NAIOP Nashville elects first female president

Friday, December 25, 2015, Vol. 39, No. 52

Lizabeth Theiss is the new president of the Nashville Chapter of NAIOP, Commercial Real Estate Development Association, making history as the chapter’s first female president.

Theiss, who is vice president of business development and a member of the executive team at Crain Construction Inc., takes office in January and will serve a one-year term for the 450-member association. A NAIOP (National Association for Industrial and Office Parks) member since 2002, she previously served as president-elect, secretary and bus tour chair.

In addition to Theiss, new officers include:

Dirk Melton, MarketStreet Enterprises, past president

Steve Kulinski, CBRE, president-elect

Bill Glaus, Bank of Nashville, treasurer

Dan Bauchiero, Eakin Partners LLC, secretary

Established in 1988, the Nashville Chapter of NAIOP is committed to excellence in the commercial real estate market. Its members are involved in the design, development, planning and market success of office, industrial, and mixed use properties.

Neal & Harwell names Irwin chief manager

Neal & Harwell, PLC, has selected Philip D. Irwin, who has been with Neal & Harwell since 1986, to serves as chief manager of the firm.

Aubrey B. Harwell, Jr., co-founder of the firm and former chief manager, remains a member of the executive committee and continues to have an active role in the firm.

The primary focus of Irwin’s practice is civil litigation. In addition to Tennessee state and federal courts, he is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, and the Nashville Bar Association.

Irwin attended David Lipscomb University, graduating with a B.S. in 1983. He received his law degree from Mercer University in 1986.

Irwin is a resident of Brentwood, Tennessee.

Baker Donelson’s chooses Buckberg to lead group

The law firm of Baker Donelson has named Joel Buckberg as the first practice group leader of the Firm’s newly formed Commercial Transactions and Business Counseling Practice Group.

Buckberg is a shareholder in the firm’s Nashville office, where he counsels clients on business transactions and operations, particularly in hospitality, franchising and distribution, including strategic planning, development, disclosure, equity and debt financing, mergers and acquisitions, system policy and practice development, regulatory compliance and commercial contracts. Prior to joining Baker Donelson, he was executive vice president and deputy general counsel of Cendant Corporation.

He also serves as co-chair of the Firm’s Franchise and Hospitality Industry Service Team and has been listed in Best Lawyers in America in the area of franchise law since 2008. He was named the Best Lawyers’ 2014 Nashville Franchise Law “Lawyer of the Year.”

Buckberg is a graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law and the Owen Graduate School of Management

GNAR announces 2016 officers, directors

Denise Creswell has been elected president of the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors for 2016. Creswell, who is affiliated with Pilkerton, Realtors, was sworn in earlier this month along with other officers. Her one-year term will begin Jan. 1.

Officers serving alongside Creswell for 2016 include Scott Troxel (Keller Williams Realty), president-elect; Sher Powers (Urbane Residential Specialists), secretary/treasurer; Kristy Hairston (Village), vice president; Andrew Terrell (Pilkerton, Realtors), vice president; and Cindy Stanton (Parks), immediate past president.

Creswell serves on the GNAR board of directors and has more than 25 years of experience in the real estate industry. In addition to her many involvements in the local, state and national Realtor organization, Creswell is a longtime advocate of Habitat for Humanity.

Also elected or appointed to one-year terms of specialized director service were Michele Johnstone (Parker Peery Properties) as president of GNAR’s Dickson Chapter and Faye Ellis (Facility Management Services LLC) as commercial committee chair. Price Lechleiter (Fridrich & Clark Realty) will serve the first year of his two-year term as GNAR’s representative on the MTRMLS (RealTracs Solutions) board of directors

GNAR members also elected four new at-large directors on rotating three-year terms for 2016-2018. John Clayton (Neal Clayton, Realtors), Brad Copeland (Village), Stephanie Crawford (Keller Williams Realty) and Trish Myatt (Benchmark Realty).

Others continuing service on the board include Julie Casassa (Zeitlin & Co.), Stephanie Lowe (The Wilson Group), Chris Simonsen (Fridrich & Clark Realty), Beverly Spellings (Worth Properties), Brittney Testerman Griffith (Avenue Real Estate Services) and Andrea Woodard (Parks).

Northwestern Mutual names 3 advisors to Elite status

Northwestern Mutual honored Nashville-area wealth management advisors Cullen Douglass, Chad Greer and Steve Greene with membership to its exclusive 2015 Forum Group, which recognizes individuals for an outstanding year of helping clients plan for and achieve financial security. Only five percent of Northwestern Mutual’s more than 6,000 financial representatives receive this annual honor.

Douglass and Greer are affiliated with Northwestern Mutual’s Nashville office and Greene with the Franklin office. This is the 12th time that Douglass received the Forum honor, the eighth time for Greer and the fourth time for Greene.

Forum honorees were recognized at a leadership conference in November. Honorees also learned new insights from prominent speakers, gained access to advanced training and leadership development, and shared knowledge with fellow colleagues during the conference.

Krinks joins Franklin’s Prufrock Communications

Prufrock Communications, LLC, a Franklin-based marketing firm, has announced the addition of Jeff Krinks as a partner.

Krinks, director of marketing and communications at Adventure Science Center in Nashville, brings 20 years of experience. During his three-year tenure at the Science Center, he developed and executed marketing strategies that resulted in record-setting revenues, public awareness and visitor attendance.

Before joining the Adventure Science Center, Krinks worked as a public relations, advertising, and marketing specialist representing Nashville-area publishing and health care companies. Prior to his move to Nashville in 2002, Krinks served as the public relations manager for 3D Systems, a high-tech manufacturing firm in California.

Prufrock was founded in 2013 by Jim Cheney, a 20-year communications professional in the Nashville market.

Barry adds transportation, sustainability leadership

Mayor Megan Barry has announced the addition of Erin Hafkenschiel and Mary Beth Ikard to her administration, reporting to Director of Infrastructure Mark Sturtevant, who joined the Barry administration in October.

Hafkenschiel and Ikard will help provide leadership, accountability and stakeholder engagement around Mayor Barry’s efforts to create an efficient, equitable transportation network, including expansion of mass transit services and bicycle and pedestrian facilities.

The infrastructure team will also build on progress to-date implementing recommendations from the 2009 Green Ribbon Committee, working to incorporate sustainability throughout all operations of the Metropolitan government.

Barry’s infrastructure team will work closely with city departments and relevant community stakeholders in the development, coordination, and administration of transportation and growth policies for Nashville, including adherence to and implementation of NashvilleNext, the city’s 25-year General Plan which guides growth and development countywide, and nMotion, the Metropolitan Transit Authority and Regional Transportation Authority’s forthcoming strategic plan, which will recommend new transit projects and improved service standards.

Hafkenschiel will join the administration as transportation and sustainability director from California Environmental Associates, a sustainability consulting firm based in San Francisco. There, she provided regulatory and policy analysis for clients in the freight-transportation and renewable-energy industries, and strategic planning services to environmental foundations and non-profits.

Hafkenschiel also was a 2008 U.S. Fulbright Scholar to China, where she studied sustainable urban planning and transportation. In May 2014, California Gov. Jerry Brown appointed her to the Off Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission. Hafkenschiel holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Urban Planning from Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Economy of Industrialized Societies from the University of California at Berkeley.

Ikard has more than a decade of experience in public relations, and comes to the Mayor’s Office after five years with the Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. There, Ikard led public involvement around the MPO’s 2035 Regional Transportation Plan, which diversified the metro-area’s project investments to lend greater support to cleaner, active modes (transit, pedestrian, bicycle facilities). The Plan also included the first-ever vision for transit service and connectivity across Middle Tennessee’s ten counties.

The infrastructure team will ensure Metro Nashville is equipped to help implement Middle Tennessee Connected, the MPO’s regional transportation plan that builds on NashvilleNext and nMotion, and allocates federal transportation dollars toward roads, transit, and Complete Streets projects throughout Davidson and six other Nashville-area counties. They will also work closely with citizens and Metro departments – including Public Works, Planning, Parks, MNPS, and MTA– to update Nashville’s strategic plan for sidewalks and bikeways in 2016.

Magazine honors Kidd again as top 50 bank rep

Bank Investment Consultant magazine has named Pinnacle Financial Partners associate Brock Kidd one of its Top 50 Bank Reps for the sixth year. He was also named to list in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013.

Kidd is ranked No. 31 on the 2015 list.

The magazine evaluated the honorees on six variables, including assets under management, production, asset growth, percentage of fee business, growth in production and production-per-assets. Re-qualification is required annually.

With more than 21 years of financial and investment experience, Kidd is a senior vice president at Pinnacle Asset Management and a financial advisor for Raymond James. He is located at Pinnacle’s office at 2300 West End Ave.

Bank Investment Consultant is the industry leader in readership and relevance among bank-based financial advisors.

Americans for the Arts elects Vincent to Council

Caroline Vincent, director of public art for the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission (Metro Arts), has been elected as a member of the Americans for the Arts’ (AFTA) national advisory council for the Public Art Network Council, it was announced today.

Vincent was elected by members of AFTA, which is the nation’s leading organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. As a member of the Public Art Network Council, Vincent will work with other arts leaders to advise annual programming, choose the Public Art Network award recipient, and offer diverse perspectives and voices on public art and public art programs.

Vincent will serve a three-year term, beginning Jan. 1, 2016 through Dec. 31, 2018.

As director of public art, Vincent has supervised the installation of more than 25 public artworks and also administers the Percent for Art Fund. Prior to joining Metro Arts in 2011, Vincent served as Curator of Arts at the Airport at the Nashville International Airport, managed an art consulting business

and directed a gallery/installation space called Twist. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Georgia and studied art in Italy and New York City.

Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. With offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City, it has a record of more than 50 years of service.