Borchetta

Big Machine Label Group President and CEO Scott Borchetta will receive the Music Business Association’s (Music Biz) Presidential Award for Outstanding Executive Achievement during the Music Biz 2015 Awards Luncheon on May 14.

Borchetta will join the ranks of past honorees who have been recognized for their outstanding vision, leadership, and commitment, including Sylvia Rhone, Ted Cohen, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), John Marmaduke, Jim Urie, Bob Higgins, Eric Paulson, the Country Music Association (CMA), The Recording Academy, Don Cornelius, Clive Davis, Paul Smith, Casey Kasem, Henry Droz, Russ Solomon, Dick Clark, Akio Morita, Walter Yetnikoff, and Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun.

In 2005, Borchetta created Big Machine Records and signed Taylor Swift as his first artist, helping her make history by becoming the first artist to notch three consecutive million-plus-selling debuts for her albums Speak Now, Red, and 1989.

He has since expanded Big Machine Records into the Big Machine Label Group, which also includes The Valory Music Co. as well as Republic Nashville, Dot Records, and NASH Icon. Under this umbrella, Borchetta has cultivated one of the strongest artist rosters in Country music, including Tim McGraw, Florida Georgia Line, The Band Perry, and Rascal Flatts.

Prior to founding Big Machine Label Group, Borchetta served as a top executive at MCA Records and DreamWorks Records, where he helped develop the careers of George Strait, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood, and Toby Keith.

In addition to his career in music, Borchetta is a noted auto racing enthusiast and former driver who has won three consecutive NASCAR Super Truck Series championships at Nashville’s Fairgrounds Speedway.

Waddey, 5 other IP attorneys join Waller

Waddey

Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP has significantly expanded its intellectual property practice with the addition of I.C. (Jack) Waddey, an industry leader with 40 years of experience in IP counseling and litigation, as partner.

Waddey, who co-founded and helped lead Waddey Patterson Intellectual Property Law over the last 20 years, is joined by five additional IP attorneys, Larry Brantley, Andy Pitchford, Matthew Cox, Nate Bailey and Blake Bernard.

Waddey has represented clients as an adviser in developing their intellectual property portfolios, as a patent and trademark advocate, and as a mentor to startup organizations. He has assisted clients in obtaining more than 160 patents and has more than 40 years of experience in IP counseling and litigation, including trials representing clients in federal and state courts throughout the country and the United States Courts of Appeal.

Most recently he was a co-founder and senior attorney of Waddey Patterson, where he was instrumental in the firm’s growth for more than 20 years.

Brantley has been practicing law for more than 17 years and has extensive experience in obtaining and protecting intellectual property rights for clients. Since 2011, Brantley has maintained an intellectual property practice and handled complex data rights issues for the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command. Brantley earned his J.D. in 1997 from the University of Alabama School of Law, and a B.S. in electrical engineering in 1989 from Auburn University.

Pitchford’s areas of technical expertise include analog, digital and mixed signal circuits, medical devices, electronic controllers, mechanical devices and biotechnology. He earned his J.D. in 2005 from the University of Kentucky College of Law and a B.S. in electrical engineering, magna cum laude, in 2001 from the University of Kentucky.

Cox’s areas of technical expertise include mechanical and electro-mechanical systems, medical devices, heavy machinery, automotive, manufacturing, microfluidic devices, materials science, and aerospace applications. He earned his J.D. in 2009 from the University of Tennessee College of Law, an M.S. in mechanical engineering in 2005 from Vanderbilt University and a B.E. in mechanical engineering in 2002 from Vanderbilt University.

Bailey previously worked at the Trial Division of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board at the United States Patent and Trademark Office and for a patent boutique firm in the Washington, D.C. area, where he participated in all aspects of IP litigation. He started his career clerking for the Honorable Glen M. Williams in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. He earned his J.D. and an M.S. in electrical and computer engineering in 2007 from Southern Illinois University and a B.S. in physics, chemistry and philosophy in 2004 from East Tennessee State University.

Bernard primarily prosecutes patents in the mechanical, electromechanical and industrial arts. His technical background is in mechanical engineering, including designing portable medicinal refrigeration equipment for the CDC and working on industrial engineering and optimization processes for a large grocery supplier. He was also a teaching assistant for the physics department at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Bernard earned his J.D. in 2013 from the University of Alabama School of Law and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech.

Waller hires former asst. US attorney

Thomas

Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP has added to its Government Investigations and White Collar practice with former Assistant United States Attorney J.D. Thomas joining the firm as a partner. Thomas most recently served in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, where he focused on prosecuting health care fraud.

Thomas joins a team of experienced white collar/qui tam attorneys at Waller, including others from the Department of Justice and other U.S. Attorney’s Offices. The group frequently represents healthcare organizations, boards of directors and executives in federal, state and local criminal, civil and regulatory enforcement matters.

At the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, Thomas investigated and prosecuted numerous actions brought under the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law, among others.

Prior to the U.S. Attorney’s office, he was in private practice in Nashville and Washington D.C., where he advised clients on various health care, international antitrust and high profile litigation matters. Thomas obtained his J.D. from the University of Virginia and received his B.S. in political science from Vassar College.

Myers named co-chair of Stites & Harbison’s group

Myers

Stites & Harbison, PLLC has named Nashville attorney Richard Myers, Jr., as co-chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property & Technology Service Group. Myers joins attorney Bill Schulman as co-chair of the group.

Myers is a registered U.S. patent attorney who focuses on patent-related aspects of intellectual property, including counseling clients on patent infringement, patent validity, and patentability. He has more than two decades of experience with the patent prosecution process.

As a former patent examiner and an attorney in the private sector, he has examined or prosecuted over 600 patent applications. With an academic background in chemistry, his practice primarily focuses on life sciences technology, including a wide variety of chemical and pharmaceutical arts.

First Tennessee promotes Drake to executive VP

Drake

Renee Drake, a veteran banker with more than 30 years of experience, is the new executive vice president for commercial banking at First Tennessee Bank in Nashville.

She succeeds Tony Thompson, who is now the president of First Tennessee’s Columbia banking market.

Drake most recently served as senior vice president, commercial banking and wealth management executive for the Tennessee affiliate of Fifth Third Bank. Prior to joining Fifth Third, Drake spent 16 years with SunTrust Bank, where she held leadership positions in commercial and corporate banking and private wealth management lines.

Drake is a graduate of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where she earned her BSBA and an MBA.

Morin named president, COO of Ingram Content Group

Morin

John R. Ingram, chief executive officer of Ingram Content Group Inc., today announced the appointment of Shawn Morin as president and chief operating officer.

Morin has been chief operating officer of the company since June, 2012. His additional responsibilities as President are effective immediately.

As COO, Morin has been the executive in charge of managing the company’s commercial activities, systems, and operations. The past two years have seen important expansions in the scope of Ingram’s systems that serve publishers, libraries, booksellers and educators worldwide.

Morin joined the company in 2009 as the Chief Information Officer and was responsible for overseeing the information technology infrastructures and applications for the content group of companies, which include Lightning Source Inc., Ingram Book Company, Vital Source Technologies, and Ingram Publisher Services.

He came to Ingram from Bass Pro Shops, based in Springfield, Missouri, where he was chief information officer and vice president of information technology. Earlier in his career, he was the lead engineer working on the on-board flight software for the Space Shuttle program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Morin earned a degree in engineering (computer technology) from the University of South Florida.

Veteran banker joins Pinnacle Financial

Vance

Tom Vance has joined Pinnacle Financial Partners as a senior vice president and senior lending officer for Pinnacle Financial Partners. He will lead the firm’s Client Advisory Group in Rutherford County and is based at Pinnacle’s College Street office.

Vance is a long-time Murfreesboro resident who has been active in the market his entire career. He brings 37 years of financial services experience to his role and comes most recently from First National Bank of McMinnville and First McMinnville Corporation, where he was president and CEO.

Prior roles include serving as president and CEO of Rutherford Bank.

MP&F Public Relations promotes 2 supervisors

Darden

McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations has promoted Jessica Darden and Dan Schlacter to senior account supervisors. They were previously account supervisors.

Darden has worked for a number of different clients in various industries during her 10 years at MP&F, including health care, retail, government and the nonprofit sector.

Darden’s specialties include research, event planning, community relations, grassroots campaigns and materials development. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a degree in communications.

Schlacter

Since joining MP&F nine years ago, Schlacter has worked on various projects, including health care policy awareness for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, alternative fuel messaging for General Motors and strategic communication services for the Nashville Public Library Foundation.

He also is a UT graduate with a degree in marketing.