Legal Aid Society housing attorney Elizabeth Leiserson will be honored by the American Bar Association in September for her work assisting low-income Tennesseans.
The ABA named Leiserson the winner of its Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, which recognizes distinguished service by an attorney in the nonprofit sector who is younger than age of 35 or has been in practice fewer than 10 years.
Leiserson is the project director of Legal Aid Society’s successful Eviction Right to Counsel program, the first program of its kind in the state, which assists low-income individuals across Middle Tennessee with housing-related legal matters.
She worked with the Nashville Hispanic Bar Association to create and develop the program and has helped navigate the legal landscape of creating a new nonprofit legal assistance program from the ground up.
Under Leiserson’s stewardship, the program exceeded its initial goal to serve 1,050 unique low-income individuals in Davidson County over the course of two years –surpassing that goal within the first 16 months with 1,194 individuals served.
Leiserson is a Nashville native and a graduate of Yale Law School. She previously served as a Skadden Fellow and then staff attorney with Southern Migrant Legal Services, a project of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid. After law school, she clerked for two years for the Hon. Jane Stranch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
KraftCPAs names Hight chief manager
Chris Hight has been named chief manager, succeeding Vic Alexander, who will transition to an of-counsel role beginning Nov. 1, 2025, after 43 years with the firm, including 31 years as chief manager.
Alexander will continue his litigation work through Kraft Analytics, an affiliate of KraftCPAs that focuses on valuation, forensics and transaction advisory services.
Hight steps into his new role Nov. 1 following his tenure as member-in-charge of the KraftCPAs assurance services department and nearly 20 years of service.
During Alexander’s executive leadership, KraftCPAs expanded its footprint across Tennessee with acquisitions in Lebanon and Chattanooga
Hight joined the firm in 2004 and has held various leadership positions. He was most recently member-in-charge of the assurance services department and served as practice leader for the firm’s manufacturing/wholesale/distribution industry team and the firm’s employee benefits plan team.
Before joining KraftCPAs, Hight was senior vice president and chief financial officer of a cellular tower company, where he supervised the acquisition of the company in a transaction worth nearly $100 million. He also worked as an audit manager for a national accounting firm, managing public and private company audits.
Hight earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Tennessee Tech University and previously served on the university’s College of Business Advisory Board.
Easterseals honors Meharry’s Hildreth
Meharry President James E.K. Hildreth Sr., Ph.D., M.D., has joined a long list of honorees as the 2024 Easterseals Tennessee “Nashvillian of the Year.”
The organization recognized Hildreth for his dedication and commitment to eliminating health disparities and strengthening health equity worldwide. He was especially honored for his extraordinary efforts in leading the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nashville with Meharry at the forefront running the city’s testing sites.
Hildreth, in accepting the award, announced a $10,000 donation from his family to benefit Easterseals Tennessee. Hildreth thanked Meharry’s leadership team for their unwavering support and explained that without such an outstanding team the recognition would not have been possible.
Franklin’s Faulkner is state’s top police chief
The City of Franklin’s police chief has received an award that hits close to her heart.
Franklin Police Chief Deb Faulkner has been given the Chief Joe Casey Award from the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police. The top law enforcement honor is given annually by the TACP in recognition of a chief of police who has served with distinction through their character, effort and dedication. The award is extraordinarily meaningful to Faulkner.
“Metro Police Chief Joe D. Casey hired me, encouraged me and inspired me to always love the rule of law, the people I serve, the law enforcement profession and my fellow officers,” Faulkner said. “This award, in his name, means more to me than I can express.”
Before joining the Franklin Police Department in 2014, Faulkner was Tennessee’s first inspector general. A retired Metropolitan Nashville Police officer with more than 30 years of service to Nashville, Faulkner came up through the ranks, serving in Metro’s Patrol Division and various other assignments before retiring from the MNPD at the rank of deputy chief.
She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Memphis, a master’s in criminal justice from Middle Tennessee State University and a doctorate in human development counseling from Vanderbilt University.
Faulkner is a graduate of Leadership Franklin, Leadership Nashville and Leadership Middle Tennessee. She also is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and past president of the Tennessee Chapter of the FBI National Academy Associates. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at Trevecca University, Cumberland University and Tennessee State University, where she has taught classes in sociology, criminal deviancy and the management of law enforcement agencies.
American Heart Association announces 2024-25 board
The American Heart Association, a global force for healthier lives for all, has announced new leadership and members for its 2024-25 Middle Tennessee board of directors.
Dr. Andrea Willis, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee senior vice president and chief medical officer, will serve as board president, while Fahad Tahir, Ascension Saint Thomas president and CEO, will serve as chairperson.
New board members include Tara Myers of Esa and Tyler Enstice of GEODIS.
Returning board members are Mike Wiechart, TeamHealth; Tom Ozburn, TriStar Centennial; Gregory J. Allen; Katina Beard, Matthew Walker Clinic; Eric Evans, Surgery Partners; Lynn Friedrichs, Deloitte; William Haugh, Lifepoint Health; Penny Houchens, Gresham Smith; Dr. Veronica Mallett, CommonSpirit Health; Dr. Daniel Muñoz, Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Dr. Evelio Rodriguez, Ascension Saint Thomas Heart; Dr. Margaret Rush, Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital; Dr. Joseph Webb, Nashville Healthcare Center; Stephanie Wise, TriStar Division; and Mark Yancy, Nashville Health.
The Middle Tennessee American Heart Association serves Nashville and surrounding communities. Through their collective reach, these volunteers will lead the organization in pursuit of its mission of being a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.
FBI veteran will lead Lipscomb security
Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Mark Shafer has been appointed Lipscomb University’s chief of campus security.
Shafer is scheduled to retire later this month from the FBI after a 26-year career and begin his work with Lipscomb Sept. 8.
Shafer began his FBI career in 1998 in the Miami field office, where he served as a special agent. During his tenure with the bureau, he was promoted to supervisory special agent in the Counterterrorism Division at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., and was later assigned as a special agent to the Nashville Division, Nashville Resident Agency, a role that he held for 15 years. He then served as a supervisory special agent in the Office of Congressional Affairs in Washington, D.C.
Shafer is a graduate of Brown University and holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Miami School of Law. He is an active member of the Tennessee Bar Association and is a Certified Legal Advisor for the FBI.
Nashville General Hospital taps chief compliance officer
Nashville General Hospital has named Kristi F. Lewis, Esq., CHC, CHPC, to the executive team as chief compliance officer.
Lewis brings more than 22 years of experience in the health care industry to NGH. She has held several positions with emphasis on compliance, data privacy, litigation, employment, contract negotiation, drafting and management, insurance coverage and implementation and management, cybersecurity management, and auditing and monitoring.
In the private sector, she served as the vice president of corporate compliance at Covenant Physician Partners, Inc., the associate counsel of litigation and employment at Specialty Care, Inc., and as senior counsel and privacy officer at Tivity Health. As a public servant, she was the special counsel to the commissioner and privacy officer at the Tennessee Department of Children’s services. She also was assistant general counsel, litigating attorney for both the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and the Tennessee Department of Health.
As an adjunct professor, she taught several courses at Meharry Medical College’s Master of Public Health Program and Argosy University’s undergraduate program. She has also taught business law at the University of Phoenix and Tennessee State University.
TN Baptist Foundation selects new president
The Tennessee Baptist Foundation has named Bill Warner president, succeeding Bill Gruenewald, who will retire in October.
Warner comes with a wealth of experience as Georgia Baptist Foundation’s vice president of development, demonstrating a strong track record of leadership and a deep understanding of the Foundation’s goals.