business briefs

• Jon Smith recently joined The Christman Company as senior conceptual estimator in the construction management and real estate development firm’s office in Knoxville. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from Presbyterian College and has worked in construction since 2011. He has completed training with California Occupational Safety and Health Administration and is Basic Safety Plus Certified by the Health and Safety Council.

• The Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture has received an endowment to create the Jerry L. Gibbs Professor of Practice, designed to prepare students at the Herbert College of Agriculture for careers in the business world. Retired Farm Credit Mid-America chief executive officer Bill Johnson began piloting the program Monday, Aug. 1.

• Knoxville Bar Foundation recognized the following members of Knoxville’s legal community at its annual reception June 9: Catherine W. Anglin, Paine, Tarwater | Bickers, LLP; George R. Arrants Jr., Kramer Rayson LLP; John G. Brock, Brock Shipe Klenk; William J. Carver, Kramer Rayson, LLP; William D. Edwards, Long, Ragsdale & Waters, P.C.; Robert B. Frost Jr., Arnett, Draper & Hagood, LLP; Lisa J. Hall, Hodges, Doughty & Carson, PLLC; Raymond G. Lewallen Jr., Baker, O’Kane & Thompson, PLLP; Magistrate Jill E. McCook; U.S. District Court; Eric J. Morrison, Lipsey, Morrison, Waller & Lipsey, P.C.; Jennifer B. Morton, Jennifer Morton Law, PLLC; and L. Caesar Stair, IV, Bernstein, Stair & McAdams LLP.