Rambsy leads Spiggle Law Firm’s Nashville expansion

Friday, August 26, 2016, Vol. 40, No. 35

The Spiggle Law Firm, a Washington, D.C.-based employment law firm focusing on wrongful termination and pregnancy and family-care discrimination in the workplace, recently opened a new office in Nashville.

The Nashville office is led by Phillis h. Rambsy, who has previously worked in litigation departments at law firms in Tennessee, Kentucky, Washington and Maryland. Aside from her courtroom experience, Rambsy has also conducted employment workshops on anti-discrimination laws, prepared employment agreements and taught college courses on employment law.

Rambsy is a Tennessee native and previously lived and practiced in Nashville. She graduated from Spelman College, earned a master’s in English literature from the University of Kentucky and her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

InfoWorks adds health care, change management principal

InfoWorks, a management consulting company, has hired Lane Newsom as a principal consultant. Newsom, who has 15 years of change management and business strategy experience, will help promote the health care services practice of the company and engage with clients to drive stakeholder experience and activation through major business transformations.

Newsom’s experience includes leading organizations of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 10 companies, through business critical transformations. Her specialties include cross-functional process redesign, organizational design, and aligning IT with business and operational units.

Newsom holds an MBA in strategy from Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management and is a graduate of the University of Florida.

Also, Dustin Wuest has joined InfoWorks as a senior business consultant. Wuest, also with 15 years of experience, will help promote the company’s health care services.

Wuest has held senior leadership positions at other health care solution and financial services companies, including Craneware and Informa Investment Solutions.

He is a member of Leadership Healthcare and earned a degree in cognitive studies and business from Vanderbilt University.

Vanderbilt’s Massion leads cancer prevention initiative

Pierre Massion, M.D., Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Medicine, has been named to direct the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Cancer Early Detection and Prevention Initiative.

Massion is an Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and co-leader of the VICC Cancer Health Outcomes and Control Research Program with Debra Friedman, M.D., and David Penson, M.D., MPH.

Massion is internationally recognized for his research contributions in lung cancer, which is the No. 1 cancer killer. With an emphasis on early detection, Massion’s research focuses on the role of oncogenes in the development and progression of lung tumor cells and he is also a leader in the identification of molecular biomarkers for early detection of lung cancer and for use in assessing response to therapy.

Also at Vanderbilt, David Vago, Ph.D., will join the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) as director of research.

He comes to VUMC from Boston, where he is an associate psychologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.

Vago, whose research includes better defining brain activity related to mindfulness, is assembling a team to continue his work at Vanderbilt. He and colleagues launched the “Mapping the Meditative Mind” research initiative, which he will be bringing to the Osher Center.

FirstBank hires Jaynes as senior vice president

Steve Jaynes has joined FirstBank as a senior vice president and will head up FirstBank’s private banking group. Jaynes will be based in Nashville and work out of FirstBank’s newest financial center on West End Avenue.

Jaynes joins FirstBank with nearly 40 years of experience, most recently as senior vice president and director of private client banking – medical and professional services at Avenue Bank. Prior to that, he served in various executive positions with SunTrust Bank.

During his three years with Avenue Bank, Jaynes was responsible for leading Private Banking, as well as overseeing the Medical and Professional Services division, which serves the needs of physicians and physician practice groups. At SunTrust, Jaynes founded its Medical and Professional Services division and served as the managing director of Private Wealth Management for Nashville.

He is a 2007 graduate of Leadership Nashville.

Jaynes received his undergraduate degree from Jacksonville University in Florida and attended the School of Commercial Banking at Vanderbilt University, as well as the School of Retail Bank Management at the University of Virginia.

Spragens tapped for Bar Leadership Forum 2016

Lieff Cabraser attorney John Spragens has been selected to participate in the Nashville Bar Foundation Leadership Forum 2016-2017 class.

The professional development program offers emerging leaders in the legal profession opportunities to learn, collaborate, network, and serve the local community and the profession.

Spragens represents plaintiffs in class action injury, consumer, and whistleblower litigation against corporations that manufacture dangerous and defective products, conspire to fix prices, and misuse taxpayer funds.

Spragens is a 2012 graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School and is a former communications director for U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper.

Scott joins Pinnacle as financial advisor

Steve Scott has joined Pinnacle Financial Partners’ downtown office as a senior vice president and financial advisor.

Scott, a 35-year banking veteran, most recently served as a relationship manager in First Tennessee Bank’s private client group. Prior to First Tennessee, he spent 30 years with SunTrust Bank (Third National Bank), where roles included serving as client advisor for the bank’s private wealth management area, development officer for its trust and investment management division and regional branch administrator for its community banking division.

He is a graduate of Cumberland University and the Graduate School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University, Tennessee Commercial Lending School at Vanderbilt University and the American Bankers Association National Trust School at Northwestern University.

TNCPE Board selects MTSU professor

Middle Tennessee State University business professor Kimball Bullington has been appointed to the 2016 Board of Examiners for the nonprofit Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence.

Each year, the TNCPE Award Program recognizes local, regional and statewide organizations that demonstrate excellence in business operations and results.

As a TNCPE examiner, Bullington is responsible for reviewing and evaluating organizations that apply for the TNCPE Award. Bullington is a professor in the Department of Management in the Jennings A. Jones College of Business at MTSU.

Appointed by TNCPE’s Board of Directors, the Board of Examiners is composed of experts from all sectors of the regional economy, including health care, service, nonprofit, manufacturing, education, and government.

TDCI deputy commissioner elected to national board

The National Association of State Fire Marshals has elected Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance Deputy Commissioner Gary West as secretary-treasurer.

NASFM is composed of the senior fire officials in the United States and their top deputies. It operates with the primary mission of protecting human life, property and the environment from fire and related hazards. NASFM also seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of State Fire Marshals’ operations.

West has led the State Fire Marshal’s Office since March 2011. He earned his bachelor’s degree in organizational management from Tusculum College and a master’s degree in business administration from Lincoln Memorial University. West’s career experience includes serving as a fire and emergency services consultant with the University of Tennessee Municipal Technical Advisory Service, as well as fire chief of Gatlinburg Fire and Rescue Department. West currently volunteers as a firefighter with the Ashland City Fire Department.

Affinion Insurance appoints Kazar vice president of sales

Affinion Insurance Solutions, a leading third-party agent, administrator and marketer of accident and life insurance products, announced today the appointment of Tom Kazar as vice president of sales, effective immediately.

In his new role, Kazar will be responsible for spearheading client engagement efforts and generating new business for the insurance division.

Kazar brings 30-plus years of sales, marketing and business development experience in the insurance industry to Affinion Insurance Solutions. Most recently, he was vice president of sales for Transamerica Financial Group, a marketer of life, supplemental health and specialty insurance products.

Previously, he has served in the capacity of vice president of sales for both AEGON Direct Marketing Services and Lynden Corporation. He began his career at Minnesota Life/Securian in a sales and marketing role.

First Tennessee hires Kintz for Music Industry Group

First Tennessee Bank has hired Andrew Kintz to establish its first dedicated music industry banking group.

In his new role, Kintz will spearhead a new strategy focused on music industry businesses and individuals, including publishers, management firms, agencies, labels, producers, artists, songwriters, attorneys and other music industry centers of influence – both locally and nationally.

Kintz has nearly two decades of experience in commercial banking and wealth management, and comes to First Tennessee from SunTrust Bank.

Kintz serves on the boards of Nashville Public Radio, Columbia Theological Seminary, The Atlanta Resource Foundation and W.O. Smith and Leadership Music.

He holds a degree from Washington and Lee University and an MBA from the University of Georgia.