Ten attorneys have been named shareholders at Lewis Thomason, including four based in Nashville. The Nashville attorneys are:
Brad Craig, who focuses his practice on general civil litigation defense, employment law, and education law in the Nashville office. He also regularly counsels boards of education on a variety of issues and his practice includes defending public entities and private businesses before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Office for Civil Rights, and the Tennessee Human Rights Commission.
He is a member of the Nashville Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association and Tennessee Council of School Attorneys. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law.
Lucas Davidson, who practices in Tennessee and Kentucky with a specific emphasis on the defense of cases in professional liability, health care liability, transportation and trucking, construction, personal injury litigation and business disputes. He is a member of Claims Litigation Management Alliance where he serves as the Local Events Director. He is also a member of the Kentucky Bar Association, Nashville Bar Association and Tennessee Bar Association.
Davidson earned his J.D. at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law.
Andrew Grams, who practices in the areas of commercial transportation, property and casualty insurance defense, and real estate litigation. He is a member of the Nashville Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, Tennessee Trucking Association, and Transportation Logistics Council. Grams earned his J.D. at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
Jordan Scott, who represents doctors and lawyers as well as other professionals and health care entities who have been accused of malpractice. He previously served as an assistant attorney general in the Tennessee Attorney General’s office. A member of the Nashville Bar Association and Tennessee Bar Association, Scott is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law.
Pease reappointed to Tennessee Bar post
Greg Pease, a member at Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, has been reappointed associate general counsel of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Board of Governors. This is his third term in this position. In this role, Pease advises the board on corporate matters and serves under the general counsel, Ed Lanquist.
Pease practices in the areas of general business law and health care law. His experience extends across a wide range of industries including health care, manufacturing, electronic payment processing, business services, distribution and publishing. He has represented companies in operational matters, acquisitions and divestitures, governance matters, private placements of securities, and debt and equity financings. Pease was recognized for his corporate law practice in the 2020 edition of Best Lawyers in America.
Pease earned his J.D. from the University of Memphis, where he was editor-in-chief of the University of Memphis Law Review.
Genesco’s president, CEO becomes board chair
Mimi E. Vaughn, Genesco’s president and chief executive officer, has been named to the additional position of chair of the board of directors. Vaughn will succeed Robert J. Dennis, implementing the final step of a transition plan that began in 2018.
Dennis served as Genesco president and chief executive officer 2008-2020 and, most recently, as executive chairman. He retired from the board effective June 30 after serving as chairman for the past 10 years.
Matthew C. Diamond, a veteran of Genesco’s board and former chief executive officer of Alloy Media and Alloy, Inc., will continue to serve as the company’s lead independent director.
In October 2019, Vaughn was elected to Genesco’s board of directors and named president and chief executive officer, effective Feb. 1. She joined Genesco as vice president for strategy and business development in 2003, was promoted to senior vice president for strategy and business development in 2006 and was named senior vice president for strategy and shared services in 2009. Vaughn became chief financial officer in 2015 and was named Genesco’s chief operating officer in January 2018. She formally assumed the role in May 2019 following the appointment of Mel Tucker as chief financial officer.
Before joining the Company, Vaughn was executive vice president of business development and marketing and acting chief financial officer for Link2Gov Corporation in Nashville.
Kripalani to lead Center for Health Services Research
Sunil Kripalani, M.D., M.Sc., professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has been appointed director of the Vanderbilt Center for Health Services Research.
The center, a critical component of the Institute for Medicine and Public Health, engages with more than 160 scientists and other professionals across VUMC to conduct research and discover, implement and disseminate workable solutions for modern-day problems in health care delivery, health care quality and patient-centered outcomes.
Also at Vanderbilt, Martin Montenovo, M.D., a liver transplant surgeon, has joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center as associate professor of surgery in the Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery & Liver Transplantation.
Montenovo’s clinical interests are adult liver transplantation, living donor liver transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery.
His research interests include the expansion in the utilization of marginal liver grafts with emphasis on DCD donors, the use of living donor liver transplantation and evaluating a portable organ care system for preserving and assessing donor livers before transplantation.
Belmont names Gage assoc. provost, enrollment dean
Belmont has hired Chris Gage, vice president for strategy and enrollment of Hanover College, as the University’s associate provost and dean of enrollment services.
Gage will be responsible for all aspects of Belmont’s enrollment services division, including overseeing university admissions, student financial services and Belmont Central. He will serve on the Provost’s executive council and work collaboratively with college deans in making decisions related to University operations, strategic growth, retention practices and student success.
He is an active member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling and previously served as president of the Indiana Association for College Admission Counseling. A graduate of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business with an MBA from Xavier University, Gage earned a Ph.D. in educational leadership and higher education from the University of Nebraska.
Thomas leaves FiftyForward after 19 years on job
Sandra Thomas has retired after 19 years as director of the FiftyForward Friends Learning in Pairs (FLIP) program.
FLIP is the signature program of the FiftyForward Retired Senior Volunteer Program, a federally funded initiative that engages older adults in meaningful service to the community. FLIP pairs older adults with children who need special help with math or reading. The tutoring program benefits the child and the volunteer.
Thomas has served as an advocate and volunteer for most of her career, serving as a member of the Social Action Group on Aging for 10 years. As a VISTA worker for two years, she was promoted to program director managing two programs: The Nursing Home Visitor/Advocates (to train volunteers to visit and advocate for nursing home residents) and the SAGA Care Line (to instruct those with loved ones in nursing homes to process complaints).
In addition, Thomas served as co-chair of the Tennessee Coalition for Nursing Home Reform and helped pass Tennessee’s nursing home reform bill.
She also worked at Alive Hospice as director of Volunteer Services for 10 years to coordinate volunteer services for terminally ill patients in their homes and at the residence.
Bellamy appointed to Metro Schools post
Mason Bellamy, a veteran educator and administrator in the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System, has been appointed to chief of academics and schools for Metro Nashville Public Schools.
A graduate of the University of Kentucky with a master’s degree in teaching and a doctorate in education from Trevecca Nazarene University, Bellamy has enjoyed a 15-year career with the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System. Beginning his career in elementary education as a teacher, assistant principal and then principal, Bellamy joined the district leadership in 2014 as director of services for exceptional students, managing and evaluating special education programs throughout the district, while also serving as the principal for Kenwood Middle School.
He later served as director of elementary schools for the district, helping 19 of 23 eligible schools earn Reward status from the state of Tennessee, before taking on his current position as director of high schools in 2019.
The chief of academics and schools combines the previous roles of the chief academic officer and associate superintendents. Bellamy also will be responsible for overseeing all district-run schools in MNPS, except those priority schools that are under the supervision of the Office of School Innovation.
Sanders named senior VP at Wilson Bank & Trust
Kevin Sanders has been promoted to senior vice president-West Wilson market leader at Wilson Bank & Trust.
Sanders has served in the Mt. Juliet and West Wilson County markets for his entire Wilson Bank & Trust career, beginning as a bank trainee in 2005. Sanders went on to hold the roles of assistant manager at the Highway 70 location, as well as manager at both Providence and North Mt Juliet Road offices.
He holds degrees in general management and human resource management from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and earned an MBA from UTC in 2005. Additionally, he has completed the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.
First Horizon promotes Doppler to vice president
First Horizon Bank has promoted Lucas Doppler to relationship manager, vice president with its Middle Tennessee commercial banking team. Doppler will be based at the bank’s Hill Center office in Brentwood.
A veteran banker with 18 years of experience, Doppler will be responsible for managing client relationships and new business development in Middle Tennessee. He joined First Horizon Bank as a credit analyst in 2009. Doppler earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Bemidji State University.