Clark
Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Cornelia A. Clark will be honored next month with the Tennessee Bar Association’s prestigious Justice Frank F. Drowota III Award.
Named in honor of former Tennessee Chief Justice Frank Drowota, the Drowota Award is the TBA’s highest award for service to the judiciary and has been given annually for more than a decade.
Clark was chosen for her decades of service to the legal profession in Tennessee, including the implementation of the Access to Justice Commission’s first-ever strategic plan in 2010, and creation of the Tennessee Faith and Justice Alliance (TFJA) in 2011. The TFJA aligns volunteer attorneys with faith-based social justice programs to help those in need.
A native of Franklin, Clark earned a degree from Vanderbilt University and a master of arts in teaching from Harvard University. She completed her law degree at Vanderbilt University in 1979. After practicing law for 10 years, she was appointed Circuit Court judge for the 21st Judicial District in 1989. Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court in 2005, she served as director of the Administrative Office of the Courts for six years.
She will accept the award during the Tennessee Bar Association’s Lawyers Luncheon on June 15 at its annual convention in Memphis.
Patterson’s Montle named president of TIPLA
Montle
Gary Montle has been named president of the Tennessee Intellectual Property Law Association. Montle, a registered patent attorney, is a shareholder at Patterson Intellectual Property Law, P.C.
Montle focuses his practice on the procurement and enforcement of intellectual property rights. He advises clients throughout each stage of the process for patent, trademark and copyright issues, including strategic portfolio development, scope of protection, licensing and enforcement. Prior to attending law school, Montle was an electrical engineer with Beta Lasermike, Inc.
Montle earned his J.D. at Vanderbilt University Law School. While there, he was an intern with the World Intellectual Property Organization in Switzerland. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a B.S. in electrical engineering.
Other officers and board members of TIPLA are:
-- Vice president, Lakita Cavin, University of Tennessee Research Foundation
-- Secretary, Phil Walker, Bradley LLP
-- Treasurer, Greg Parker, Bass Berry + Sims, PLLC
-- At-large members: A.J. Bahou, Bahou Miller PLLC, and Peter Brewer, Thrive IP.
Former Liverpool CEO joins Nashville MLS
Ayre
Nashville MLS has named Ian Ayre as its CEO.
Ayre, formerly chief executive of Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League, will assume the responsibility of building and leading the Nashville MLS club.
Ayre has an extensive background in sports, media and technology, most recently as Chief Executive of Liverpool Football Club. During his 10-year tenure with the club, he was responsible for rebuilding the organization at all levels.
After initially securing a record-breaking sponsorship deal for the club, he went on to restructure the entire commercial, operational and football elements of the business as well as oversee the successful $160 million stadium expansion.
Ayre also was directly responsible for all player transfer negotiations, including contract negotiations for more than 100 players. He served on the UEFA Competitions Committee as an elected member and in 2017 was voted Premier League Chief Executive of the Year.
Ayre’s career includes 10 years in the British Royal Navy and the consumer electronics industry with Pace Micro Technology, a UK publicly listed company in the satellite television technology sector. He then worked with the company’s founder and chairman to acquire a British soccer club Huddersfield Town in 1999. Ayre served as chairman and chief executive of the club.
In 2000 while at Huddersfield Town, Ayre was instrumental in developing a business plan that envisioned the 72 clubs of The Football League, investing their digital rights into a common operating platform. Ayre was appointed as the managing director of that business – Premium TV Limited.
In 2004, he returned to Asia as a board member of sports marketing business Total Sports Asia.
Following his 10-year tenure at Liverpool Football Club, Ayre served briefly as managing director, 1860 Munich.
Brock leaving role as Launch Tennessee CEO
Brock
Charlie Brock, CEO of Launch Tennessee, is returning to work in the private sector in October after serving in his current role since January 2013.
LaunchTN, a public-private partnership, supports entrepreneurs by focusing on early-stage capital formation, market access, commercialization resources, talent development and retention, and startup-friendly legislation.
Under Brock’s leadership, LaunchTN has built a statewide network to offer mentorship, how-to programming and capital to entrepreneurs building the companies of tomorrow. In addition, the team has developed 36|86 Entrepreneurship Festival into the Southeast’s premier entrepreneurship conference, provided programming reaching entrepreneurs in 75 percent of Tennessee counties and developed startup-friendly legislation. Early-stage investment in Tennessee has increased 100 percent during this period.
A Chattanooga native, Brock has been a serial entrepreneur for nearly 20 years, having focused primarily on the growth of Southeast Tennessee entrepreneurship and ecosystem development.
CapWealth Advisors founder named state’s best
Pagliara
Middle Tennessee-based wealth manager Tim Pagliara, founder, chairman and CEO of independent registered investment advisory firm CapWealth Advisors, has been named No. 1 Financial Advisor in Tennessee by Barron’s magazine and also topped the list of Forbes’ recently released Best-In-State Wealth Advisors for 2018.
Pagliara’s accolades mark the first time a Tennessee financial advisor has concurrently resided atop both publications’ national rankings. He previously earned the top spot in Barron’s annual state-by-state ranking five times (consecutively from 2012 to 2016).
Vanderbilt-Ingram taps Park for breast cancer post
Park
Internationally-renowned breast cancer expert Ben Ho Park, M.D., Ph.D., has been named co-leader of the Breast Cancer Research Program, director of Precision Oncology and associate director for Translational Research at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. In his academic role, he will serve as professor of Medicine.
Park, who will assume his new VICC post Sept. 1, succeeds Carlos L. Arteaga, M.D., who moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and associate dean of oncology programs.
Park currently serves as professor of oncology in the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Program, associate director for Research Training and Education and member of the Executive Oversight Committee at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, in Baltimore, Maryland. He also is associate dean for Postdoctoral Affairs for the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Park earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, followed by dual training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he earned M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. He trained in internal medicine and hematology/oncology at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where he was named chief fellow, then completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cancer genetics at Johns Hopkins.
Ammons joins Firstbank in Franklin
Ammons
Hank Ammons has joined FirstBank Investment Partners as an LPL investment representative. Ammons has more than 35 years of experience in providing banking and investment services. In his position, Ammons will help advise and guide Middle Tennessee clients on investment strategies.
Ammons is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he earned a degree in accounting and economics and an MBA in accounting and finance. He is registered and licensed through the Tennessee Securities Division to provide a variety of investment services.
Prior to joining FirstBank Investment Partners, Ammons held several positions at various banks and investment firms.
Crux Strategies hires Adams as vice president
Adams
Crux Strategies has added David Adams as vice president of business intelligence and revenue cycle management.
Adams previously was chief information officer at HCA for a division and oversaw over 20 hospitals. He led the integration of major clinical systems for those hospitals and directed supply chain integration with an internal GPO, saving more than $120 million dollars in two years. He also served as president of Carolina Health Group, where he established successful physician practice management software and grew the business to more than 150 locations within three years.
He also served as the chief operations and technology officer for a start-up portfolio company of a $4 billion private equity group.
Adams holds an MBA from the Vanderbilt University Owen School of Management.