business briefs
• A 20-kilowatt wireless charging system demonstrated at U.S. Depart-ment of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has achieved 90 percent efficiency and at three times the rate of the plug-in systems commonly used for electric vehicles today. This capability can help accelerate the adoption and convenience of electric cars. Industry partners from Toyota, Cisco Systems, Evatran and Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research contributed to the technology development.
• Dawn Doucette, CPA, of Coulter & Justus, P.C., has earned Certified Fraud Examiner designation. Doucette, senior manager in the firm’s Audit Department, joined Coulter & Justus in 2005 and has more than 13 years experience in public accounting.
• John Hunter has joined Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon Inc., as a client service leader. His responsibilities include client services and business relationship development, which promote the firm across all disciplines in the Knoxville market and support the firm’s transportation services.
• Mary Burney has returned to Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberland’s’ Oak Ridge office as a receptionist/intake worker. She previously worked for Legal Aid Society in the same capacity from 2008 to 2014. She was office manager and legal assistant for Rural Legal Services of Tennessee, predecessor to Legal Aid Society, from 1979 through 2003.
Dr. Wendy Long has been named director of TennCare and deputy commissioner of Health Care Fin-ance and Administration. She will replace Darin Gordon, who is leaving at the end of June after 10 years as TennCare director. Long served as de-puty director and chief of staff of Health Care Finance and Administ-ration division of Tennessee Depart-ment of Finance and Administration since 2013 and served as chief medical officer for TennCare from 2004 to 2012.
• Pellissippi State Community College’s Marketing and Communi-cations Office has earned national recognition for poster design in National Council for Marketing and Public Relations Paragon Awards. Pellissippi State won a Silver Award for the design of a poster for “She Kills Monsters,” a play by Qui Nguyen that premiered last fall at the college.
• Barbara Penland-LaFevers has been hired as a secretary/intake worker at Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands’ Murfreesboro office. Penland-LaFevers has done pro bono attorney work for the Murfreesboro office and previously worked as a law clerk for Judge Donna Scott Davenport and retired Chancellor Robert E. Corlew III, both of the 16th Judicial District. Penland-LaFevers also was general counsel for D.T. McCall & Sons and associate attorney at Spicer Rudstrom, PLLC.
• Pellissippi State Community College was one of four finalists for the 2016 Student Success Award of Excellence, which is given by American Association of Community Colleges. The award recognizes a community college that has demonstrated a sustained commitment to and proactive advancement of student success. Nominees are evaluated based upon increases in degree completion, transfer rates and innovative programs encouraging retention, graduation and student success.
