The Nashville Bar Association has named Harlan Dodson, a partner and founder of the Nashville law firm Dodson Parker Behm & Capparella, PC, recipient of the John C. Tune Public Service Award.
The Tune Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Nashville Bar Association, is given annually to an attorney who has shown the highest degree of dedication, not only to the lawyer’s work, but also to the betterment of the community in which the lawyer lives.
Former Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, who presented Dodson with the award, described Dodson’s achievements, which include teaching at Vanderbilt Law School and Nashville School of Law, writing the annually updated text Estate Planning and Administration in Tennessee, and serving as a member of the Tennessee Judicial Council.
Purcell also noted that Dodson is a founder of the Oasis Center, Nashville’s nationally recognized center offering support to vulnerable youth.
Crowe receives top Tennessee Bar award
The Tennessee Bar Association has recognized Jean Crowe, a family law attorney of the Legal Aid Society Nashville office, as its 2013 Ashley T. Wiltshire Public Service Attorney of the Year.
Named after former Legal Aid Society executive director, the Ashley T. Wiltshire Public Service Award annually recognizes an attorney who has provided outstanding legal services to low-income clients.
Crowe is a state and national leader in the field of domestic violence, having served on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic Violence, as chair of the Domestic Violence Committee of the Family Law section of the American Bar Association’s conference in Washington, D.C., and as a member of the Child Support Advisory Task Force. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School.
In addition to the Ashley T. Wiltshire Public Service Award, the TBA also gave two other service awards. Phillip Cramer, John Farringer, Bill Harbison and Elliot Ozment received the Harris Gilbert Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year Award for significant pro bono work done as a private attorney, and Chris Martin received the Law Student Volunteer Award.
Firstbank names Rutherford Co. president
FirstBank announced that Ben Weatherford has joined the FirstBank team as Rutherford County president, responsible for overseeing the bank’s growing operations in Rutherford and Cannon County.
Weatherford comes to FirstBank from Southern Community Bank, where he was city president, overseeing operations and growth of the Murfreesboro market. Prior to his tenure at Southern Community, Weatherford was president of MidSouth Bank in Murfreesboro.
Weatherford, who more than 25 years of banking experience in Tennessee, replaces Chuck Lewis, who retired at the end of the year after serving as FirstBank’s Murfreesboro city president for almost a decade.
Cornwall honored by entrepreneur group
Jeff Cornwall, Belmont University’s Jack C. Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship, has been named as the Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year by the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE).
Past winners of the award include faculty members from Oklahoma State University, University of Texas (Austin), Stanford University, Purdue University and Baylor University, among others.
USASBE Past-President Mark Weaver, who is the Ben May Chair of Entrepreneurship at the Mitchell College of Business at the University of South Alabama, served on the selection committee for this year’s Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year. He said, “Jeff was selected as the entrepreneurship educator of the year for his innovations, such as his blog and ability to both educate students and inform entrepreneurs on ways to succeed.”
Cornwall earned a D.B.A. and an M.B.A . from the University of Kentucky, and a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. In addition to teaching and research, Cornwall advises Belmont’s E-Club and Collegiate DECA, both of which serve the interests of entrepreneurs across campus.
In 2006, Cornwall was named a Fellow of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), an organization he served as president in 2010. In 2008, Belmont University’s Center for Entrepreneurship received the USASBE National Model Undergraduate Program of the Year Award. In 2011, Cornwall was named Small Business Influencer by Small Business Trends, and last fall he was named for the second year in a row to the list for the Top 100 Champions in the 2012 Small Business Influencer Awards.
Cornwall’s blog, “The Entrepreneurial Mind,” is one of the most popular small business blogs on the web. It was named by Forbes as a “Best of the Web” and is part of the Forbes blog network. In addition, it is syndicated by the Christian Science Monitor and Business Insider and is linked to by Entrepreneur, Inc. and U.S. News and World Report.
Patent attorney joins Waddey & Patterson
Patent attorney Nate Bailey has joined Waddey & Patterson, P.C. as its newest associate. His practice areas with the firm will include all aspects of patent and other intellectual property litigation, including practice before both the Trademark and Patent Trial and Appeal Boards.
Prior to joining Waddey and Patterson, Bailey worked as a patent attorney in the United States Patent & Trademark Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board. There, he briefed administrative patent judges in the trial division on legal and technological issues and drafted opinions for ex parte appeals in numerous technological areas. He was ranked as the No. 1 patent attorney in quality ratings during his final fiscal year with the office.
Prior to his time at USPTO, Bailey worked for a patent boutique firm in the D.C. area. He started his career clerking for the Honorable Glen M. Williams in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
Airport Authority names re-appointments to board
The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA) Board of Commissioners recently approved the re-appointments of Charles Cook, Jr., Sandra Fulton, Kim Hawkins and Ellen L. Meyer to the Arts at the Airport Foundation’s Board of Directors. All appointments are for a three-year term and take effect on Jan. 1, 2013.
Cook, chairman of the board for Nashville Bank & Trust, is a respected business and community leader in the field of finance and banking. He has a strong interest and commitment for expanding the visual and performing arts in the Nashville community. Cook is also a private collector supporting many Tennessee artisans.
Fulton, former chairwoman of the Travel Industry Association for America, is a community leader and public art advocate. Fulton has served as a member of the Foundation Board since its inception in 1993.
Hawkins is a principal with Hawkins Partners, Inc. and is a landscape architect. Hawkins has a strong interest in public art programs and serves on several local committees that promote public access for the visual arts.
Meyer has served as president of Watkins College of Art, Design & Film since 2008. Meyer previously served as president of Atlanta College of Art for 14 years. She earned both bachelor’s and master’s of Arts degrees from The George Washington University.
Friends of Radnor Lake hires operations manager
Gretchen Pritchett has joined Friends of Radnor Lake, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving Tennessee’s first designated natural area through land acquisition, park support and environmental education, as operations manager.
Pritchett has 15 years of experience in corporate and government account management and 10 years serving in non-profit board leadership positions. She was previously an academic advisor at Valencia College in Orlando, Fla.
Pritchett holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has additional work experience in public speaking, education and academic advising.
Otwell is 2013 McWherter Leadership Award winner
A Middle Tennessee health care trailblazer is the recipient of the 2013 Ned R. McWherter Leadership Award. Robert Otwell, the recently retired CEO of Columbia-based Maury Regional Medical Center, has been selected for the honor by the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence.
The Ned R. McWherter Leadership Award annually recognizes an individual who exemplifies outstanding leadership in the pursuit of performance excellence and has furthered performance improvement beyond the boundaries of his organization.
Otwell recently retired from MRMC after serving nearly eight years as the hospital’s CEO.
During that time, he led the organization to national prominence and multiple honors.
Prior to joining MRMC, Otwell led the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, which was honored with the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest award for quality. North Mississippi Health Services was selected to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2012.
Rockhouse Partners promotes Henderson
Rockhouse Partners, a division of Etix, has promoted Kelly Henderson from senior account manager to director of client marketing.
Henderson and the Rockhouse team provide digital marketing services for Etix clients and other entertainment properties. Henderson is responsible for overseeing the company’s account management team, which provides strategic and tactical digital marketing solutions for more than 70 entertainment properties.
Henderson, a 2005 Belmont University graduate, has more than eight years of experience with online marketing in the entertainment industry. Prior to joining the Rockhouse team, Henderson worked in digital marketing and account management for Parthenon Publishing, Digomé LLC and Echo music. More recently, Henderson has served on the marketing committee for TEDx Nashville as email and social media manager.
McClane-Bunn joins Bone McAllester
Ann Dee McClane-Bunn has joined the law firm of Bone McAllester Norton PLLC as its business development manager.
As the business development manager, McClane-Bunn will be responsible for marketing campaigns, client events, media placements and firm-wide sponsorships. In addition, she will represent Bone McAllester Norton with the Legal Marketing Association.
McClane-Bunn brings nearly eight years of marketing and public relations experience to the firm. She has expertise in multimedia and social media communications, publications management, crisis communications and social media. Her broad range of specialties include creative and design work, branding, writing and media relations. Prior to joining BMN, she was the senior manager of marketing and public relations for Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.
Baker Donelson again on Fortune’s ‘100 Best’ list
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC has earned its highest ranking yet on Fortune’s 16th annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, coming in at 45th in its fourth consecutive year to be named.
This is the third year that Baker Donelson is the highest-ranked Tennessee-based company named to the list.
In naming Baker Donelson to the list, Fortune noted that the firm “prides itself on doing the right thing.”
The full list and related stories, which will appear in the February 4 issue of Fortune, are available online now at Fortune.com/BestCompanies.