Baker Donelson has elected 15 new shareholders across the firm, including two attorneys in its Nashville office: Anita Beth Adams and Megan M. Sutton.
A member of Baker Donelson’s Health Law Group, Adams concentrates her practice on advising clients on practice acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures. Her clients include physician practice management companies, physician groups, ambulatory surgery centers and individual physicians.
She is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law, where she was managing editor of the Columbia Journal of International Law and was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Adams is a member of Baker Donelson’s Women’s Initiative Committee.
Sutton, a member of the firm’s Labor & Employment Group, defends local, regional and nationally known employers in a broad range of employment matters. She also litigates non-compete cases, and advises clients facing challenging workforce issues such as employee discipline, termination and leave issues.
She has been named a Rising Star by Mid-South Super Lawyers and was recognized by the firm with its Nashville Associate of the Year Award. A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, she is a member of the Tennessee and Nashville Bar Associations and DRI.
Moses named president of family lawyers group
Marlene Eskind Moses, an internationally recognized family law expert and founding manager of MTR Family Law, PLLC, has been named president of the International Academy of Family Lawyers.
IAFL is a worldwide association of practicing lawyers who are recognized by their peers as the most experienced and expert family law specialists in their respective countries. Membership is by invitation. It was formed in 1986 as the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers to improve the practice of law and administration of justice in the area of divorce and family law throughout the world.
Moses is a past-president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) and was awarded the organization’s Outstanding Fellow of the Year Award. She is a fellow of the Tennessee Bar Association Foundation and the Nashville Bar Association Foundation. Moses is a Diplomate of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers and serves as secretary. She is a past president of the Tennessee Supreme Court Historical Society, the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners, and Lawyers Association for Women. She is a former vice president of the Nashville Bar Association, and has served on the Tennessee Bar Association’s Family Law Code Commission.
Vanderbilt names Robinson vice provost
Interim Chancellor and Provost Susan R. Wente has announced the appointment of William H. Robinson as Vanderbilt’s vice provost for academic advancement and executive director of the Provost’s Office for Inclusive Excellence.
Robinson, who most recently served as interim vice provost for strategic initiatives, will continue leading the university’s efforts to build and sustain a culture of inclusion, belonging and respect in the university’s transinstitutional research and educational missions, including academic affairs, faculty affairs, admissions, research and more.
While serving in the Office of the Provost for the past year, Robinson has worked closely with Vanderbilt’s 10 colleges and schools on initiatives that promote the recruitment and retention of historically underrepresented scholars, as well as partnering with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, led by André L. Churchwell. Robinson and Churchwell co-chair the University Diversity Council, launched by Wente last fall.
Robinson also leads the Academic Pathways Program, which transitioned to his office this spring. The program offers the Provost Postdoctoral Fellowship to create a bridge between academic training and entry-level faculty positions for recently graduated doctoral students and law students from a diverse array of backgrounds and experiences.
In his role as vice provost for academic advancement, and through his leadership of the Office for Inclusive Excellence, Robinson will continue partnering with the Office of Faculty Affairs on faculty equity initiatives, such as the inclusive search workshops for members of faculty search committees. He also will work with the Office for Planning and Institutional Effectiveness to measure and assess the implementation of initiatives to improve equity, diversity, inclusion and access across academic affairs.
Robinson is a professor of electrical engineering and computer engineering and formerly served as associate dean for academic success for the School of Engineering. He leads Vanderbilt’s Security and Fault Tolerance Research Group and co-leads the Explorations in Diversifying Engineering Faculty Initiative. He is co-editor of a new book, “Diversifying STEM: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Race and Gender.”
Robinson previously served on then-Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos’ Committee on Diversity, Inclusion and Community and was the recipient of a Chancellor’s Award for Research on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in 2016 for his work to broaden minorities’ participation in engineering, which informed the understanding of factors that often discourage black scholars from pursuing academic careers.
Among Robinson’s professional honors, he is the recipient of a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program Award, and he was selected for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Computer Science Study Panel. He is a senior member of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Association for Computing Machinery. He is also a member of the American Society for Engineering Education, a lifetime member of the National Society of Black Engineers, and a member of 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee, Inc., for which he currently serves as chairman.
Robinson joined the Vanderbilt community nearly 17 years ago as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In 2010, he became the first African American to earn promotion with tenure in the School of Engineering’s history, and in 2018 he became the first African American to earn promotion to professor.
He holds a degree in electrical engineering from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. He went on to earn his master’s in electrical engineering and a subsequent doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Tristar Southern Hills welcomes new COO
TriStar Southern Hills Medical Center has named Joe White as the hospital’s new chief operating officer.
White previously served as the vice president of operations and interim COO at Riverside Community Hospital, the 373-bed facility in Riverside, California. He served in that role since 2018, following his role as associate COO and administrative resident at MountainView Hospital in Las Vegas.
White earned a degree in health care administration from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and an MHA from the University of Minnesota. He is a 2019 graduate of the HCA chief operating officer Development Program and a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
White replaces Cory Mead, who was recently appointed chief operating officer at Overland Park (Kansas) Regional Medical Center.
Trust Company team members elected to board
Two representatives of The Trust Company of Tennessee have been elected to board positions with InnoTrust Users Group.
Neil Patel, vice president of information technology, will serve as product development chair, and Libby Gourley, business analyst, is a board member at large. Gourley is a past president of the group.
Founded in 2004, InnoTrust Users Group is an independent nonprofit composed of clients of financial accounting solutions provider Innovest Systems, developer of InnoTrust, a software solution used by trust companies, private banks, retirement plan administrators and other financial services companies. The group shares information and lends direction regarding future development of InnoTrust software.
Wright becomes partner at Affinity Technology Partners
Affinity Technology Partners has promoted Betsy Wright to partner, vice president of business development. She was previously vice president of operations at the managed IT services provider.
In her new role, Wright will drive the growth of Affinity through acquiring and maintaining strategic partnerships, managing the sales team, overseeing marketing and publicity, and developing company culture. While VP of operations, Affinity was awarded 2020 Managed Service Provider 500 list in the Pioneer 250 category. She has been with the firm since it was founded 18 years ago.
Wright is a member of Women in Technology TN, Nashville Chamber of Commerce, Williamson Inc, and Nashville Association of Women Business Owners. She also serves as a mentor at the Pathway Women’s Business Center.
A Nashville native, Wright is a graduate of Vanderbilt University with a degree in English.
Pugh joins Argent as VP, trust officer
Robert Pugh has joined the Nashville office of Argent Trust Company as vice president and trust officer. He will assist clients with their trust and estate planning needs.
An attorney and veteran trust and administration officer, Pugh joins Argent from Regions Bank in Nashville, where he served as a trust adviser. Before that, he was a trust officer at Old National Bank in Evansville, Indiana.
Pugh previously practiced law for six years with Miller & Pugh Law Offices, P.C. in Peoria, Illinois and served for four years as an assistant state’s attorney in Peoria County. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, Trust & Estates and Corporate Law Department sections.
Pugh, a Middle Tennessee native, earned a degree in history from Tennessee Technological University and his juris doctorate from Southern Illinois University.