Burr & Forman LLP has named Ken Bryant office managing partner of the firm’s Nashville location. He succeeds C. Tucker Herndon, who was recently appointed to the firm’s executive committee.
Bryant, who practices in Burr & Forman’s commercial litigation practice group, earned his J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law and his B.A. from Vanderbilt University.
Frost Brown Todd makes Katz member
Frost Brown Todd has promoted managing associate Benjamin Katz to member, one of 21 new members firmwide.
Katz is a bankruptcy and restructuring attorney in FBT’s Nashville office. He is outside general counsel to companies in the electronic payments industry and helps automakers manage supply chain crises that threaten production. Katz also represents various stakeholders in complex bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings throughout the country.
He graduated is a graduate of the Emory University School of Law.
Lanquist elected VP of TN Bar Association
Edward D. Lanquist Jr., shareholder and co-founder at Patterson Intellectual Property Law, has been elected vice president of the Tennessee Bar Association. In 2023, he will serve as president-elect and will lead the organization as president for the 2024-2025 bar year.
Lanquist is the TBA’s general counsel, serves on the executive committee of the TBA Intellectual Property Section and is a member of the TBA Young Lawyers Division Fellows. He is a past president of the Tennessee Intellectual Property Law Association, past president of the Nashville Bar Association, past treasurer, Nashville Bar Association, past chair, Nashville Bar Intellectual Property Committee, past chair, Nashville Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Committee, and past chair, Nashville Bar Association ad hoc committee for online continuing legal education.
Lanquist earned his J.D. from the University of Tennessee in 1988. He also holds a degree in civil engineering from UT.
AG Slatery names Shew chief deputy
Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III has selected Senior Assistant Attorney General Dianna Baker Shew for the role of chief deputy.
Shew joined the Attorney General’s Office in 2018 and has managed high-profile cases and complex litigation for the state. She was named senior assistant attorney general in 2019.
Shew previously was associate general counsel at CoreCivic, Inc., where she managed litigation and the investigative staff. She was a partner at Stites & Harbison, PLLC before joining CoreCivic.
Shew graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Law and earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri.
HCA Healthcare TriStar hires chief nursing executive
HCA Healthcare TriStar Division has added Stephanie Wise, RN, MBA-HA, BSN, NEA-BC, as chief nursing executive. She will oversee nursing operations at 17 hospitals and five freestanding emergency rooms across Tennessee and south-central Kentucky.
Wise rejoins the HCA Healthcare family after serving as vice president and chief nursing officer for AdventHealth Shawnee Mission in Kansas. Before her time there, Wise spent more than a decade at HCA Healthcare HealthOne in Denver, Colorado.
She earned an MBA/health care administration from the University of Colorado-Denver and her degree in nursing from the University of Central Missouri. Wise is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, American Organization for Nursing Leadership and American Nurses Association.
LifePoint Health names chief compliance officer
LifePoint Health has named Tizgel High chief compliance officer. High most recently served as LifePoint’s deputy compliance officer.
High will lead LifePoint’s ethics and compliance team, which is responsible for driving a culture across the enterprise that is focused on ethical business practices, regulatory and legal compliance, empowering employees to speak up, and maintaining a workplace environment that prioritizes integrity.
High began her career with LifePoint in the legal department, serving in various roles including assistant general counsel and vice president and associate general counsel for physician services. Before LifePoint, she served as operations counsel for Community Health Systems and as a health care practice group associate for the law firms of King& Spalding and Powell Goldstein LLP, both in Atlanta.
She is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Georgia School of Law.
Dücker tapped to lead VA TN Valley Healthcare
Daniel L. Dücker has been selected as the new executive medical center director of the VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System.
Dücker has served as the executive director for the Fayetteville, North Carolina, VA Coastal Health Care System since 2019. During this time, he provided strategic leadership and oversite for more than 2,700 employees and 85,000 veterans at 15 locations in 19 counties. Before this appointment, Dücker was the acting deputy network director for VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network in Durham, North Carolina, and the interim medical center director for VA Maine Health Care System in 2018.
After 34 years of military service, Dücker retired from the U.S. Army Reserve in 2017 as a Colonel with the Medical Service Corps. He was awarded two Legion of Merit awards and the Bronze Star for leadership and meritorious service as a Commander in Afghanistan.
He holds a master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of South Carolina, a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College and a bachelor’s degree in therapeutic recreation from the University of Northern Iowa. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Reserve Officers Association, the American Legion, and the Military Officers Association of America.
Yoshi hires Lewis as chief commercial officer
Yoshi, a tech-enabled last-mile delivery platform for car care, has added Ed Lewis has as chief commercial officer. Lewis will lead growth initiatives and oversee sales and business development for the company’s corporate and fleet businesses.
The newly created leadership position will be based in Nashville, and the announcement comes on the heels of Bridgestone’s investment in the company earlier this year, joining strategic investors General Motors and ExxonMobil.
Lewis joins Yoshi from Arrive Mobility, where he served as the company’s senior vice president of business development.
During his career, Lewis has founded, built and scaled fast-growing technology companies. Two of Lewis’ technology startups, IPIX and Telular, participated in initial public offerings. He also held business development positions at Motorola and Syniverse.
Lewis is a graduate of the University of Iowa, where he also holds an MBA.