Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer has named Lauren Kelly its new family service coordinator.
Kelly is a 2014 University of Alabama graduate. Before joining Austin Hatcher, she spent 2½ years teaching pre-school. She also has extensive volunteer experience in her hometown of Birmingham and was an intern at two different nonprofits, where she assisted with fundraising, special event coordination, donation requests and volunteer management.
Kelly and her family relocated from London, England, to Chattanooga in January.
Pinnacle Financial adds new employees
Marsha Easter, John Busby, Jamie Buttram and Alan Ridley have joined Pinnacle Financial Partners. They are based at the firm’s downtown office.
Easter brings 15 years of experience to her role of senior vice president and financial adviser. She comes to Pinnacle from SouthEast Bank, where she was a commercial lender. She also spent several years at BB&T, where she most recently served as market president.
Easter is a graduate of Western Carolina University. She serves as board treasurer of The Canyons and previously served on the board of the Downtown YMCA. Easter has volunteered with the American Cancer Society and the Chattanooga Marathon. She has also served as chapter president and treasurer of the Uptown Chapter of BNI and is a member of The Referrals Group in Chattanooga.
Busby is a senior vice president and credit adviser for Pinnacle. He previously served as a small business credit officer for Atlantic Capital Bank. Prior roles were with First Security Group, where he was a loan review officer, and Regions Bank, where he was a credit administrator and business analyst.
Busby earned his bachelor’s degree from Lipscomb University in Nashville and his MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta. He is also an honor’s graduate of the TBA Southeastern School of Banking in Nashville.
Buttram is a vice president and credit analyst. She comes from Atlantic Capital Bank, where she spent more than 12 years in commercial and retail underwriter roles. Buttram was previously with Regions Bank, where she was a teller supervisor and customer service representative.
She earned her associate degree in accounting fundamentals from the University of Phoenix.
Ridley brings 34 years of experience to his role of senior vice president and credit adviser. He comes to Pinnacle from Synovus Bank, where he was a senior special assets officer. Previous roles were with Hamilton State Bank in Cartersville, Georgia, where he was a senior lender and regional credit officer, and Regions Bank in Atlanta, where he was a credit officer.
Ridley earned a degree in management from West Georgia College and an MBA from Berry College.
Patton Albertson & Miller adds Vitolins
Financial life management firm Patton Albertson & Miller has hired Robert Vitolins as a trading operations analyst.
Vitolins assists the firm’s portfolio managers in the execution of daily trades on behalf of clients, tracks performance on various accounts and runs analytics using portfolio accounting software.
A native of Tennessee, Vitolins graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in finance. His involvement in a student-managed equity fund at UTC sparked his passion for investments. Vitolins remains connected with the organization and helps its students prepare for presentations.
Vitolins will complete the exam to earn the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in June. Outside of the firm, he enjoys playing pickup sports games and hiking in national parks.
Federico to lead Humane Ed. Society
The Humane Educational Society’s board of directors has appointed Dr. Tai Federico to the role of interim executive director while seeking a permanent leader for the shelter.
Dr. Federico is a veterinarian at Riverview Animal Hospital and was named vice president of the Tennessee Veterinary Medical Association’s executive board for 2019-2020.
The board of directors has established a search committee to oversee the hiring of a permanent executive director. Bob Citrullo, the former director of the shelter, resigned last week due to personal health concerns.