Girls Inc. begins its 60th anniversary year with a new CEO at the helm. The board of directors has appointed Toccora Johnson as the organization’s new leader. Johnson has been with the organization for more than a decade, serving as senior director of program operations and, most recently, interim CEO.
Johnson is a native of Chattanooga and graduated in 2009 from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a master’s degree in public health, planning and administration. In 2019, she graduated from Leadership Chattanooga and serves on multiple United Way steering committees.
Rachael Welch, Girls Inc. board chair, says, “Throughout the hiring process, the search committee felt Toccora demonstrated passion and vision in the interim CEO role. She proved she could expand her connections and relationships within the community and continued to provide opportunity and growth for the organization.
“Her ability to deliver quality programming throughout the pandemic embodies the strength, passion and perseverance Girls Inc. was searching for in a CEO.”
SmartBank expands with Cleveland hires
SmartBank has added of Andrea Davis, first vice president, relationship manager, and Mollie Davis, loan administrator, to its Cleveland team.
Andrea Davis brings more than 35 years of experience in the financial industry. She most recently served as vice president of CapStar Bank.
She is a Bradley County native and active within the community through volunteer hours with United Way of Ocoee Region, the Cleveland and Bradley Chamber of Commerce, the Cleveland Lions Club and Junior Achievement of Ocoee Region.
Mollie Davis brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry serving as a loan assistant, banking manager and cash management supervisor to SmartBank. She’s involved in her community through the United Way of Ocoee Region and serves on the Junior Achievement of Ocoee Region board.
Kinley Chattanooga Southside names GM
Vision Hospitality Group has named Michael DiMaria as the general manager of Kinley Chattanooga Southside. He brings a decade of hospitality experience to the position.
DiMaria most recently served as general manager of Vision Hospitality Group’s TownePlace Suites and Residence Inn by Marriott in Nashville. Before joining Vision Hospitality Group in 2017, he held several different roles throughout the industry.
DiMaria has received the Marriott Gold Circle Award and Vision Hospitality Group General Manager of the Year.
He is a graduate of Central Michigan University, where he majored in hospitality services.
Salvation Army gets new board members, chairman
The Salvation Army’s Chattanooga Area Command has elected a new board chairman and five new board members. Greg Love, a current board member, has been elected chairman, while Caleb Bowman, Ryan Marshall, Barbara Marter, Catina Parrish and John Thurston have joined the board.
Love is vice president of Wright Global Graphics, a marketing, design and production company. He has been a member of The Salvation Army’s advisory board since 2016 and has also served as president of the Boys and Girls Clubs in Gordon, Murray and Whitfield counties, president of the Redoubt Soccer Association and stewardship chair at St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church.
Bowman, general counsel at Nabco Electric Company, has experience in corporate law, joint ventures, private investment funds, mergers and acquisitions and other legal areas. He earned the title of Juris Doctor from Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law and received his Master of Laws degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. Bowman has experience in a variety of industries including law practice, investment management and accounting.
Marshall, a commercial banker at BancorpSouth in Chattanooga, provides clients with financial solutions related to banking, checking, credit cards and mortgages. He has been with Bancorp’s Chattanooga location since it opened in 2014. Marshall is also the co-founder of Echelon Chattanooga, an organization of young professionals who support The Salvation Army.
Marter is the executive director of the Weldon F. Osborne Foundation, which awards grants to charitable, religious and community organizations in Chattanooga. She is also the president and CEO of Marter Management & Consulting Services, which provides grant administration and other services to nonprofits. Marter is experienced in managing nonprofit endowments, creating private family foundations and other administrative functions.
As the director of pastoral care for the Parkridge Health System, Parrish serves in a managerial role while working to meet the spiritual needs of patients, their families and hospital staff. She has served as lead chaplain in other hospital settings and earned a Master of Divinity degree from the Vanderbilt University Divinity School.
Thurston, the vice president of BancorpSouth in Chattanooga, works to fulfill his client’s borrowing needs in relation to land development and construction, leased or owner-occupied real estate, plant improvements and other areas.
He has over 10 years of field experience. Thurston has also served on the board of Young Professionals of Chattanooga, as a public policy committee member of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, as a YMCA youth sports coach and as president of Echelon Chattanooga’s executive board.
Daily joins CHI Memorial
Dr. Brian Daily has joined CHI Memorial Primary Care Associates – Atrium. Daily earned his medical degree from Ross University Medical Center in the Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies. He completed an internship and residency at the University of Tennessee Family Medicine in Chattanooga.
Daily is certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and certified in advanced cardiac life support. He is transitioning from CHI Memorial Family Practice Associates – LaFayette, where he has been caring for children, families and adults since 2017.
To schedule an appointment, call 423 648-8110. Same day appointments and video visits are available.
Life Care names Hubbartt VP
Life Care Centers of America recently named Robert Hubbartt vice president of the Cumberland Region, which encompasses nine skilled nursing facilities in the company’s eastern division.
Hubbartt was promoted to regional vice president from his position as executive director at Life Care Center of East Ridge, where he served since its reopening in 2017. Before that, he was executive director at Life Care Center of Athens for more than six years. He started his career in senior care as a certified nursing assistant.
Hubbartt earned his degree in long-term care administration and business administration, as well as his associate’s degree in accounting, from Southern Adventist University in Collegedale.
Jones joins Adult & Teen Challenge board
Banker Sam Jones has joined the Adult & Teen Challenge MidSouth board of directors. Jones is the Chattanooga market president of BancorpSouth Bank and a 44-year banking veteran in the Chattanooga market, having served with local and regional banks.
In addition to the ATC board, Jones serves on the advisory board of the United Way and was a previous board member of the local Boy Scouts of America, Junior Achievement of Chattanooga, Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprises, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga alumni board and the Chattanooga Hamilton County Cancer Society.
Jones holds a degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is a graduate of the Louisiana State University Graduate School of Banking and the Commercial Lending School at the University of Virginia.
Adult & Teen Challenge MidSouth is a residential, faith-based nonprofit headquartered in Chattanooga that serves adults struggling with addiction.
Motorcar Festival taps Coker as grand marshal
Joseph “Corky” Coker will serve as the grand marshal for the 2021 Chattanooga Motorcar Festival. At the inaugural event in 2019, Coker was recognized as the festival’s “Honored Collector.”
The 2020 festival, originally scheduled for Oct. 16-18, was postponed until Oct. 15-17, 2021 due to pandemic restrictions.
Born in Athens, Coker swept floors and cleaned wide whitewalls for his father, Harold, who opened Coker Tire Company in Chattanooga in 1958. Having grown up on the family farm, Coker originally planned to become a veterinarian but soon discovered he enjoyed working at the tire store.
“I realized selling hot rod and Model A tires to these guys made them happy,” he says. “I got my head into it and started developing some ideas and goals of my own.”
In 1974, Coker assumed the leadership role in the Coker family’s BF Goodrich tire dealership.
“Although he couldn’t have known it then, much of what he would do over the next 45 years would help to define the collector car hobby for decades,” says Ken Gross, award-winning journalist and the Concours Chairman. “Finding tires for vintage cars was a problem until Coker began having them made in nearly every size.”
Coker Tire grew into the largest supplier of collector vehicle tires and wheels in the world. With distribution in over 50 countries and huge stocks of collector tires and wheels, the business became a collector hobby powerhouse, adding locations in other U.S. cities.
Coker sold Coker Group in late 2018 but retained the Honest Charley Speed Shop, located in downtown Chattanooga.
Coker has received many awards in the automotive and hobby world and is an expert on car collecting, restoration and appraisals. He owns more than 180 vintage cars and motorcycles.
Active in the Chattanooga community, Coker serves on the board of directors of several local businesses and is the recipient of the 1995 Chattanooga Area Chamber Small Businessperson of the Year award.
He enjoys playing his five-string banjo and, most recently, studying blacksmithing. He and his wife Theresa have two children and two grandsons.