business briefs
• Dr. Todd Abel, a board-certified neurosurgeon with the University of Tennessee Medical Center and East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, has accepted the chairmanship position of Spinal Resources Inc.’s Scientific Advisory Board. SRI is a spinal medical device company engineering innovative mechanical and biomechanical products for surgical repair and reconstruction of debilitating spinal conditions. Abel is a clinical instructor with UT Graduate School of Medicine and medical director of Spine Center at UT Medical Center.
• Dr. H.M. “Hash” Hashemian, president/CEO of Analysis and Measurement Services Corporation, has been appointed by Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally to serve as a member of Tennessee Technology Development Corporation Board of Directors for Launch Tennessee. Hashemian also is an adjunct professor of nuclear engineering at UT Knoxville.
• Pinnacle Financial Partners and Strata-G are joining forces to support Knox Area Rescue Ministries and Westview Community School through Great Schools Partnership. Strata-G recently was honored with Dream Big Small Business Award from U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which came with a $25,000 prize Strata-G promised to donate to the two charities.
• Knoxville resident C. Craig Smith, P.E., current vice president of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, has been named the association’s president effective Jan. 1. He was elected during Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society’s 114th annual convention in Columbus, Ohio.
• Emerald Youth Foundation Board of Trustees has named a new chairman for the first time in more than a decade. Dr. Keith Gray, senior vice president and chief medical officer of UT Medical Center, will succeed Doug Kennedy. Kennedy also is CEO of Johnson & Galyon Construction.
• Pellissippi State Community College recently won an International Award for Excellence in Marketing from the Learning Resources Network, one of the largest associations of lifelong learning in the world. The award was one of only 20 given at LERN’s annual conference in San Diego, which was attended by 800 professionals in lifelong learning from five countries.
• Realtor Molly White has joined Weichert, Realtors – Advantage Plus of Knoxville. Originally from Arizona, White and her husband, Jordan, relocated to Tennessee last year to be closer to Jordan’s family. White previously was director of admissions at Simpson University in Redding, California.
