Health care entrepreneur Philip Hertik and veteran venture capital investor Lucius E. Burch IV have joined the board of directors of PatientFocus, a medical billing company.
PatientFocus provides patient-pay account management to hospitals, physician groups and other providers across the country.
Other board members include Jim Lackey, founder and former CEO of Passport Health Communications and current CEO of EnableComp, Luke Simons, former managing partner of J.C. Bradford & Co., and Dr. Rand Frederiksen, a cardiologist with more than 40 years of experience as a health care provider and managing partner for his physician practice group.
PatientFocus, formerly known as PatientCredit, was launched in 2010 by David Frederiksen and Evan Austill, PatientFocus COO and fellow Vanderbilt University MBA graduate. The company’s customers now span more than 50 client sites in nine states.
TEA executive director retiring after 29 years
Tennessee Education Association Executive Director Alphonso C. (Al) Mance is retiring after 29 years with the association. Mance served as an assistant executive director prior to being promoted to executive director in 1999.
During his time with TEA, Mance served on Gov. Bredesen’s Commission on Civic Education and currently serves on the Tennessee First to the Top advisory council and the Tennessee Labor-Management Foundation board of directors.
Mance started his organizational career with the New York Educators Association. He has written more than 200 articles on educational and organizational issues and topics. Prior to his work for the association, Mance taught in Florida and New York. He has developed and presented training packages on stress management, time management, leadership, parent-teacher conferences, teaching in a multi-cultural environment, interpersonal relations and humanism in education, among others.
Assistant Executive Director Mitchell Johnson will serve as interim executive director until Mance’s replacement is hired in early 2013.
Corizon names new VPs of operations
Corizon, a provider of correctional healthcare solutions, has promoted Jane Lachner to vice president of operations for the Southeast region and Levin Jones to vice president of operations for the Midwest region.
Lachner joined Corizon in 1999 as a staff nurse and was later promoted to health services administrator and then regional vice president for South Florida. In 2011, her regional vice president responsibilities were expanded to include all Florida jails.
Jones joined Corizon in 2004, also as a staff nurse. Since that time he has been promoted to health services administrator and then to regional clinical programs manager with oversight of 15 contracts. He also served as regional vice president and was awarded the Region of the Year award in 2010.
Hirschman a director at Avondale Partners
Avondale Partners has named Bill Hirschman its new director of equity capital markets product marketing. In this role, Hirschman will be responsible for maximizing the overall scope and effectiveness of the firm’s equity research product.
Hirschman has been with Avondale Partners since its founding in 2001, most recently serving as managing director and head of trading. He also holds a seat on the firm’s operating committee with responsibilities for coordination and implementation of firm-wide strategies.
Prior to Avondale, Hirschman served as managing director and head of NASDAQ trading at SunTrust Equitable Securities in Nashville.
In addition:
Adam Shifrin has joined the firm as director of institutional sales for West Coast accounts. Previously, he was a senior vice president in institutional sales at Compass Point Research and Trading in Washington, DC. His experience also includes five years in institutional sales at Needham & Company in San Francisco.
Paula Torch has joined the firm as a senior associate analyst covering mall-based specialty retailers. Previously, she was a vice president on the specialty retail coverage team at Barclays Capital in San Francisco.
Health Care Council adds, shuffles staff
The Nashville Health Care Council has added two new staff members and made three staff role changes.
Kalyn Dennis is the new event coordinator for the Council. In this position, Dennis is responsible for providing logistical support for Council and Leadership Health Care (LHC) member events. Previously, Dennis served as the executive coordinator for Nashville Capital Network.
Katie Schlacter was recently hired as director of communications. Before joining the Council, Schlacter was a senior account executive at McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations, working with clients in the health care, retail, government and nonprofit sectors.
Judith Byrd has taken the role of executive director of the Council Fellows initiative. The program is designed to engage select senior and emerging industry leaders to explore new business strategies and meet the challenges facing the U.S. health care system in the years ahead. Byrd has been with the Council for six years, most recently leading the Council’s Leadership Health Care program.
Jenni Bradley has taken the role of deputy director for Leadership Health Care, an initiative of the Council. In this role, she is directly involved with the development and implementation of LHC programming, logistics, communications and membership recruitment and retention. She previously served as the program manager for the Council and LHC. Before joining the Council, Bradley worked in Washington in positions at the U.S. Department of Education, the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence and the office of Congressman John J. Duncan, Jr.
Caleb Graves has taken an expanded role as director of membership services and community relations. In this position, Graves is charged with member outreach, retention and recruitment as well as promoting Nashville as a health care capital to key stakeholders in the private and public sectors. Prior to moving to Nashville, Graves spent approximately six years in at the White House, where he held several key positions.
SPR account supervisor presented award
Seigenthaler Public Relations, has honored account supervisor Ben Palos with the Thomas P. Seigenthaler Award for Excellence at the firm’s 40th anniversary dinner.
The award, named in honor of the late Thomas P. Seigenthaler, who founded the firm in 1972, recognizes an individual at SPR whose performance throughout the year best exemplifies the standards of excellence, attitude and ethics he established.
Palos develops and implements strategic communications programs on behalf of local and national clients across various industries, including health care, law, education, restaurant and hospitality, residential real estate, and banking and finance.
Behm honored with Bar’s Rutherford Award
The Nashville Bar Foundation has named Margaret L. Behm, a partner and founder of the Nashville law firm Dodson Parker Behm & Capparella, PC, as recipient of the David C. Rutherford Award.
The Rutherford Award is among the highest honors bestowed by the Nashville Bar Association fellows. It is given to an attorney who exemplifies the memory and ideals of Nashville lawyer David C. Rutherford, who represented the highest standards of “professionalism, charitable contribution in the legal field and in the community as a whole, and the spirit of collegiality among bench and bar.”
Behm began her career at the firm now known as Legal Aid of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands and has spent more than 30 years as an advocate for justice. The Tennessee Supreme Court appointed her as the first chairwoman of the Court’s Access to Justice Commission, and under Behm’s leadership, initiatives were implemented statewide to connect clients with pro bono attorneys and to help self-represented parties.
Heart Association selects Nashville VP
Kelley Tune has been named vice president, Metro Nashville for the American Heart Association, responsible for all development operations in the market and furthering the mission of the association.
She succeeds Kristie Woock, now senior vice president of field operations and development for the association’s Western States Alliance.
Tune most recently served as vice president of the Nashville Heart Walk, one of the most successful Heart Walks in the nation. The most recent Heart Walk in October 2012 netted more than $1,750,000.
Tune has worked for the American Heart Association for seven years.
Zimmerman to lead NCE communications
Nashville Community Education, provider of personal and professional development programming, has promoted AmeriCorps intern Lauren Zimmerman to the role of communications coordinator.
Zimmerman will serve as manager and developer of department websites and online registration, and coordinate all email campaigns.
Prior to her new role, Zimmerman was the organization’s AmeriCorps intern and developed a research system and database management process that is an essential component in her new role of communicating with past, current, and prospective students and teachers.
INSBANK adds VP for music industry clients
Ed Theis has joined INSBANK as vice president and relationship manager. In his new role, Theis will lead INSBANK’s expansion into the music industry while maintaining primarily commercial client relationships and generating new relationships for the bank.
Theis brings more than two decades of experience in client relationship management within the banking and financial industry. Prior to joining growing INSBANK, Theis was a vice president and client advisor in the sports and entertainment specialty group at SunTrust. He has also served as vice president and relationship manager at Fifth Third Bank.