Creswell named GNR Realtor of the Year

Friday, March 15, 2019, Vol. 43, No. 11

Denise Creswell with Pilkerton Realtors has been named the 2018 Realtor of the Year by Greater Nashville Realtors.

The Realtor of the Year award is presented annually to the association’s member who has made the most significant contribution to their clients, the real estate profession and the community. Creswell was awarded the honor for her commitment to professionalism, clients and the real estate industry at the association’s annual Awards of Excellence Gala on March 9. The 2017 recipient, Amy Cannon, presented Creswell with the award.

Creswell has been a licensed affiliate broker since 1987. She has been a member of the association for the past 15 years, serving on multiple committees at the national, state and local levels, as well as the board of directors. She is a graduate of the 2006 class of the association’s Leadership Academy and chaired the Forms Committee for Tennessee Realtors in 2018.

Creswell is a native Tennessean and a graduate of Franklin Road Academy and Murray State University.

In addition to the Realtor of the Year honors, other special award recipients recognized at the gala include:

• Rookie of the Year: Avery Carl, Village

• Top Individual Listing: Amanda Bell, At Home Realty

• Top Individual Selling: Nina Lampley, Compass

• Top Team Listing: Pete Prosser and Brandon Knox, Keller Williams

• Top Team Selling: Erin Krueger, Compass

• Rising Star Award: Maria Creecy, HND Realty, LLC

• Community Service Award: Jason Warner, Music City Experts

• Affiliate of the Year: Sarah Simmons, Homeland Title

In addition to the special awards, 245 members of Greater Nashville Realtors received Awards of Excellence based on their professional achievements in sales volume, transactions and association involvement. Earned recognition ranges from a Silver Award, comprised of a minimum of $2 million in volume and a minimum of 15 transactions, to a Diamond Elite Award, consisting of $40 million or more in volume or a minimum of 150 transactions. A full list of the Awards of Excellence winners is posted online

Stites & Harbison elects Myers to mgmt committee

Stites & Harbison, PLLC recently elected attorney Richard Myers Jr. to the firm’s six-member management committee to serve a two-year term. Myers replaces John Wingo, who completed two full terms of service and has rotated off the committee.

Myers is a registered U.S. patent attorney and member based in the Nashville office. As a member of the Intellectual Property & Technology Service Group, his practice focuses on patent-related aspects of intellectual property, including counseling clients on patent infringement, patent validity and patentability.

He previously served as co-chair of the Intellectual Property & Technology Service Group and has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, IP Stars and Mid-South Super Lawyers.

Butler Snow names Maddux chair-elect

Butler Snow has elected Nashville native Christopher R. Maddux to succeed Donald Clark Jr. as chair effective Jan. 1, 2020. Clark has served as chair since 2006 and will continue in the role until the end of the year.

Maddux, who is based in the firm’s Jackson, Mississippi, office, serves as chair of Butler Snow’s business department and served on the executive committee from 2016-2018. He also served two terms on the firm’s equity committee, serving as the committee chair during his first. Maddux has focused his practice on bankruptcies, business reorganizations and distressed transactions.

He has been recognized by Best Lawyers for bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law, by Super Lawyers as a Mid-South Rising Star and Mid-South Super Lawyer for bankruptcy: business and by Chambers USA for corporate/commercial: bankruptcy (Mississippi).

Maddux earned his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and his juris doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School.

Legal Aid appoints Brown senior deputy director

Laura Brown has joined Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands as senior deputy director of client services.

In her new role, Brown will be responsible for the overall management and direction of client services at Legal Aid Society, including the implementation of strategic planning and regionalization, administration of grant programs, investigation and resolution of client complaints and grievances, contract compliance and program development, implementation and evaluation.

Brown brings more than 14 years of legal experience to her new position. She most recently worked as general counsel at the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability, where she worked on advocacy issues for seniors and vulnerable adults and was also involved in the investigation and resolution of complaints, legislative support and strategic planning.

Previously, Brown served as an insurance defense attorney for Robinson, Smith and Wells in Chattanooga. She also previously served as general counsel for Goodwill Industries – Knoxville, Inc. and as an adjunct professor at Volunteer State Community College.

Brown earned her juris doctorate from University of Tennessee College of Law with a concentration in business and transactional law and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in learning and leadership (public policy) at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She also holds a Master of Arts in civic leadership from Lipscomb University and a degree in English education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Pinnacle hires Markham as sr. VP, financial adviser

John Markham has joined Pinnacle Financial Partners as a senior vice president and financial adviser for the firm’s client advisory team. He is based at Pinnacle’s downtown Nashville office.

Markham brings 12 years of experience and comes to Pinnacle from CapStar Bank, where roles included serving as a relationship manager, senior credit analyst and a portfolio manager. He previously was a senior client manager analyst for Bank of America and a paralegal with Riley Warnock & Jacobson PLC. Markham also co-founded Connection Benefit Group Inc.

He earned a degree in economics from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

Markham was selected in the fifth Round of the 2001 National Football League Draft by the New York Giants.

Simmons Bank names Schrodt to new role

Simmons Bank has named Martin Schrodt senior vice president and regional retail manager for Tennessee. Schrodt will oversee retail banking strategy and performance for Simmons’ 46 Tennessee retail branches.

Schrodt previously served as regional executive and vice president of retail and small business banking at PNC Bank, and as vice president and retail market manager at Regions Bank. Most recently, Schrodt served as senior vice president and chief operating officer at Arkansas Federal Credit Union, where he oversaw front-line business and consumer banking areas, including deposit operations and the Call Center.

An alumnus of the University of Kentucky, Schrodt also holds leadership certifications from Gap International and the University of Chattanooga.

First Tennessee names Financial Center manager

First Tennessee Bank has hired Ron Doyle as vice president and financial center manager of First Tennessee’s downtown branch in Nashville.

He previously was vice president and financial center manager for Bank of America.

Doyle, who has spent the last two decades leading teams in the specialty retail and financial services industry, attended the University of Mississippi and has been a Nashville resident since 2001.

Fridrich & Clark adds to management team

Fridrich & Clark Realty has named managing partner Whit Clark as the firm’s new senior managing broker and added Courtney Jenrath to the management team as managing broker of the Green Hills office.

Steve Fridrich, broker and managing partner, said that the moves reflect the firm’s continued growth in the rapidly expanding residential real estate market and his and Clark’s vision to develop a management team that will maintain the company’s vitality. That team includes Fridrich, Clark, Molly Edmondson, Sean Simons, managing broker of the Brentwood office, and now Jenrath.

Clark has been a Realtor since 1977 and joined Fridrich & Clark Realty in 1986. He was named Realtor of the Year in 2008 by Greater Nashville Realtors and served as the association’s president in 2002. In his new position, he will continue to focus on sales, training and long-term planning for the firm.

Jenrath became a Realtor in 2005, partnering with her mother, Missy Scoville, who has enjoyed her own successful real estate career in the Nashville area. A graduate of Greater Nashville Realtors’ Leadership Academy, Jenrath joined Fridrich & Clark Realty in 2010. She is a Lifetime Member of the Awards of Excellence and has served in a number of leadership positions for the Greater Nashville Realtors association.