Behm
Margaret Behm, principal at Dodson, Parker, Behm and Capparella, P.C., will serve as the 2015 campaign chair of the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands’ Campaign for Equal Justice.
This campaign is an annual initiative that raises funds for Legal Aid Society, Tennessee’s largest non-profit law firm.
Today, Behm concentrates her legal practice on employment, business law, bankruptcy, estate planning, elder law, land use and litigation. She also is general counsel for the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency and the Metropolitan Transit Authority.
Behm was inducted into the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame in 2013 and was also named the 2013 Best Lawyers’ Nashville “Lawyer of the Year” for Labor and Employment Litigation. Behm was also a recipient of the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, which is given annually to five lawyers nationally by the American Bar Association’s Commission of Women in the Profession. She served as the first chair of the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission from 2009 to 2012.
Additionally, Behm served as the co-chair of the local organizing committee and host committees for the Women’s Final Four in 2014 from 2008 to 2013.
Working with Behm in the campaign are:
- Large Firm Division: Mike Abelow, Sherrard & Roe, and Andrea Perry, Bone McAllester Norton
- Small Firm Division: Kristen Amonette, Lindsey & Amonette, and Dudley West, White & Reasor
- Corporate Attorney Division: Meg Mazzone, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, and Reggie Hill, LifePoint Hospitals
- Government Attorney Division: Laura Tidwell, Nashville Electric Service
- Judges Division: Judge Philip Smith, 20th Judicial Dist., Div. IV, and Judge Rachel Bell, General Sessions Court, Div VIII
Leadership Middle Tennessee selects 2015 class
Thirty-three community, nonprofit, academic and business leaders from the Middle Tennessee region have been selected for membership in the 2015 Class of Leadership Middle Tennessee, Inc., a regional leadership institute encompassing a 10-county area.
Class members were selected from Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Maury, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties.
Selected for the 2015 Leadership Middle Tennessee class and their respective counties are:
- Cheatham County: David Risner, attorney
- Davidson County: Meredith Benton, regional director, external affairs, Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation; Karen Berson, associate vice president, corporate and foundation relations, Meharry Medical College; Miranda Christy, attorney, Stites and Harbison, PLLC; Toby Compton, executive director, Metro Sports Authority; Bill Evans, president/CEO, Evans Glass Company; Susan Galbreath, associate provost and professor of accounting, Lipscomb University; Marc Hill, chief policy officer, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce; Cara Sweeney Ince, director of community relations & advocacy, Conexion Americas; Kevin Roddey, vice president, Pinnacle Financial Partners
- Dickson County: Michael Laverty, state director, Corporation for National & Community Service; Brett Reynolds, senior vice president, Mortgage Advisory Group, Pinnacle Financial Partners
- Maury County: George Vrailas, Magic Restaurants
- Montgomery County: Diane Berty, vice president, Tennessee Independent Colleges & Universities Association; Elizabeth Black, communications director, Montgomery County Government; Sherryl Byrd, vice president for student affairs, Austin Peay State University; Mark Kelly, COO/broker, Keller Williams Realty – The Air Assault Team
- Robertson County: Ed Cope, Realtor, Re/Max 1st Choice; Bayard Shelton, owner/president, S&S Precision, Inc.; Michael Van Dyke, chief deputy, Robertson County Sheriff’s Office
- Rutherford County: Brian Coleman, financial advisor, Edward Jones; Gordon Ferguson, president/CEO, Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital; David Hoke, principal broker, Ann Hoke & Associates, Keller Williams; David Urban, dean, Jennings A. Jones College of Business, Middle Tennessee State University
- Sumner County: Harry Allen, senior vice president/senior commercial relationship manager, Avenue Bank; Adam Ghassemi, broadcast journalist, NewsChannel5 Network
- Williamson County: Jim Corum, vice president, business development, Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Will Dodson, regional energy coordinator, U.S.D.A., Rural Development; Kurt Winstead, attorney, Rudy, Wood & Winstead, PLLC; Mayra Zimmer, vice president, Multicultural Marketing, AIG Financial Network
- Wilson County: Joe Bond, business development, Johnson Controls; Rob Cesternino, CEO, Cavalry Security, Inc.; Jessica Fain, senior vice president - marketing & communications, YMCA of Middle Tennessee.
Leadership Middle Tennessee is a regional leadership program founded to engage leaders in the 10-county region of Middle Tennessee. The program is a series of 10 monthly day-and-a-half issues-focused sessions designed to give participants a greater understanding of the critical issues and key players in the region, motivating them to use their skills to become regionally engaged.
Information: www.leadmt.org.
Bueno to lead VUMC Pediatric Plastic Surgery
Bueno
Reuben Bueno Jr., M.D., associate professor of plastic surgery and graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, is returning to Vanderbilt University Medical Center as chief of Pediatric Plastic Surgery at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and also as director of the Plastic Surgery Residency Program.
Bueno comes to Vanderbilt from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, where he was director of Pediatric Plastic Surgery and the Plastic Surgery Residency Program.
His clinical interests include adult and pediatric reconstructive plastic surgery, adult and pediatric hand surgery, cleft lip and palate surgery, facial reanimation surgery, peripheral nerve surgery, targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) and burn surgery.
Bueno will provide additional support and expertise to the pediatric plastic surgery service with Kevin Kelly, M.D., director of the Cleft and Craniofacial Center, and Stephane Braun, M.D.
Bueno says he hopes to collaborate with the School of Engineering to offer both the surgery and the “smart prosthetics” to patients at Vanderbilt.
Veteran tax attorney Burns joins Waller
Burns
John B. Burns has joined the Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP tax practice as a partner in Nashville. Burns provides strategic tax advice to closely held and family-owned businesses and advising high-net-worth individuals on wealth management and asset protection.
Burns frequently serves as outside general counsel to small and medium-sized businesses, and provides counsel on local, state and federal tax issues that impact day-to-day operations, business formation, governance, succession planning, and restructuring. He also advises business owners and executives, professional athletes, entertainers and other high-net-worth individuals on strategic tax planning and estate planning.
He has been recognized in Best Lawyers for his tax law experience, and he is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell. Burns earned his J.D., cum laude, in 1990 from the University of Mississippi School of Law and his LL.M. in taxation in 2001 from the University of Florida.
Vanderbilt’s Heckers named editor of JAMA Psychiatry
Heckers
Stephan Heckers, M.D., M.Sc., William P. and Henry B. Test Professor of Schizophrenia Research and chair of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry, has been named the next editor-in-chief of JAMA Psychiatry, one of nine specialty journals in the JAMA Network.
Heckers, who currently serves on the editorial board of JAMA Psychiatry, will become the fifth editor of the journal, replacing Joseph Coyle, M.D., of Harvard, who has been editor since 2002 of the journal formerly known as the Archives of General Psychiatry.
A graduate of the University Of Cologne School Of Medicine in Germany, Heckers completed his clinical training in psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and was director of the schizophrenia and bipolar disorder program at McLean Hospital from 2003 to 2005. He came to Vanderbilt in 2006.
His research focuses on the neural basis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He combines neuroimaging experiments in patients with cellular and molecular studies. Heckers also has served on the editorial boards of Schizophrenia Bulletin and Schizophrenia Research and as a scientific council member of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.
Bizier elected president of national institute
Bizier
Paul Bizier, project delivery manager for Water Services at Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon, Inc., was recently elected and is now serving as national president for the Environmental & Water Resources Institute.
EWRI is a civil engineering specialty institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the country’s oldest national engineering society.
Bizier has 30 years of experience in engineering with more than 26 years of experience in process design and analysis. His experience includes design roles in dozens of wastewater treatment facilities and process systems for activated sludge and biosolids treatment.
He earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of Central Florida, as well as a master’s in environmental engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Heritage at Brentwood names marketing director
Good
The Heritage at Brentwood has promoted Judy Good to the position of marketing director. Previously, Good served as residency counselor at The Heritage, where she contributed to the success of marketing and sales initiatives over the past four years.
Good, who will oversee and manage all marketing and sales efforts at The Heritage, brings 20 years of experience in senior housing to her new role. Before joining The Heritage, Good served as sales manager for Legacy Crossing in Franklin, where she oversaw sales and referrals for the independent living community, earning her the companywide MVP award.
Fenton to lead Economic Development Council
Fenton
James Fenton, executive director of the Gallatin Economic Development Agency, has been elected president of the Tennessee Economic Development Council.
Other officers elected include:
- Vice President: Mandy White, vice president of economic development, Jackson Chamber
- Secretary/Treasurer: Andrew Lawson, consultant-field operations, TVA
- Immediate past president, Gary Farlow, president and CEO, Cleveland/Bradley County Chamber of Commerce
- East Tennessee Director: Marshall Ramsey, president, Morristown Chamber of Commerce
- Middle Tennessee Representative: Bob Bibb, assistant director, Middle Tennessee Industrial Development Association
- West Tennessee Representative: Allen Hester, president and CEO, Dyersburg Chamber of Commerce
- SEDC Director: GC Hixson, executive director, Joint Economic & Community Development Board of Wilson County
- State Liaison: Jamie Stitt, deputy assistant commissioner, business development, TN Dept of Economic & Community Development.
TEDC is a statewide organization for both public and private sector professionals involved in economic development.