John C. McCauley, former Vanderbilt University assistant vice chancellor of risk and insurance management and associate general counsel, has joined Wiseman Ashworth Law Group, PLC. McCauley will work with the firm’s attorneys on complex medical malpractice cases and advise its clients on risk management issues.

McCauley was associated with Vanderbilt University from 1996 to 2011. During that time, he created, developed and implemented risk management programs for the medical center and university operations, including a level one trauma center, 1,000 physician faculty, nursing home affiliations, home health services, a regional children’s hospital, and psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitals.

His experience also includes a nine-year association with Charter Medical Corporation, Macon, GA, where he was Senior Executive Director of Risk Management and Claims Counsel. From 1983 to 1987, he was Director of Risk and Insurance Management for Norton Healthcare, Inc., Louisville, KY. He also worked with Humana Inc., Louisville, KY, as Corporate Claims Manager.

McCauley is a J.D. graduate of Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. He holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Mount Saint Mary’s University, Emmitsburg, MD.

Castle Homes’ Looney is top custom builder

Homebuilder Alan Looney, founder and president of Castle Homes, located in Brentwood, has been named Custom Builder of the Year by the Southern Living Custom Builder Program after the 2011 launch of the Southern Living Showcase Home in Nashville.

The Southern Living Custom Builder Program is an invitation-only network of nearly

100 builders across the country. Each member is hand-selected for their outstanding reputation, quality of design and construction, integrity, and stability in the locations they represent.

A member of the Southern Living Custom Builder Program since 2010, Castle Homes, a design-build firm with guaranteed pricing, earned the 2012 Builder of the Year award for its successful presentation of the 2011 Southern Living Showcase Home. The Southern Living Showcase Home in Nashville welcomed almost 7,000 visitors with Ronald McDonald House Nashville as the benefiting charity as well as receiving hundreds of donated Books From Birth for families served.

Purcell to chair Legal Aid campaign

Former Nashville Mayor William “Bill” Purcell III will serve as the 2012 community chair of the Legal Aid Society’s Campaign for Equal Justice.

The Legal Aid Society is Tennessee’s largest nonprofit law firm. This campaign is an annual initiative that raises funds for the Legal Aid Society and the Nashville Pro Bono Program.

With more than 30 years of experience in law, public service and higher education, Purcell has won numerous awards and honors including Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year; the Nashville Bar Association’s John C. Tune Award; Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Right Coalition’s Welcoming Tennessee Award; Nashville Alliance for Public Education’s Distinguished Service Award and Community Nashville’s Human Relations Award.

The Legal Aid Society gives free civil legal aid to people who have nowhere else to turn.

It serves 48 counties from offices in Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville, Gallatin, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Oak Ridge and Tullahoma. The Legal Aid Society is funded in part by United Way.

LifePoint execs named to national boards

Lanny Copeland, M.D., chief medical officer for Brentwood-based LifePoint Hospitals, has been appointed to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Advisory Panel on Hospital Outpatient Payment (HOP). The panel advises the HHS Secretary and CMS on the clinical integrity of hospital outpatient payments and supervision requirements for hospital outpatient services, including services provided by critical access hospitals.

Copeland joined LifePoint Hospitals as chief medical officer in August 2007 and oversees efforts to enhance physician relations and quality of care at each of the company’s 54 hospitals nationwide. He is a former chairman and president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, president of the American Board of Family Medicine, professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Mercer University School of Medicine and member of the Department of Family Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia.

Mark Poppell, vice president, reimbursement, at LifePoint, has been appointed to the Rural Health Congress, the policy-making body of the National Rural Health Association (NRHA).

Poppell has been a part of the LifePoint Hospitals team since its founding in 1999. Prior to this, he served HCA and Draffin & Tucker, LLP. He has served on several committees within the Federation of American Hospitals.

Pinnacle Financial makes personnel moves

Veteran banker Cindy Oliva has joined Pinnacle as senior vice president and financial advisor for its downtown Nashville office at Pinnacle at Symphony Place.

Oliva has 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. She spent 10 years at SunTrust Bank, most recently as first vice president of private wealth management and client advisor for its legal specialty group. Prior roles include serving as a vice president in business banking for AmSouth Bancorporation and a relationship manager in retail banking at First American National Bank.

Lindsey Matic and John Nelson have joined Pinnacle Financial Partners’ downtown office at Pinnacle at Symphony Place.

Matic is a financial analyst with seven years of experience. She comes most recently from O’Charley’s Inc., where she served as senior accountant. Prior to O’Charley’s, Matic was a senior audit associate for KPMG LLP.

Nelson, with 15 years of experience, is a vice president and credit analyst. He comes from Tennessee Commerce Bank, where he was an assistant vice president in internal loan review. Prior roles were with Fifth Third Bank, where he served as business development officer for its business banking group, and SunTrust Bank, where he was a credit manager in its asset-based lending area in Memphis.

Margaret Barnard, Shantara Franklin and Katie Nichols have joined Pinnacle at various branch offices.

Barnard brings eight years of experience to her role of service specialist at the Shelbyville office. She comes most recently from First Bank (Formerly AmSouth Bank), where she was a senior teller.

Franklin, with more than six years of experience, joins Pinnacle as a client services specialist. She comes from Bank of America, where roles include serving as a sales and service specialist for its Lebanon office and a teller operations specialist for its Madison office.

Nichols is a service specialist at the 100 Oaks office. Prior roles include serving as a financial services consultant for Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union in Chattanooga and as a member services representative for Southeast Financial Federal Credit Union in Knoxville.

Book’em announces 2012 officers, board

Book’em, a local nonprofit organization that empowers children by fostering a love of books and reading, has announced its officers and board members for 2012.

Officers include:

Cindee Gold, community volunteer, president; Leigh Lindsey, McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations, vice president/president-elect; Brandon Harrison, Kraft Healthcare Consulting, treasurer; Caroline Burris, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, secretary; Tonya Horton, SunTrust, past president.

Board members elected for the 2012-2013 term include:

LaTricea Adams, Brentwood Middle School; Jemina Boyd, Crowe Horwath; Todd Carter, Pinnacle Financial Partners; Mark Claypool, Educational Services of America; Elizabeth Davis, Cumberland Pharmaceuticals; Brenda Gadd, Frost Brown Todd LLC; Bruce Gallo, National Corporate Research; Verda Gibbs, Metro Nashville Public Schools; Enam Haque, Healthspring; Reba Holmes, Comdata Network, Inc.; William Howorth, HCA; Shane Ivey, Noble Sidekick; Jenny Lee, SunTrust Bank; Susan Patten Markel, Sarah Cannon Research Institute; Nicole Marks, Walmart Pharmacy; Mary McCarthy, Ingram Book Group; Shane Morris, Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP; Kenya Newby, Charlotte Park Elementary School; Leslie Newman, HCA; Emily Ogden, Grassroots Strategy LLC; Jake Ramsey, KIPP Academy Nashville; Sarah Rochford, Phi Kappa Tau National Fraternity; Tracy Rode, Vision 3 Interactive; Sheryl Rogers, Books from Birth of Middle Tennessee; Victoria Ross, Nashville Public Library, Edmondson Pike Branch; Brian Sims, Office of General Counsel, Tennessee Department of Health; Mary Comfort Stevens, Vanderbilt University; Tim Stewart, Belmont University; Angel Viera, Robert Churchwell Magnet Elementary School; Lynn Vincent, McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations.