Managing attorney Michele Johnson will succeed Gordon Bonnyman as executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center at the end of 2013.

Bonnyman and Johnson co-founded the organization 17 years ago to advocate for Tennessee’s vulnerable populations, particularly those struggling to find access to health care.

Johnson, a Nashville native, is nationally known for her legal work with children who have special health care needs. As managing attorney, Johnson represents uninsured children in working families and TennCare patients who are denied care by their HMO.

She is president of the board of Tennessee Voices for Children (TVC), and serves on the Board of Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and the Nashville Bar Association Board of Directors. She was recently awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for advocacy by Tennessee Voices for Children.

Bonnyman has represented disadvantaged clients for 40 years, earning a national reputation for his expertise in health policy and civil rights.

In 2003, Bonnyman was named Tennessean of the Year by The Tennessean for his work on behalf of low-income Tennessee residents. He has received awards from numerous state and national organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice.

Friends of Warner Parks hires Willis replacement

The Friends of Warner Parks board of directors has selected Mark Weller as its new executive director, who will take the helm of the 22-year-old nonprofit this fall.

Earlier this year, longtime executive director Eleanor Willis announced she plans to retire this fall. Willis was the first full-time executive director of the nonprofit, which provides advocacy and private support for the Warner Parks system.

Weller has served as the executive director of YMCA’s Camp Widjiwagan since its founding in 1997. He has a BS in mathematics and a master’s in recreation administration from the University of Southern Illinois. He came to Camp Widjiwagan from the St. Louis area, where he was with YMCA’s Camp Lakewood for seven years.

Community Foundation names board members

The board of directors of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, a charitable organization that connects generosity with need throughout Middle Tennessee, announces the appointment of three new members to its board of directors: Jana J. Davis, Rod Essig and Dr. Stephaine H. Walker.

Rejoining The Foundation’s board as trustee members are Judy Liff Barker, Richard J. Eskind and Ben R. Rechter.

Davis is senior vice president of corporate affairs with HCA, where she oversees corporate communications, marketing management, community relations, diversity and inclusion, The HCA Hope Fund and The HCA Foundation. Prior to joining HCA in 1997, she served as Burson-Marsteller’s managing director for crisis and corporate practice chair for Latin American operations. Davis also held a number of public affairs positions in the George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan Administrations.

Essig is an agent with Creative Artists Agency, a full-service talent agency representing professionals working in film, television, music and more. In 1993, he relocated to Nashville and joined CAA, where he helped build the Los Angeles-based operation into one of the largest agencies in Music City.

Walker is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She previously served as a Harvard Medical Faculty physician, neonatologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and an instructor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Pediatrics. Walker has been the recipient of several honors and awards, including the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Presidential Scholars Award at Harvard University, and the Dr. Milton Rosenbluth Fellowship at Cornell University Medical College.

Aegis Sciences Corporation adds vice president

Aegis Sciences Corporation, which operates forensic toxicology and health care sciences laboratories, has added David Hill as vice president of managed care.

Hill will lead all national managed care operations for Aegis, collaborating with clients, developing business relationships with managed care health plans and payors, and securing competitive status for the company in the managed care market.

He brings 15 years of managed care leadership experience to Aegis. Prior to joining the company, he was director of managed care for Simplex Healthcare. Before Simplex, Hill served as area vice president of CARECENTRIX in Hartford, Conn. and leader of managed care at E+ CANCERCARE in Nashville. Hill earned his MBA from Belmont University and his BS in finance from Samford University.

CapStar adds to Midstate leadership

CapStar has added several new positions at the bank, primarily expanding sales and support for the bank’s lending capacity across Middle Tennessee.

Tony Cassiol has been hired as a senior vice president in C&I Commercial division. A native of Buffalo, NY, Cassiol was previously a senior vice president with Bank of America in Nashville. He also held leadership roles at Royal Bank of Scotland and Manufacturers & Traders Bank in Buffalo, NY.

Jennifer O’Bannon and Kerri Greer will join the loan operations & support division.

O’Bannon came from Gaylord, where she had a sales analyst role, and was previously a retail operations specialist with Reliant Bank.

Greer was previously a loan support/project manager at Civic Bank and Trust. She began her banking career at First American National Bank and has also had customer service roles at The Bank of Nashville and First Farmers & Merchants Bank.

Ty Cusick is a new credit analyst for the C&I lending division, and Amanda Kimberly is a portfolio manager in CapStar’s Hendersonville office, also supporting credit.

Cusick was previously with United Community Bank in Lenoir City. He was formerly a business development officer with UCB after serving as a credit analyst there.

Kimberly joins CapStar from Sumner Bank and Trust in Gallatin, where she was a credit analyst and lending assistant, analyzing financial relationships and coordinating the annual loan review process. With 14 years of credit experience, she has also been a manager of credentialing shared services at HCA, managing corporate credentialing activities for corporate, central processing centers and medical staff offices.

Public access television appoints new CEO

The Nashville Education, Community and Arts Television network (NECAT) has appointed Trish Crist as CEO, effective June 24.

Crist replaces Kim Hayes, who has served as director of the organization for the past four years.

She comes from The Nature Conservancy, where she has been involved in philanthropic giving and corporate and foundation relations since 2009. Crist also served stints at Hands On Nashville and was program director of the Governor’s Books From Birth Foundation from 2004-2009.

NECAT is the not-for-profit organization that operates Music City Arts 9, iQtv10 and Access Nashville 19 on Comcast cable in Davidson County. These local stations bring the talent and knowledge of its residents to over 161,000 households in Davidson County and streams online.

DVL promotes Sullivan, Davidson

DVL Public Relations & Advertising recently announced the promotions of Claire Sullivan and Catherina Davidson.

Sullivan, who joined DVL in January 2012, has been promoted from account service associate to assistant account executive. Her areas of focus include media relations, branding, social media strategy and content development.

She works with clients in the automotive, food and beverage, real estate and health care industries. She is a member of DVL’s social media and brand teams.

Davidson has been promoted to account service associate. Since starting at DVL in August 2012, she has worked with clients in the food and beverage, healthcare, retail, utilities and automotive industries. Davidson will assist multiple account teams in media relations, social media and strategic communications initiatives.

Eight complete Leadership GNAR

Eight real estate professionals have completed The Greater Nashville Association of Realtors 2013 Leadership GNAR program. The group is made up of Realtors who have expressed an interest in understanding more about what the association does, developing leadership skills and potentially becoming leaders on committees and within the association.

2013 graduates are:

Teresa Beard – Fridrich and Clark Realty

Brad Copeland – Village Real Estate Services

Adam Hensley – Bob Parks Realty/Land/Auction Co.

Kindle Hughes – Village Real Estate Services

Colleen Kerrigan – Christianson, Patterson, Courtney & Associates

Steve Mabee – Parks

Sheree Rudd – Crye-Leike Realtors

Nathan Weinberg – Parks

Participants were nominated by their managing broker, a current GNAR director or a graduate of the class from prior years. Those selected were invited to participate in this limited-size class, which included an overnight retreat, two separate training sessions and a class project.

Pierce joins Pinnacle Financial

Donna Pierce has joined Pinnacle Financial Partners as a registered principal for Pinnacle Asset Management.

Pierce brings 24 years of financial services experience to her role. She comes most recently from Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. (Regions Bank), where she was a regional compliance principal.

Pierce attended Austin Peay State University. She holds Series 6, 7, 24, 53 and 63 licenses. Pierce is a member of the Nashville Compliance Principal Roundtable and is a past state president for the Tennessee Federation of Business and Professional Women.

Payment America names new CEO

Payment America Systems, Inc., a Nashville-based provider of health care revenue cycle services focused on patient payments, collections and revenue data, has named Phil Christianson as its president and CEO.

Payment America is a portfolio company of Council Capital, a Nashville-based private equity firm focused on healthcare investments.

Christianson brings more than 25 years of experience growing Fortune 500 and mid-sized health care businesses. His positions have included CEO of Focused Health Solutions, a disease management company, CEO of RealMed, a developer of SaaS revenue cycle management solutions for physicians, and CEO of Corporate Benefit Services of America, then one of the largest claims and health information administrators in the country.

He also ran divisions of The Walt Disney Company and United Health Group.