business briefs
• Jeff Thode, managing director/investment officer of Wells Fargo Advisors in Knoxville, recently was recognized for the sixth consecutive year on the Best-in-State Wealth Advisors list by Forbes.
Thode has more than 36 years of experience in the financial services industry.
• Knox County Public Library recently named the Rare Book and Manuscript Reading Room at the East Tennessee History Center in honor of J. Stephen Cotham, long-time manager of the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, now retired, who spent 36 years at the helm of the esteemed collection. A program will take place in the auditorium of East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay St.
• The Knoxville branch of Wells Fargo Advisors recently welcomed JP Mackay, who joined the company as managing director of investments.
Prior to joining Wells Fargo Advisors, he served as a financial advisor at Edward Jones for nine years.
Mackay graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in communications and has 19 years of experience in the financial services industry. Mackay lives in Knoxville with his wife and their two children.
• Amerigroup Tennessee, a leading managed care provider, and Friends of Literacy recently joined forces to support low-income children and families across East Tennessee with literacy support and resources.
The effort is through an innovative collaboration with patients at Cherokee Health Systems.
The “Mommy & Me” and “Brush, Book, Bed” programs will help adults and children gain the literacy skills needed to achieve their goals and decrease disparities between low-income children and those from more affluent homes. It will provide expectant mothers and families with an early literacy kit one month before their due date, which will include four board books (bilingual options available), two educational toys, tips for parents on how to engage their children with books and toys, child story time schedule at Knox County Public Library locations, as well as childhood vaccination information, including a vaccine record card.
On average, more than 400 prenatal patients are served per year at the participating Cherokee Health System locations.
• Tennova Healthcare’s Turkey Creek Medical Center and Jersey College recently opened a hospital-based nursing program in Knoxville to to train additional caring and skilled nurses,
The facilities collaborated to establish a School of Nursing on campus, serving the Greater Knoxville and Knox County area.
The Jersey College Hospital-Based Professional Nursing Program at Tennova Healthcare -Turkey Creek Medical Center is a six-semester program, culminating in an Associate Degree in Nursing, providing its graduates with opportunities to become a registered nurse.
Classes begin in May. Students can enroll now. More than 10,000 square feet of classroom and office space has a 1,500-square foot skills lab, plus student study rooms and lounge space.
