East Ridge Police Department Lt. Josh Creel has graduated from the FBI National Academy. The academy is a 10-week professional development class for law enforcement executives.
Community Foundation adds four board members
The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga recently welcomed four new board members: Gene Geiger, Andrea Hardaway, Skip Schwartz and Dr. Le Andrea Ware.
Geiger graduated from Florida State University and became a licensed certified public accountant before starting his career with Deloitte. He later co-founded compliance and cybersecurity firm A-LIGN.
Hardaway is the president and managing partner of First Property Management. She has acted as an interim executive and coach to several service-based organizations. Hardaway has also led an award-winning social movement for patient advocacy.
Schwartz is a managing director of Heitman’s Private Real Estate Equity group, a member of Heitman’s Asia-Pacific Private Equity Investment Committee and an equity owner of the firm.
A third-generation graduate of Baylor School, he received his Bachelor of Arts in international relations and his Master of Arts in organizational behavior from Stanford University. He received his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Schwartz served on the board of directors of the Jewish Community Center of Japan and on the finance and development committees of The American Club Hong Kong. He recently began serving on the investment committee of the Public Education Foundation of Chattanooga.
Ware is the executive principal of Howard School. She has served in leadership roles for Hamilton County Schools for more than 26 years.
Her awards include 2019-2020 Tennessee Principal of the Year, 2019-2020 Hamilton County Schools Principal of the Year, the Times Free Press Excellence in Administration Award, the Hamilton County Education Association’s Distinguished Principal of the Year Award and the 2019 Ruby Hurley Educator of the Year.
Skye hires grant development coordinator
Grant proposal writing and fund development agency Skye Strategies has hired Rebekah Gouger as grant development coordinator. Gouger will support the agency through varied activities designed to increase the amount of funding clients secure.
Gouger brings several years of community building and grant funding experience with the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga to the position. She also has nonprofit service experience working with the State of Tennessee and the Southeast Tennessee Development District, where she investigated elder abuse.
A graduate of Lee University, Gouger holds a Bachelor of Science and Arts in intercultural studies.
Local 3 introduces new on-air talent
Longtime Local 3 Sports Director Paul Shahen is trading in his Friday Night Football schedule to wake up early with Local 3 News Today viewers. Shahen will co-anchor alongside Lori Mitchell and meteorologist Alison Pryor weekday mornings 5-7 a.m. He replaces John Martin, who recently relocated to Montana.
Shahen joined Local 3 in 2009 as a reporter. He has covered everything from tornado outbreaks to Super Bowls, multiple college football playoff games and national championships and a Stanley Cup Finals.
Local 3 promoted Shahen to sports director in 2013. He has led Local 3’s Friday Night Football show and traveled across the country with teams from Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama to share live reports and personal stories of Tennessee Valley athletes.
The Associated Press has named Shahen Tennessee Sportscaster of the Year three times.
Alyse Zwick will also join the morning news team, anchoring Local 3 News Early Today at 4:30 a.m. and reporting live from 5-7 a.m. weekdays. Zwick joined Local 3 last year as a host and then moved into a reporting position.
Before joining Local 3, Zwick was a host for World Wrestling Entertainment and a traffic anchor and reporter for Spectrum News in New York City. In her role at Spectrum, Zwick was nominated for an Emmy for her work in local news.
Local 3 sports reporter Ben Bobick will step up to run the Local 3 sports department. Bobick joined Local 3 in 2018. He launched “Horsing Around” to highlight high school basketball players from across the 16 counties Local 3 serves.
The Associated Press named Bobick Tennessee Sportscaster of the Year Award in 2020.
GPS names Cornelius new softball coach
London Cornelius is the new coach of varsity softball at Girls Preparatory School. She replaces Susan Crownover, who retired at the end of the 2022 season. In addition to her duties as a coach, Cornelius will teach middle school physical education.
Cornelius was an all-state player and two-time regional player of the year at Creekview High School in Canton, Georgia. She then played collegiately at Chattanooga State Community College for one year before transferring to play three years at North Carolina Central University.
During her year at Chattanooga State, Cornelius started 56 games and batted .430 with 24 stolen bases, earning second team all-conference accolades. At NCCU, she made an impact as a two-time team captain while starting in all 93 games during her junior and senior years.
During her final college season, Cornelius batted .298 while leading the team in runs scored and stolen bases.
As a coach, Cornelius started as a volunteer assistant at Broughton High School in North Carolina before coaching as an assistant for NCCU from 2014–2017. She then served as a physical education teacher and director of athletics at Wake Forest Charter Academy in North Carolina from 2018–2021.
Cornelius holds a Bachelor of Arts in recreational administration from NCCU and a master’s in Teaching from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.