Kent Cleaver, a founding officer of Avenue Bank, has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer for the bank.

Ronald L. Samuels continues as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. He will be leading the strategic planning and community direction for the bank, as well as advising on planning and development.

Mr. Cleaver will focus on business development for the bank, as well as oversee and manage the day to day operations. As President of the bank, he is now a member of the board of directors. He has served as Chief Operating Officer of Avenue Bank since its opening in July of 2007.

A native Nashvillian, Mr. Cleaver has 33 years of experience in banking, including retail and commercial, sales management and operational management at a statewide level.

He is a graduate of Lipscomb University.

Senior business analyst joins Atiba Software

Atiba Software LLC has hired Jorien Brangert, an experienced business analyst from the Netherlands. Brangert comes to Atiba from Bol.com, a popular Dutch shopping site.

At Bol.com, Brangert was responsible for creating a customer-centric shopping environment, training other analysts, managing multiple projects and meeting revenue goals. She previously worked for Oracle as an e-business consultant, implementing web analytics software for the largest 200 companies in the Netherlands.

Brangert earned her master’s degree in New Media and Digital Culture and her bachelor’s degree in Communication and Information Sciences from Utrecht University in The Netherlands.

Richards CEO named to NAID board of directors

Nashville business owner Steve Richards has been named to a new term on the board of directors of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID). In addition to his role as an NAID director, Richards will serve as chairman of the 2013 conference committee.

The destruction or shredding of documents is an important aspect of information management, and the NAID board of directors sets the standards for security and education in the information destruction business.

Richards & Richards was the first AAA NAID certified paper shredding company in Nashville. Richards & Richards must complete a third-party audit to assure that all shredded materials adhere to the strict NAID AAA security standards. Richards & Richards provides clients with a high-security, climate-controlled shredding environment, while maintaining custody of shredded goods from Richards & Richards’ records center to the paper mill.

Boy Scouts select Moore as COO

The Middle Tennessee Council of Boy Scouts of America has named Martez Moore to serve as chief operating officer, with responsibilities including membership growth, volunteer and staff services, and coordinating the efforts of district executives. In his new role, Moore is the second highest ranking scouting professional in the Council and will report to Scout Executive Hugh Travis.

Earning the rank of Eagle Scout in his youth and graduating from Tennessee State University, Moore started his career with the Middle Tennessee Council in 2002 as a neighborhood executive. He climbed the ranks to district executive as well as serving as a reserve U.S. Marine before being called to active duty. Upon his return to the Council, Moore served as senior district executive and field director before his recent appointment to chief operating officer.

Moore takes the place of David Williams, who accepted the position of Deputy Scout Executive for the Circle Ten Council in Dallas, Texas.

Cantrell Joins Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo has added Renee E. Cantrell as senior vice president and Treasury management sales consultant.

In her role within Commercial Banking, Cantrell will provide treasury solutions to businesses and corporations with $25 million to $750 million in annual revenues. Based in Nashville, Cantrell will report to Jim Walsh, Treasury management sales manager for Wells Fargo’s Commercial Banking operations in Atlanta.

Cantrell, who has more than 25 years of banking and Treasury experience in a variety of roles within commercial and consumer banking, joins Wells Fargo from Bank of America. She is a graduate of Belmont University.

United Way names new associate director

James Mullen has been promoted to associate director, workplace engagement for United Way of Metropolitan Nashville.

In his new role, Mullen will oversee details of the overall United Way workplace campaign to effectively lead the organization and the work place engagement team in the Nashville community. In addition, Mullen will focus on team and talent development as the organization continues to provide value and impact as well as a return on investment for those contributing to United Way.

Mullen joined United Way of Metropolitan Nashville in 2011 after serving as senior campaign manager for United Way in Cleveland, where he exceeded more than $3.7 million in donations and developed a work plan, strategies and implemented a series of best practices in the market.

Pinnacle taps veteran financial advisor

Veteran banker William Diehl has joined Pinnacle Financial Partners as senior vice president and financial advisor for its downtown Nashville office at Pinnacle at Symphony Place.

Diehl has 32 years of experience in the financial services industry. He spent the past 25 years at Bank of America, most recently as a senior client manager. Diehl also served as a relationship manager at First American National Bank for seven years.

Diehl is on the board of the Nashville Sports Council and Nashville Predators Foundation and is past president of Safe Haven Family Shelter’s board of directors. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Vanderbilt University and master’s of business administration from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

LBMC adds new line, security specialist

Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain, PC and The LBMC Family of Companies have launched a new service line to safeguard information exchanged over mobile devices. To help spearhead this new offering to clients, LBMC has added Ken Swain, a security specialist, as a senior manager in the risk services department.

Swain, previously an engagement manager and senior security engineer at Hewlett-Packard, brings more than 12 years of experience assisting clients with all aspects of their security needs. His areas of expertise include Security incident and event management, application security, mobile security, network monitoring, system configuration management, network and system hardening and penetration testing.

Smith named president of Williamson Christian

Williamson Christian College’s board of trustees has named Dr. Ed Smith as president. He is founder of Oxygen for Leaders, an executive coaching and consultancy organization, and an expert in managing change within business and faith-based organizations.

Smith has more than 25 years of experience working in commercial banking and with church and non-profit organizations. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of Kentucky and a Ph.D. in organizational leadership from Regent University.

Founded in 1998, Williamson Christian College is a non-profit organization that serves students of all ages, including non-traditional ones who typically are older students already in the workforce. Classes are usually held one evening a week and one class at a time. Williamson Christian College is not related to a denomination and is guided by an eleven-member board of trustees.

Disney joins Worthy as VP of marketing

Worthy Publishing has hired Dennis Disney in a newly created position with the title of vice president of marketing. Disney will provide leadership in strategic planning, as well as operational execution of marketing for Worthy’s trade products.

For the past twelve years Disney served as president of D-Squared Entertainment, a full-service strategic marketing company, and worked with music, film, live event and book publishing companies, including Zondervan and Thomas Nelson. He serves as an adjunct instructor at Belmont University in the Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business, teaching the distribution of film, music, and books. Disney began his career at Word, Inc., before serving for nearly a decade as vice president of marketing at Provident/Benson Music, one of the big-three Christian music companies.

Friends of Radnor Lake elect officers, board

Friends of Radnor Lake, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting, preserving and promoting the natural integrity of Radnor Lake through land acquisition and environmental education, has announced its officers and new board members.

The elected officers are:

• Greer Tidwell, director of environmental management for Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, president
• Paul M. Buchanan, partner with Ortale, Kelley, Herbert & Crawford, vice president of land acquisition
• Elizabeth Wagster, corporate meeting and event planner for ETW Meeting Management, vice president of operations
• Don Shriver, senior vice president of Nashville Bank and Trust, treasurer
• Nan Adams, community volunteer, secretary.

New board members are:

• Lauren Stone, strategic analyst for Dialysis Clinic, Inc.
• James Weinberg, an independent CPA and CFO for Village Real Estate.

Waller Lansden adds patent attorney, scientist

Dr. Kelly Hollowell, a patent attorney and scientist with a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular pharmacology, has joined Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP as a partner in the firm’s Intellectual Property group.

Hollowell previously practiced in the Virginia Beach, VA office of Williams Mullen, P.C.

Hollowell’s practice will focus on trademark prosecution, patent prosecution, and patent litigation, and will include intellectual property management and licensing for domestic and international manufacturing, healthcare, and technology companies.

She received her B.A. in biology and mathematics from the University of South Florida, her Ph.D. in molecular and cellular pharmacology from the University of Miami School of Medicine and her J.D. from Regent University Law School.