Soto

Renata Soto, co-founder and executive director of Conexión Américas, will receive the Nelson C. Andrews Distinguished Service Award at the Nashville Public Education Foundation’s 12th annual Public Schools Hall of Fame luncheon on Oct. 17.

In addition, three Metro Nashville Public Schools alumni – Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr., Joe Steakley and the Rev. Dr. Becca Stevens – will be honored as distinguished alumni.

Soto will receive NPEF’s highest honor for her leadership around a host of public education causes and her advocacy for English-language learners and immigrant families.

She has been a leading force on efforts that have helped solidify Nashville’s reputation as a welcoming and inclusive city. Her nationally recognized programs support ELL parent engagement by teaching them to support their children’s school success and path to college, and become an integral part of Nashville’s social, cultural and economic vitality.

As a co-chairwoman of Mayor Karl Dean’s Task Force on Children and Youth in 2010, she helped create the Child and Youth Master Plan, which is now a blueprint for efforts to ensure the well-being of every young person from birth to adulthood.

Crenshaw

Steakley

Stevens

Crenshaw, a federal district judge of the Middle District of Tennessee, was nominated as a judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee by President Barack Obama and has been recognized for his professional achievements by more than a dozen organizations. He is a graduate of McGavock High School.

Steakley is the senior vice president of Internal Audit and Risk Services at HCA. He is an avid community leader and volunteer, serving as a board member of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts and the Nashville Public Library Foundation. He is also an executive board member of the Middle Tennessee Council of the Boy Scouts of America, in addition to many other organizations. He is a graduate of Maplewood High School.

Stevens is best known as the founder and president of Thistle Farms. She was named a “Champion of Change” by the White House for her work against domestic violence and was recently named a 2016 CNN Hero. She is also an ordained Episcopal priest, serving as chaplain at St. Augustine’s Chapel at Vanderbilt University. She regularly keynotes at national events and universities and colleges across the country, inspiring young adults to live into their ideals. She is a graduate of Overton High School.

In addition, this year a new award is being launched – the Inspiring Innovation Award. The winner will be announced at the event and will receive a $10,000 grant to scale up a promising innovation.

This year’s recipients join 50 other Nashvillians in the NPEF Hall of Fame.

Dickens tapped for Nashville Business Hall Of Fame

Dickens

Marty Dickens has been named the 2016 Nashville Business Hall of Fame laureate by Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee and past honorees. This annual event recognizes Nashville’s outstanding contributors to business and philanthropy.

Dickens was selected for his extensive career as AT&T Tennessee president, his role as chairman of the Music City Center Coalition and his dedication to the health and education of Nashville’s youth.

Delta Air Lines will host the 2016 Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee Nashville Business Hall of Fame dinner presented by CCA and The Phoenix Club of Nashville on Oct. 26.

Past Nashville Business Hall of Fame inductees include former Gov. Phil Bredesen, Amy Grant, Rob McCabe, Ron Samuels, Hal Pennington, Jack Bovender Jr., Mark Emkes, Joe Scarlett and the late Ambassador Joe M. Rodgers and Clayton McWhorter.

Dickens began his career at AT&T in New York in 1969, working his way toward president of AT&T Tennessee from 1998 to 2007. In between, Dickens served on the board of directors of BellSouth operations in nine countries across Europe, Asia and South America.

Today, Dickens serves as a founding board member and lead director of Avenue Bank, board member of Genesco, vice chairman of the board of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, board member of Lee Company, chairman of the board of Harpeth Companies, and the chairman of the board of trustees of Belmont University. He is a former board member of the Vanderbilt Blair School of Music.

Leadership Health Care announces board

Howarth

Will Howorth, vice president, strategic business growth, HCA Urgent Care, has been named board chairman of Leadership Health Care. Claire Cowart Haltom, shareholder, Baker Donelson, will serve as board vice chairman.

The following new directors have joined the LHC board for three-year terms:

-- Joshua Anthony, M.D., physician, Meharry Medical College

-- Andrea Cleeton, vice president, integration and process improvement, LifePoint Health

-- Justin Graham, principal, c3/consulting

-- Nesrin Tift, attorney, Bass, Berry & Sims.

-- Hope Sinor, health care MBA candidate, Western Governors University, joins the board in a one-year student seat.

-- Benson Sloan, director, corporate development, MEDHOST, and former board chairman, will also serve on the board for a renewed, one-year term.

There are also two new appointments of LHC committee chairmen:

-- Jessica Wells, vice president, medical education, Saint Thomas Health Services, will lead the Education and Events Committee.

-- Wes Pass, national for-profit health care group, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will chair the Membership and Marketing Committee.

LHC is an initiative of the Nashville Health Care Council that develops the talent of Nashville’s next generation of health care industry leaders by creating educational, networking and mentoring opportunities for the group’s nearly 900 members.

Bradley welcomes senior attorney Culp

Culp

Trisha A. Culp has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP as a senior attorney on its Health care team.

Culp focuses her practice on assisting clients in the healthcare industry in a wide range of transactional, operational and regulatory matters. She has advised health care clients in a variety of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, practice formation and joint venture arrangements.

Culp is an active member of the Nashville Health Care Council and Leadership Health Care. She earned her J.D. from the University of Cincinnati and her B.S. from Ohio University.

Healthways names Dries chief financial officer

Dries

Robert E. Dries has been selected as executive vice president and chief financial officer for Healthways, effective Aug. 22. Dries will succeed Alfred Lumsdaine, who is expected to join Sharecare, Inc. in October 2016 in connection with the previously announced sale of Healthways’ total population health services business to Sharecare.

Dries joins Healthways after serving in a variety of executive financial roles throughout his 27-year career.

Most recently, he served as senior vice president, financial operations of Omnicare, Inc., a leading provider of pharmaceutical care for senior populations and a subsidiary of CVS Health Corporation.

During his 20-year tenure at Omnicare, Dries held a variety of financial leadership roles. His responsibilities included corporate financial planning and analysis, forecasting and budgeting, as well as cross-functional oversight and support for sales, account management, purchasing, trade relations, and government affairs.

Dries is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and a certified public accountant.

New board elected for Tennessee Justice Center

Beasley

Kathryn Beasley, Assurance Services supervisor at Kraft CPAs PLLC, Laura Creekmore, founder of Creek Content, Mary Falls, founder of Middle Ground Tennessee, Deborah Farringer, assistant professor of law at Belmont University College of Law, and Mika Moser, chief operating officer for Bank Director, have been named to the board of directors of the Tennessee Justice Center.

Beasley began her accounting career at Tucker & Tucker, PLLC, in 2006, and has been a licensed CPA since 2009.

Before becoming an accountant, Kathryn was a professional ballet dancer for 17 years, performing with Nashville Ballet for 13 years prior to her retirement from the stage in 2001.

Creekmore

Creekmore founded Creek Content in 2008, a consultancy focused on effective, strategic communication and information design for organizations in complex fields like health care and financial services.

She is a mentor at JumpStart Foundry and Nashville’s Entrepreneur Center.

Creekmore is adjunct faculty at Kent State University, teaching content strategy and usability, and she is editor of 2 books in The Content Wrangler content strategy series.

She is a thesis away from her master’s in information science at the University of Tennessee, and graduated from Vanderbilt University.

Falls

Falls is the founder of the Middle Ground Tennessee, a nonpartisan, community-based organization dedicated to finding thoughtful, innovative solutions to challenging public issues.

She has served on numerous community non-profit boards including the Nashville Symphony, Saint Thomas Health, Catholic Charities of Tennessee, and Alive Hospice. She holds undergraduate and law degrees from Vanderbilt University. She previously practiced corporate and transactional law at Sherrard & Roe.

Farringer

Farringer teaches health law, health care fraud and abuse, health care business and finance, bioethics, and business associations. Prior to joining the faculty at Belmont, she served as senior associate general counsel in the Office of General Counsel at Vanderbilt University.

Prior to her role at Vanderbilt University, Farringer was an associate at Bass, Berry& Sims PLC.

Moser

Moser is the chief operating officer for Bank Director, an information resource for senior executives and directors of financial institutions.

In addition to overseeing the production of the print magazine, digital magazine app and BankDirector.com website, Moser serves as a member of the board and management committee.