By Herald staff
Beverly Edge, chief operating officer, general counsel and partner at HHM CPAs, has been named one of Chattanooga’s 2025 Women of Distinction. The honor recognizes her professional achievements and dedication to civic and philanthropic causes throughout the region.
Edge is one of a select group of honorees recognized this year by the Women of Distinction of Greater Chattanooga, a prestigious award that since 1993 has celebrated women who lead with integrity, inspire those around them and contribute meaningfully to their communities.
Edge’s selection mirrors both her impact within HHM and her growing presence in Chattanooga’s civic life. Known for her strategic leadership, Edge has helped HHM evolve beyond the traditional boundaries of public accounting. Since joining the firm in 2020, she has overseen major expansions, operational improvements and compliance initiatives that have strengthened HHM’s regional footprint.
“Beverly’s leadership has been instrumental in HHM’s growth and success,” says Donnie Hutcherson, HHM’s managing partner. “Her relentless effort to better our firm from the inside out has made a lasting impact.”
Before stepping into her role at HHM, Edge spent nearly two decades practicing law at the Chattanooga firm of Gearhiser, Peters, Elliott & Cannon, where she specialized in mergers and acquisitions, real estate and aircraft transactions, and corporate representation. Even then, her ties to HHM were forming, as she served as outside counsel to the firm and advised on its Memphis expansion.
In 2019, a passing conversation with Hutcherson opened the door for Edge to take on a new challenge: HHM was seeking a senior executive with legal experience to oversee its operations, and Edge was ready to stretch beyond the practice of law.
“I knew I’d make a change at some point,” Edge told the Hamilton County Herald in a 2021 profile. “I thought it was several years down the road, but when the opportunity presented itself, I couldn’t pass it up.”
Her move into the executive suite was followed by rapid change and opportunity. Since becoming chief operating officer in early 2020, Edge has managed the renovation of a historic building in Cleveland, Tennessee, oversaw the design and construction of HHM’s new King Street building in Chattanooga and continued to lead integrations of smaller firms. HHM named her a partner in 2021.
But it’s not just her professional acumen that made Edge a standout candidate for the Women of Distinction honor. A dedicated advocate for her city, Edge serves as chair of the Tocqueville Society Campaign for the United Way of Greater Chattanooga, president of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s College of Business, and is an active member of the Chattanooga Rotary Club. She is also affiliated with the Chattanooga, Tennessee and Georgia bar associations.
Her civic engagement was one of the many elements that drew her to HHM in the first place.
“I knew civic involvement would be part of my job. That was one of the many things that excited me about coming to HHM,” Edge told the Herald in 2021. “Between raising a family and full-time practice, I didn’t have time to do those things when I was practicing law.”
That chapter of her life is another facet of her story. Raised in Ringgold, Georgia, Edge first found her passion for law while working for local attorney McCracken Poston, a prominent criminal defense lawyer. Although she initially envisioned a career in criminal law, Edge shifted course early, opening her own firm after law school and clerking, then moving to Gearhiser Peters in 2001 when she realized her interests lie in business law and transactional work.
Edge earned her accounting degree from UTC and her law degree from the University of Georgia. Her life and career have remained rooted in the Chattanooga area, where she lives in the city’s Southside and enjoys exploring Chattanooga’s restaurants and small businesses.
“The Chattanooga Choo Choo is my backyard,” she told the Herald in 2021. “I love it.”
This year’s Women of Distinction luncheon will be held Wednesday, Nov. 12, at the Chattanooga Convention Center. Proceeds from the event benefit the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a program that promotes early childhood literacy by providing free books to children in the region.
Now in its fourth decade, the Women of Distinction award has evolved from its origins as a style recognition event in 1985 to a platform that honors the substance and service of women across Hamilton County and beyond. Since the first award of its kind was formally presented in 1993, more than 300 women have been recognized for their leadership and commitment to improving the lives of others.
A Woman of Distinction, the organization says, is someone who “volunteers her time to help improve the quality of life for others,” sets inspiring standards, and “motivates decisions that shape and define our city and community.”
In Edge’s case, her impact is visible across Chattanooga’s business, civic and philanthropic landscapes.
The organization’s mission echoes a paraphrase of Robert Louis Stevenson posted prominently on the Women of Distinction website: “The woman is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who leaves the world better than she found it … who looked for the best in others and gave the best she had.”