Nashville business leaders and philanthropists Pam and Phil Pfeffer have made a significant investment in Lipscomb University’s College of Business to establish the Pfeffer Graduate School of Business, Lipscomb University President L. Randolph Lowry says.
This announcement comes days after the university announced the launch of LipscombLEADS, a $250 million campaign initiative. Phil Pfeffer, president and CEO of Treemont Capital Inc. and former chairman of the board and CEO of the Ingram Distribution Group Inc., serves as an adjunct graduate business professor and CEO-in-residence in Lipscomb’s College of Business and has been part of numerous international travel study courses through the college.
The Pfeffer Graduate School of Business houses all graduate business studies including the master of accountancy, master of business administration, master of health administration and master of management programs.
Lipscomb’s College of Business is one of the fastest growing in the university, with more than 600 undergraduate and graduate students and 16 undergraduate and four graduate programs, touting a 95 percent overall job placement rate for 2016 and thousands of alumni around the world. It has been recognized nationally as a leader in business education.
The college has been named the No. 1 Undergraduate Business Program in Tennessee for three consecutive years by both Bloomberg Business Week and Poets & Quants and the No. 2 part-time MBA program in Tennessee in 2016 by Bloomberg Business Week.
Hotel management software firm growing
Quore, hotel management software company, is expanding its Franklin operations, adding 45 new jobs and investing approximately $780,000 in Williamson County.
Quore’s software is used by more than half of the top 100 highest-earning hotel management companies in the U.S. It offers cloud-based software to hotels to help efficiently run their day-to-day operations including staff communications, housekeeping, service recovery and other hotel operations.
With this expansion, Quore will hire more employees at its Franklin location to keep up with growing demand and will occupy a new facility in Williamson County.
Tennessee State Parks seeking weed wranglers
Tennessee State Parks and community partners are seeking volunteers for the annual Weed Wrangle, a nationwide effort to fight invasive plant species in public parks on Saturday, March 2.
Tennessee State Parks and State Natural Areas have partnered with The Garden Club of Nashville and Invasive Plant Control Inc. for this year’s statewide event, with 35 state parks and two state natural areas participating. The event is designed to help rid Tennessee of nonnative plant species. Volunteers from across the state are invited to participate.
State and community experts in invasive weed management will supervise the hands-on removal of trees, vines and flowering plants while volunteers learn ways to address their own green spaces to combat invasive species.
Information on specific parks and plans for the Weed Wrangle
Pivot Point ranks among top vendors in KLAS report
Brentwood-based Pivot Point Consulting has ranked among the top two vendors for health information technology implementation staffing and support in the 2019 Best in KLAS Software and Services report.
This is the fourth consecutive year the company has been ranked in the top three vendors. The average score for companies ranked in the category in this year’s report was 90.7. Pivot Point also scored an A+ in loyalty and straight A’s in Operations, Relationship, Value and Product.
KLAS annually interviews health care organizations to identify the best health care IT vendors across the U.S.
Genesco completes sale of Lid Sports Group
Nashville’s Genesco Inc. has announced it has completed the sale of its Lids Sports Group to FanzzLids Holdings.
The sale was for $101 million, still subject to working capital and other adjustments and does not include a tax benefit estimated at $30 million. FanzzLids Holdings is a holding company controlled and operated by affiliates of Ames Watson, LLC.
Genesco is a Nashville-based specialty retailer, selling footwear and accessories in more than 1,500 retail stores throughout the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Germany, principally under the names Journeys, Journeys Kidz, Shi by Journeys, Schuh, Schuh Kids, Little Burgundy and Johnston & Murphy.
UBA welcomes Bernard Health to network
Nashville’s Bernard Health has joined United Benefit Advisors as a partner.
A fast-growing benefits brokerage and HR software company, Bernard Health provides strategic health benefits advice to employers and licenses its proprietary human resources and benefits administration platform, BerniePortal, to brokers around the country.
Founded with a focus on employee benefits and technology, Bernard Health’s value proposition for employers is expertise in helping optimize technology and transition to alternatively funded health plans.
1 millionth Maxwell Leadership Bible sold
Nashville-based publisher Thomas Nelson says The Maxwell Leadership Bible has officially sold its one-millionth copy.
Originally published in 2002 with executive editor John C. Maxwell, the Bible is now in its third edition.
The Maxwell Leadership Bible features more than 120 “Profiles in Leadership” lessons that examine different leaders throughout the Bible, along with compelling short articles and notes on mentoring and influencing the workplace and the world as an employee, boss, parent or neighbor.
The Bible also provides a complete reference index for Maxwell’s bestselling leadership resources, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (Thomas Nelson) and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader (HarperCollins Leadership).
NHI buys Vero Beach senior living community
National Health Investors of Murfreesboro has purchased the Isles of Vero Beach, a senior living community in Florida owned by an affiliate of Holiday Retirement.
The community operates 157 independent living units and 75 assisted living units and was acquired for $38 million. It will be leased back to an affiliate of Holiday for $2.6 million annually and added to the amended master lease with Holiday announced in 2018.
The annual lease escalator, beginning Nov. 1, 2020, is variable between 2 percent and 3 percent of current rent based on annual revenue growth in the Holiday portfolio consisting of 26 senior living communities.
Belmont to offer 5-year architecture program
Belmont University will launch a Bachelor of Architecture degree, a five-year program, beginning with classes in fall 2020.
The degree will be the first in Middle Tennessee and only the second in the state and will be a direct path to pursue licensure in the field. Belmont moved into a related field by acquiring the O’More College of Design in 2018.
Nashville is home to approximately 600 architects, but statistics show the city’s numbers in the profession are trailing other metropolitan areas. Peer cities like Austin and Charlotte employ 1,010 and 1,190 architects respectively, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, while Atlanta, Denver, Houston and Dallas have more than 2,000 positions currently.
Key occupations that make up the design sector include architects, landscape architects, graphic designers, fashion designers and interior designers. Adding an architecture program to Belmont’s O’More School of Design – which currently offers majors in fashion and interior design as well as fashion merchandising – rounds out the school’s offerings within the design field.
Four licensed architects currently teach in Belmont’s Interior Design program, paving the way for seamless expansion with this new degree offering.
Owner to redesign Streets of Indian Lake
U.S. Properties Group, owner of The Streets of Indian Lake shopping center in Hendersonville, has embarked on a construction and renovation of the property to enhance the shopping experience and redevelop the lifestyle center.
The work should be completed in late spring 2019.
The renovation of the central plaza space at The Streets will result in one of the Nashville area’s most engaging and colorful public spaces; changing seasonally with plantings and nightly with colorful interactive lighting displays.
“We are excited to invest in one of the area’s premier centers and again be the innovative leader in the Nashville area,’’ Gord Wiebe, Director of USPG says. “We are committed to the community and we are changing with the times to remain in the forefront in outdoor shopping center development.”
The redesign will include three gateway structures and multiple new pathways where people can socialize and connect. Programmed events, such as group yoga, concerts, outdoor theater and movie nights, will be part of the new community. Multiple seating options include moveable chairs, twig benches, colorful furniture elements, fixed seating planters, a seating fountain and a green “hillside” for lounging or an afternoon picnic.
The property’s revitalization will enhance and refresh what was strategically developed more than 10 years ago.
Cumberland eyes new biomedical products
Nashville-based Cumberland Emerging Technologies Inc., has announced it has entered into a collaboration with technology transfer organization for the Medical University of South Carolina and the MUSC Foundation for Research Development.
The partnership will develop new biomedical products, co-developing programs combining the strengths of each institution with the goal of advancing new technology to clinical practice.
Cumberland Emerging Technologies, Inc. is a joint initiative between Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc., Vanderbilt University, LaunchTN and China’s Gloria Pharmaceuticals.
Cumberland will evaluate MUSC discoveries, license intellectual property rights to promising technologies, and partner with MUSC research scientists to advance product development toward commercialization.
CET will pursue new sources of funding for these projects through the Small Business Technology Transfer and Small Business Innovation Research and other grant programs. New development programs are expected to span a variety of therapeutic areas including oncology, inflammatory diseases and cardiovascular disease.