business briefs
• Kim Lauth, who has served as chief mission implementation officer with Positively Living for the past year, has been promoted to chief operating officer. Positively Living provides care and support to East Tennesseans living with HIV/AIDS, disabilities, mental illness, substance use disorder and/or homelessness. She has more than 27 years of experience in the non-profit sector.
• Tennova Healthcare is set to open a 17,500-square-foot labor and delivery unit for new mothers and babies in February at its North Knoxville Medical Center in Powell. It will include eight birthing suites for labor, delivery and recovery; a fully equipped newborn nursery and C-section operating room.
• Robin Wilhoit, a weekday anchor on WBIR Channel 10-TV, and Mike C. Berry, local urban composition artist and manager of the University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery, have been selected as the 2020 Dogwood Arts co-chairs. Dogwood Arts has been represented by two prominent community leaders selected annually to act as ambassadors of Dogwood Arts since 1961.
• Realtors Susannah Dunn, Dan Pastor and Debbie Ishak have been named the top agents at Weichert, Realtors – Advantage Plus in Knoxville for December 2019. Dunn was named overall Top Agent of the Month, and Pastor and Ishak were named Top Selling and Top Listing agents, respectively.
• Karen Rhea, M.D., has joined Summit Medical Group as a primary care physician with Internal Medicine Associates. She currently is accepting new patients.
• Scotty Ecklind, Weichert, Realtors – Advantage Plus in Knoxville sales manager, has successfully completed the Weichert Real Estate Affiliates Inc. Management Academy training. The intensive five-day academy is a top-level program for real estate management training.
• FB Financial Corporation, parent company of Nashville-based FirstBank, and Franklin Financial Network, Inc., parent company of Franklin Synergy Bank, jointly announced their entry into a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Franklin will be merged with and into FB Financial. The merger is expected to close in the third quarter of 2020. FirstBank, which has a branch in Farragut, has 68 full-service locations across Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia and will soon move into Southern Kentucky.
• Dr. Arshita Patel, D.O., has joined Summit Medical Group as a neurologist and is accepting new patients at Summit’s member, Rheumatology Associates of East Tennessee. She specializes in diagnosing, managing and treating acute and chronic neurologic conditions.
• Four Covenant Health hospitals have earned the 2019 “Best for Babies” award by Tennessee Hospital Association and Tennessee Department of Health. They are Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center and Parkwest Medical Center in Knoxville, LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville and Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge. The award recognizes hospitals across the state for their efforts to reduce infant deaths and improve the health of Tennessee’s newborns.
• Weichert, Realtors – Advantage Plus, Knoxville, recently welcomed
Scott Baker, Jonathan Desai, Kevin Hurtubise, Breck Lemons, Jamie Riddle and Molly White to its 10160 Parkside Drive team.
