Nashville.

Nashville-based Lose & Associates developed the Hamilton Springs specific plan, which involves creation of a traditional neighborhood “village” of residences and businesses with a Music City Star train station at its center. Hamilton Springs is a project of custom home builder Jack Bell and his brother Rick Bell.

Phase One of Hamilton Springs will include a boulevard and 396 multi-family units. Construction on Phase One will begin in the spring of 2012.

Nashville Bank & Trust hires credit manager

Gary I.V. Brossaline has joined Nashville Bank & Trust (NBT) as a credit product manager.

Brossaline comes to NBT from Regions Bank, where he worked as a portfolio manager within the commercial real estate group, preparing credit approval presentations and guiding transactions through the loan approval process. Prior to that, he served as commercial credit examiner for Synovus Bank.

He holds a bachelor’s of business administration from Austin Peay State University.

MP&F adds staff associate

McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations has hired Katherine Neunaber as a staff associate.

Neunaber, a Fairfax, Va., native, is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, with a degree in communication and a minor in Spanish.

Prior to joining MP&F, Neunaber served as the public relations intern for YWCA Knoxville for two years. Upon graduation, she moved to Atlanta to intern for MSLGroup, a global communications agency, focusing primarily on digital strategy and social media. Most recently, she interned with Dye, Van Mol & Lawrence Public Relations in Nashville.

Ryan Nevin joins Nevin Law Firm

Ryan Kent Howell Nevin has joined The Nevin Law Firm as an associate.

Nevin earned his J.D. magna cum laude this year from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. His honors include serving as the articles editor of the Loyola Law Review and graduating as a Crowe’s Scholar. Ryan earned a management degree, cum laude, from Tulane University.

He is a native of Nashville and an alumnus of Montgomery Bell Academy. Ryan will be practicing in the areas of bankruptcy, estate planning, debt relief, adoptions, probate, real estate and general practice.

VU’s Vermund cited for global health education

Sten Vermund, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Institute for Global Health (VIGH), was recognized last month at an international conference for his contributions to global health training and education.

Vermund received the Anvar and Pari Velji Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in Global Health from the Global Health Education Consortium (GHEC) during the 2011 Global Health Conference in Montreal, Canada.

Vermund is principal investigator of the NIH/Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholars Support Center at Vanderbilt.

The Veljis, who are husband and wife, were raised in East Africa and established the award that bears their name to honor lifetime achievement in global health education.

Anvar Velji, M.D., is co-founder and a current board member of GHEC, which represents health professionals, educators, students and institutions around the world. Last month it merged with the Consortium of Universities for Global Health.

Fifth Third Bank adds business banker

Maggie King has joined Fifth Third Bank as a business banking relationship specialist for the Tennessee affiliate. She was previously employed at First Citizens Bank.

Maggie has 8 years of experience in the banking industry, including financial center management, commercial and business banking. She received a bachelor of arts degree in political science and a master of public administration degree from the University of Tennessee.

Adventure Science receives Dell grant

Adventure Science Center was recently selected as one of 24 organizations in the United States to receive a technology grant from Dell YouthConnect, the global giving program of the computer manufacturer.

Dell YouthConnect helps non-profit organizations take Dell technology into underserved communities to teach information and technology skills. In collaboration with the Nashville After Zone Alliance (a network of coordinated afterschool programming for Metro Nashville Public School students), the Martha O’Bryan Center and Rose Park Math and Science Magnet Middle School, the Science Center will use the grant to provide a series of Digital Exploration Learning Labs, both on- and off-site, to middle school students in Davidson County. Participants in the labs will use digital environments and media to develop problem-solving, critical thinking and decision-making skills. Centered on project-based learning, student teams learn how to design an experiment, perform research and create a presentation to share their findings with other students.

Garland Rose receives National ASCE Award

Garland Rose, PE, chairman emeritus of Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon, Inc. (BWSC), has been recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) with the William H. Wisely American Civil Engineer Award for his contribution to better the history, tradition, developments, and technical and professional activities of the organization.

The award is named in memory of William H. Wisely, the chief staff officer of ASCE for nearly 20 years. It is presented annually to recognize outstanding individuals in the engineering industry. Rose has been active with ASCE since 1973, holding many roles in the organization, including serving as National Conference Planning Chair. Rose achieved Life Member status with ASCE in 2009 and remains active in the organization.

Rose served as chairman of the board of BWSC from 2005 to 2009. He served 34 years with the company before his retirement. Rose earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Vanderbilt University and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Tennessee. Rose is a past president of the Kiwanis Club of Nashville and has served on the external advisory board for the Civil and Environmental Department of Vanderbilt University’s School of Engineering.

Iroquois Capital offers Investment banking

Iroquois Capital Group, a Nashville-based merchant banking company, has launched an investment banking division to raise capital and provide investment banking advisory services to middle market companies. The expansion comes after the company’s capital raising projects for Covenant Surgical Partners, which recently closed $25 million of second lien debt to provide financing for further ambulatory surgery center acquisitions.

Iroquois has named Linda Costello as managing director of the new division. In addition to Costello, investment banking professionals Rick Gernert, Leighton Liles and Charlie Morgan have also joined the division.

With over 30 years of investment banking experience, Costello formerly served as a senior banker at Paine Webber and UBS. Prior to that, she led investment banking teams with Avondale Partners and J.C. Bradford. She began her career with Dean Witter Reynolds in New York and is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Gernert will serve as managing director, and Liles and Morgan as vice presidents.

Gernert has more than 30 years of financial services experience having worked as a founding partner of Forsch Corporation, an acquisition company, vice president of business development at EDS Corp., and managing director of Koch Ventures, an early-stage venture capital company.

Prior to joining Iroquois, Liles worked with Harpeth Capital and Renasant Bank in Nashville. He is a graduate of the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt and the University of Georgia.

Morgan previously worked with JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s investment banking group in New York. He graduated with distinction from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.

Iroquois Capital Group was established by Jack Jacques, former chairman and CEO of Jacques-Miller, and Mike Koban, former president and CEO of NetCare Health Systems. Jacques has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, while Koban has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Iroquois invests its own capital and the capital of its more than 500 outside investors.