business briefs
• Michael Smith has been named director of development for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville. Smith, who previously was major gift officer for the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, will join the Hall of Fame team starting April 19. “The addition of Mike to our existing team at the Hall of Fame is a winning combination” stated Dana Hart, president of the WBHOF.
• The following local Weichert Real Estate agents were honored by the national franchise organization, Weichert Real Estate Affiliates Inc., as 2020 Office Award winners, based on achieving specified production requirements in gross commission income or units closed in 2020. The agents are: Adam Hatmaker and Michael Wood (Executive Club), and Patrick Michael (Sales Associate Achievement Certificate) with Weichert, Realtors - Advantage Plus in Knoxville; Mark S Benard (President’s Club - Gold), Mary Beth Malin (Ambassador Club), Kendra Bonnette (Executive Club) and Nicole Garbutt (Sales Associate Achievement Certificate) with Weichert, Realtors - Browning & Browning.
• The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Reserve Officer Training Corps recently received the 2020 MacArthur Award for excellence in performance, retention and training. UT is one of eight schools selected out of 274 senior Army ROTC units nationwide, showing outstanding work in preparing commissioned officers for service in the US Army.
• Two UT Department of Plant Sciences faculty earned the Blue Ribbon Extension Communication Award from the Southern Region of the American Society for Horticultural Science’s for their publication, “Operation of a Garden Center During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The project was led by Amy Fulcher, an associate professor and Extension specialist, and supported by several colleagues across the UT Institute of Agriculture.
• UT-Knoxville recently distributed its 50,000th COVID-19 vaccine since first receiving doses in December 2020.
• Amazon has committed $750,000 for an endowed distinguished professorship in University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. The gift is a one-to-one match, a $1.5 million endowment, with the Haslam family.
• The University of Tennessee, Knoxville has multiple graduate programs highly ranked in the recently released 2022 US News and World Report graduate school rankings report, enough to earn a US News Best Graduate Schools designation. Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor John Zomchick said the rankings show the strength of graduate programs.
• For the fifth straight year, Pinnacle Financial Partners, with a branch in Farragut, recently was selected as one of the best places to work in the United States, according to a new list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For from FORTUNE magazine and Great Place to Work.
The firm came in at No. 26, joining companies like Cisco, Salesforce and Hilton in having one of the most engaging and rewarding workplace cultures in the nation.
