James H. “Jay” Nixon III, W. Travis Parham and Amanda K. Jester have been elected to the board of directors of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP, while Mark Peters (labor and employment) and David R. Clay and MaryEllen S. Pickrell (corporate) have been named practice leaders at the firm.

Nixon provides counsel to investor-owned health care companies, real estate investment trusts and others in registered and private offerings of debt and equity securities, venture capital financing, mergers and acquisitions, and joint venture transactions. He earned his J.D. in 1995 from the University of Tennessee and his bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University.

Parham has more than 20 years of experience as a litigator in the health care, financial services, real estate, electronic payment processing, local government, waste management and manufacturing industries. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and earned his J.D. from Wake Forest University.

Jester is based in Waller’s Austin office.

Peters represents employers throughout the country in employment disputes and provides day-to-day advice and counseling to companies in a broad range of industries from health care and telecommunications to manufacturing and professional sports. He earned his J.D. in 1996 from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and his B.A. in 1992 from Sewanee: The University of the South.

Clay assists publicly traded and privately held health care clients in strategic acquisitions and divestitures of facilities – such as hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and imaging centers – and in establishing joint ventures with physicians and physician groups. He is a 2001 graduate of Belmont University and earned his J.D. in 2004 from Emory University.

Pickrell represents hospitals and health systems in the acquisition of health care facilities and organizations including transactions involving tax-exempt hospitals subject to state attorney general review, distressed facilities and physician practices. She earned her J.D. in 1994 from Vanderbilt University Law School and her B.A. in 1989 from Williams College.

Nashville lawyer is new Tenn. Bar Association VP

Pannu

Nashville lawyer Jason Pannu has been installed as vice president of the Tennessee Bar Association at the group’s annual convention this week in Nashville

After serving a year as vice president, Pannu will ascend to president-elect in 2017 and then lead the association as president beginning in 2018

Pannu is a shareholder in the Nashville office of Lewis Thomason, where he practices primarily in the areas of business and commercial litigation with an emphasis on the construction industry. He also practices in the areas of professional liability, toxic tort and environmental law, and employment law disputes. Pannu, who received his law degree in 2002 from the University of Alberta, previously practiced as a barrister and solicitor in Toronto, Ontario

At the TBA, Pannu has served as secretary and on the Board of Governors of the TBA from 2008 through 2015. He is a Fellow of the TBA’s Young Lawyers Division and was a graduate of the 2011 Leadership Law Class. Pannu is a member of the TBA’s Special Committee on Law Practice by Foreign Lawyers. As vice president, he holds a seat on the TBA Board of Governors and its executive committee.

Thorsen joins Baker Donelson Litigation Group

Baker Donelson has hired Christopher E. Thorsen to the firm’s Nashville office.

Thorsen joins as a shareholder in Baker Donelson’s Business Litigation Group and represents businesses and individual directors and officers in bet-the-company litigation and arbitration matters involving corporations, individuals, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice and state securities law enforcement agencies across the country.

He is a graduate of Northwestern University and earned his J.D. at the Vanderbilt University School of Law.

Street retires from T.W. Frierson Contractor

Street

As Joe Street, president of the Senior Living Division at T.W. Frierson Contractor Inc., is retiring effective June 30.

Street’s joined the firm in January 1997 as a senior project manager. In three years, he was promoted to vice president and chief operating officer, then became president in 2004. After 10 years in that position as part of the company’s long-term succession plan, he transitioned to president of the Senior Living Division in 2014. He has continued in that role, as well as serving as a customer liaison, company adviser and board member.

Last year, one of his senior living construction projects, Freedom Point at The Villages, Florida, for Brookdale Senior Living, headquartered in Brentwood, was recognized by U. S. News and World Report as one of the “Best Nursing Homes in 2015.”

Hendersonville Chamber hires president, CEO

Hawkins

Kathleen Hawkins has been hired as president and CEO of the Hendersonville Area Chamber of Commerce

Chamber Board Chair Kori Langford says the Board unanimously voted to hire Hawkins, who will officially begin her duties on July 1. The national search for the new Chamber executive took almost two months to complete and considered both local and out-of-state candidates

Hawkins was previously the founder and owner of WOAMTEC, an organization for Professional Business Women. WOAMTEC has more than 2,000 members across 71 cities nationwide. It was recently acquired

Hawkins earned her MBA from Florida Metropolitan University and a degree in business administration from Tampa College.

Westin Nashville appoints team for fall opening

Moore

Crabiel

Kruis

The Westin Nashville has appointed Dan Moore as executive director of engineering, Jeff Crabiel as director of rooms and Dawn Kruis as sales manager.

A native of Montana, Moore has been heavily involved in the hospitality industry for some of the most notable hotels in the world. He comes to The Westin Nashville after serving as the director of engineering for 15 years as a member of the opening team for the St. Regis Monarch Beach. He also served as engineering supervisor at The Ritz Carlton Rancho Mirage, and owned two hospitality consulting firms, DMI Consulting and Guardian Electric, Inc

Crabiel was most recently the director of rooms at Hilton Nashville Downtown. He previously served as front office manager at the Hilton Parc Soleil in Orlando, front office supervisor at Sheraton Vistana Villages in Orlando and the general manager of operations at Lees Inn in Kalamazoo, Michigan

Kruis previously served as sales manager and catering manager at Millennium Maxwell House Hotel.

Hubbard, Greene join First Tennessee Bank

Hubbard

Brooks Hubbard has joined First Tennessee Bank’s Middle Tennessee office as executive vice president and head of a specialty health care finance group focused on sponsor-backed health care transactions throughout the United States

Prior to joining First Tennessee, Hubbard was managing director and head of health care banking at Regions Bank in Nashville, leading the largest specialized industry practice at the firm. Before joining Regions, Hubbard began his banking career at SunTrust Bank, where he worked his way from associate in the health care finance group to managing director, health care corporate & investment banking

Hubbard holds a degree in economics from Vanderbilt University.

Greene

Yolanda Greene has joined the bank as community bank president in Murfreesboro and will lead the bank’s efforts in Rutherford County.

Greene brings more than 16 years of banking experience, most recently at Fifth Third Bank, where she served as vice president and Tennessee business bank market manager. Prior to that, Greene spent 10 years at SunTrust Bank, working her way from portfolio assistant to vice president and core middle market relationship manager.

Before joining SunTrust, Greene began her career at National Bank of Commerce and State Street/Deutsche Bank

Greene holds a degree in biology, a minor in chemistry and an MBA from Tennessee State University.

McPeak elected to global insurance committee

McPeak

Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak has been elected by her fellow members of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors to serve as vice chair of the group’s Executive Committee.

Composed of insurance regulators and supervisors from more than 200 jurisdictions, the IAIS is the international standard-setting body for insurance supervision. IAIS meetings provide an opportunity for state insurance regulators to meet with their international counterparts.

The group’s Executive Committee provides leadership in its ongoing efforts to support global financial stability.

Fifth Third Bank promotes mortgage sales manager

Swancy

Mark Swancy has been promoted to vice president, Mortgage Group sales manager for the Southeast region.

In this new role, he is responsible for mortgage origination and will lead a team of area sales managers and mortgage loan originators located throughout Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Swancy joined Fifth Third Bank in 2015 with more than 32 years of banking experience with Bank of America and its predecessors.

He holds a degree in administrative management from Clemson University and is a member of various banking professional organizations.