Waller adds team for high-profile litigation

Friday, April 3, 2015, Vol. 39, No. 14

Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP have announced the addition of W. David Bridgers, Chanelle R. Acheson, John E. Haubenreich and Wells Trompeter Hoffman to the firm’s Nashville office.

Bridgers, Acheson, Haubenreich and Hoffman join a team of experienced white collar/qui tam attorneys at Waller, including several from the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Offices. The group frequently represents health care organizations, boards of directors and executives in federal, state and local criminal, civil and regulatory enforcement matters. All were previously with Neal and Harwell, PLC.

Bridgers has more than 20 years of litigation experience, and his practice covers environmental litigation, health care regulatory enforcement and a wide ranges of complex commercial disputes. He earned his J.D. and M.S.L. in environmental Law from Vermont law School. He holds a master’s of public health from the University of Alabama and a B.A. from The University of the South.

Acheson represents clients ranging from publicly traded corporations to individuals in environmental litigation and healthcare fraud and abuse and patient privacy matters. Acheson served as a judge advocate in the United States Marine Corps from 2005 to 2011, and later as special assistant United States attorney. She also served as ethics advisor to the commanding general and as a member of the environmental impact working group. Acheson earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her B.S. in political science from the University of Colorado.

Haubenreich is a seasoned litigator who has won jury verdicts for clients in both state and federal court. He earned his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law, holds a master’s of public policy from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College and earned his undergraduate degree from Duke University.

Hoffman represents clients from individuals to large corporations in a range of civil litigation including government fraud investigations, internal corporate investigations. She served as judicial law clerk to Chief District Judge Thomas A. Varian in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee from 2012 to 2013 and as judicial law clerk to Magistrate Judges H. Bruce Guyton and C. Clifford Shirley, Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee from 2011 to 2012. She earned her J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law and her B.A. in political science in German from the Honors College at the College of Charleston.

Grant elected to Baker Donelson’s board

Charles K. Grant, a shareholder in Baker Donelson’s Nashville office, has been elected a member of the Firm’s board of directors. Grant was elected by Baker Donelson’s shareholders to a three-year term.

Grant, a member of the firm’s Labor & Employment Department, represents clients in complex employment litigation, including class and collective actions and litigation concerning claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). His practice also includes business litigation and he has represented numerous clients in mediation and arbitration proceedings across more than a dozen states.

A 1991 graduate of Washington and Lee University School of Law, he serves as immediate past president of the Nashville Bar Association. In 2014, he served as president, the first African-American to serve as president in the association’s history.

He also serves as second vice president of the board of directors for the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, and is a past president and former board member of the Napier-Looby Bar Association.

Also, Joey Hargis has joined Baker Donelson’s Real Estate and Finance Group.

Hargis, who joins as an attorney in the Nashville office, comes to the Firm having served as Metro Codes Zoning Examination chief and secretary of the Board of Zoning Appeals since 2008. He also previously served on the staff of the Metro Nashville Planning Commission.

He will serve Baker Donelson’s real estate clients in land use and zoning matters in Middle Tennessee and throughout the state.

Daniels chosen to lead Vanderbilt Medical Group

Titus Daniels, M.D., MPH, MMHC, associate professor of Medicine, has been named executive director of the Vanderbilt Medical Group (VMG) and chief operating officer for Adult Clinical Operations at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

As Daniels transitions from his current role as vice chair for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Medicine, he will work closely with the clinical department chairs and operational leaders throughout VUMC and the Schools of Medicine and Nursing to ensure coordinated patient care and management processes across the continuum.

New areas of oversight for Daniels will include: efforts to improve clinical documentation and coding; Electronic Medical Record (EMR) tool design, adoption and support; development and implementation of the standard clinical operating model; innovation in clinical processes; and design and alignment of systems to support population health and integration with the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network.

He will provide direct executive oversight to several patient care center leadership teams, participate in the development of the adult clinical enterprise operating and capital budgets, and guide space planning for the clinics.

McKinney honored by National Black Lawyers

Attorney Joseph K. McKinney of Dickinson Wright, PLLC has been selected as a member of The National Black Lawyers: Top 100 and The National Black Lawyers: Top 40 Under 40.

The National Black Lawyers: Top 100 is a professional honorary organization whose mission is to promote excellence in the legal profession for accomplished black attorneys in the U.S. through advocacy training, marketing, networking and education of lawyers. The National Black Lawyers: Top 40 Under 40 is a professional honorary organization composed of the top 40 black lawyers under the age of 40 from each state. Selection for both lists is based on a multi-phase process that includes peer nomination combined with third party research.

McKinney’s practice area includes commercial and business litigation, civil litigation, labor and employment litigation and minority business enterprises. He is the immediate past president of the Napier-Looby Bar Foundation.

Barge Waggoner hires director of transportation

Daniel Spann, PE, PTOE, has joined Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon, Inc. as director of transportation services. His responsibilities will be to organize, strengthen and grow Barge Waggoner’s transportation presence and capabilities.

Spann has 18 years of experience in the fields of traffic engineering and transportation planning, roadway design and commercial site design. His expertise includes roundabout design, specifically noting the award-winning roundabout on the Middle Tennessee State University campus.

Spann graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a degree in civil engineering and is a registered professional engineer in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, as well as a licensed professional traffic operations engineer.

Prior to joining Barge Waggoner, Spann served as project manager at RPM Transportation Consultants.

Dollar General announces promotion of Taylor

Dollar General Corporation has promoted Rhonda M. Taylor to executive vice president and general counsel. She previously served as senior vice president and general counsel.

Taylor started with Dollar General as an employment attorney in 2000 and was promoted to senior employment attorney in 2001. She was promoted to deputy general counsel in 2004 and then moved into the role of vice president and assistant general counsel in 2010.

In June 2013, she became senior vice president and general counsel. Prior to joining Dollar General, Taylor specialized in labor law and employment litigation at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart in Nashville. She previously held positions with Ford & Harrison in Memphis and Stokes & Bartholomew in Nashville.

She earned a degree in political science from Birmingham-Southern College and her juris doctorate from the University of Virginia.

PBG Builders selects Booker for controller

Roger L. Booker, CPA, has joined PBG Builders, Inc., a commercial and industrial general contracting and construction management firm, as controller. He will be responsible for accounting and financial management strategies that streamline business operations to drive growth, efficiency and increase profit.

Booker was previously with Progressive Pipeline, Inc., in Meridian, Mississippi, where he served as vice president of finance. For 11 years, he was controller/chief financial officer at McElroy Truck Lines, Inc./Sumter Management, Inc. Prior to that, he spent 10 years as controller at H&M Construction Company.

Booker earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of West Alabama. He is a member of the American Institute of CPA’s and the Alabama Society of CPA’s.

Insight Genetics names chief technology officer

Insight Genetics, a molecular diagnostics company focused on advancing precision medicine in cancer care, announced today that Rob Seitz has joined its leadership team as Chief Technology Officer.

As CTO, Seitz is responsible for overseeing the advancement of research into clinically validated tests. In particular, he will oversee the development and commercialization of genetic assays for the identification of triple negative breast cancer – a highly aggressive form of breast cancer – using technology licensed out of the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center.

Seitz earned his B.S. in chemistry from the University of South Alabama and a M.Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary.

BOHAN Advertising welcomes back Mahone

Jeanine Mahone, who worked for BOHAN Advertising for eight years in the early 2000s and left for work in Colorado, is back on staff as an engagement supervisor.

She most recently was media broadcast supervisor at the Buntin Group and before that was media planning supervisor at the Vladimir Jones agency in Colorado Springs, Colo. She has experience in print, cable and broadcast TV buying, as well as in digital extensions, sponsorships, contests and product placement.