Dolan

LocalShares Inc., a community-focused investment firm, has attracted veteran leadership to head new divisions of the company.

Margaret O. Dolan, a Nashville business and community leader and formerly president and CEO of the Saint Thomas Health Foundations, has been named the president of the new Knowledge Division.

Matthew F. Hayes, a veteran interbank financial markets executive and formerly senior vice president of the Bank of Oklahoma, has been named the president of the new Investment Division.

Both divisions focus on advancing the LocalShares mission, which is to create meaningful investment opportunities in highly performing economic communities, such as Nashville. LocalShares, which in 2013 established the Nashville Area ETF (NYSE:NASH), America’s first city-based exchange traded fund, offers investment in community through funds, conferences, corporate and social responsibility initiatives, and civic engagement.

Dolan also formerly served as the vice president of community relations for Ingram Industries Inc. She currently serves on the boards of Fifth Third Bank Tennessee, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Nashville Business Coalition, the Tennessee Business Roundtable, and is a previous chair and current director for both the Nashville Public Education Foundation and the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville.

Hayes

Hayes, who is based in Chicago, Illinois, is a foreign exchange expert who has assessed, evaluated and traded in global markets for more than 30 years. Previously, Hayes, an early investor in LocalShares, also served as portfolio manager for Citadel Investment Group in Chicago and was managing director and global head of leverage trading and head of North American foreign exchange trading for ABN AMRO, a global Dutch bank headquartered in Amsterdam.

A graduate of Georgetown University, Hayes is involved in numerous community initiatives, including Misericordia Home and New Trier High School.

“Margaret and Matt are proven leaders who understand the importance of aligning business with community through knowledge and investment that elevate the whole,” said Beth S. Courtney, a founder and director of LocalShares. “We are proud that Margaret and Matt have joined LocalShares and will help position the company to expand our offerings in middle Tennessee and within other vibrant economies.”

LocalShares Investment Division is a catalyst for growth and development of funds and other investment products. The division expands distribution channels and identifies future markets where LocalShares funds can be advanced.

It was founded in 2010 by Courtney, president of DVL Seigenthaler, a Finn Partners Company; William S. Decker, CEO of Decker Wealth Management, LLC, and Michael D. Shmerling, chairman of XMi Holdings.

Neal & Harwell names Stockton associate

Stockton

Mariam N. Stockton, who was previously a litigation specialist at Neal & Harwell, PLC, has been named an associate at the firm.

Stockton practices primarily in the area of civil litigation. Her experience includes entertainment litigation, medical malpractice, personal injury and contract disputes, as well as corporate investigations.

She is a 2010 graduate of Nashville School of Law and a 2005 graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, where she earned a degree in political science with a concentration in pre-law. Stockton will begin her Master of Laws in trial advocacy this fall.

Coverstone joins Belmont education think tank

Coverstone

Alan Coverstone, who until last week was the executive director of innovation with Metro Nashville Public Schools, has begun a new position as a tenure-track assistant professor in Belmont’s School of Education with additional duties as director of special initiatives in education.

Coverstone joins Jesse Register, former superintendent of Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and current Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership at Belmont, in managing Belmont’s new Center for Improvement of Educational Systems, a think-tank, a training institute site and an incubator to discover ways to restructure schools at the district level using collaborative, community-based approaches.

Coverstone had served in a variety of positions for the district, first as a school board member, then as executive director of charter schools and as the executive director of innovation, where he oversaw a portfolio of turnaround schools.

Prior to joining MNPS, Coverstone spent 14 years at Montgomery Bell Academy as a teacher, debate coach and academic dean. He holds a degree in speech communication and rhetoric from Wake Forest University, an MAED in curriculum and instruction from the University of Phoenix and a doctorate in education leadership, policy and organizations from Vanderbilt University.

Ybarra joins Cresa real estate consulting

Ybarra

Cresa, a corporate real estate advisory firm exclusively representing tenants and occupiers, has added Rick Ybarra as a managing principal in the recently announced Cresa Consulting Group. Ybarra is based in Nashville.

CCG, formerly known as Honour Consulting before joining with Cresa, includes a large staff of industry professionals located at multiple sites throughout the country.

Ybarra, who has more than 17 years of program/project management and consulting experience, works with clients to ”align their business, strategy, operations, talent and information technology with their real estate needs.” Previously, Ybarra was an executive for a Big Four international professional services firm.

Scott to lead RUSSO’s move to Nashville market

Scott

RUSSO, a Louisiana-based branding agency with a client roster that includes Marriott International, Copeland’s, First Bank and Trust, Double Tree Hotel, Ochsner Health System and Chuy’s Tex Mex, has opened an office in Cool Springs.

Heading RUSSO’s Nashville office will be Tennessee native Alex Scott, who spent more than 10 years in the hospitality industry working with top hoteliers including Marriott, Hilton, and Intercontinental Hotels Group. The firm was launched in 2001, with offices in Lafayette and New Orleans.

YWCA names VP of development, marketing

Wolfe

Maria Wolfe has joined YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee as vice president of development and marketing. The Williamson County native returns to Tennessee after serving as chief marketing officer for the Jewish Community Association of Greater Phoenix.

Wolfe spent a decade at the YMCA of Middle Tennessee, where she held various vice president roles, including senior vice president, brand strategy. Prior to joining the non-profit sector, she worked in marketing and graphic design for Ingram Content Group, Sunbeam-Oster and B.A. Pargh.

She holds a BFA from Auburn University and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Nashville’s Diaz selected to Cancer Society post

Diaz

Diana S. Diaz, RN, MS, of Nashville, has been announced as chair of the American Cancer Society Mid-South Division Board of Directors for 2016.

The American Cancer Society Mid-South Division Board of Directors consists of 28 members, which include four officers and 24 directors. Directors are elected for a three-year term, and officers hold their position for a one-year term.

Newly elected members to the Mid-South board include Luther Deaton of Lexington, Ky., Bobby Harris of Little Rock, Ark., Mary Sue McClurkin of Birmingham, Ala., and Cheryl Turner of Jackson, Miss.

Terracon welcomes Agee as regional manager

Agee

Terracon is pleased to announce that John Agee, P.E., has joined the company as principal and regional manager. In this role, he will provide support for the Nashville and Memphis market areas.

Agee brings more than 25 years of experience engaging with clients to deliver practical solutions for construction, geotechnical, and materials projects. His portfolio includes commercial, industrial, public, transportation, aviation, military, health care, landfill, litigation support, and forensics projects.

Agee serves as committee chair for both the Tennessee section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Tennessee. He also serves on the civil and environmental engineering advisory board for Tennessee Technical University.

Kurtz joins BOHAN as assoc. engagement planner

Kurtz

BOHAN Advertising has hired Laura Kurtz as an associate engagement planner. She previously was an assistant media planner/buyer at BRUNNERworks, an independent advertising agency in Pittsburgh.

Kayse

Webber

She was a primary planner/buyer there on regional accounts and also worked on national accounts such as Cub Cadet, Bob Evans Farms and Knouse Foods. She previously was an account executive at Sinclair Broadcast Group, also in Pittsburgh.

Also, Joe Kayse, who has worked at advertising leaders such as the Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., and Ogilvy & Mather in Chicago, has joined BOHAN as associate creative director/art director. He previously was senior art director at Moxie in Columbus, Ohio.

Steeplechase announces honorary co-chair

The Iroquois Steeplechase has selected Steven Webber, M.B.Ch.B, as its 2016 honorary co-chair of the 75th Iroquois Steeplechase, scheduled for May 14.

As the pediatrician-in-chief of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, Webber was nominated to represent the hospital and its long-standing relationship with the race for his work to improve the lives of children in our region through Vanderbilt Children’s missions of clinical care, discovery and education of the next generation of pediatricians.

Webber serves as the chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and is the James C. Overall Professor of Pediatrics, as well as pediatrician-in-chief of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

A native of the United Kingdom, Webber was previously chief of pediatric cardiology, co-director of the Heart Institute and medical director of the Thoracic Transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital.