Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly has made four appointments to fill the roles of director of community engagement, city attorney, administrator of economic development and executive director of community safety and gun violence prevention.
Shadrina Booker will serve as the city’s director of community engagement. She’ll spearhead efforts to facilitate communication between the city and the neighborhoods it serves, ensuring transparency and collaboration around the mayor’s initiatives.
Booker will also implement the mayor’s vision for explanatory governance by engaging communities across the city and will report to the chief equity officer.
Booker formerly served as the chief development and marketing officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Chattanooga and is the co-founder of Vityl Media, a creative agency. She is a graduate of Leadership Chattanooga.
Phil Noblett has served in the city attorney’s office since 2009, when he became deputy city attorney. A licensed attorney in Tennessee since 1982, Noblett previously was a member of the firm of Nelson, McMahan & Noblett from 1990 until 2009.
He has twice served as interim city attorney and has represented the city successfully in major cases, negotiations and settlements.
In the role of city attorney, Noblett will represent both the city council as well as the Kelly administration, and will also oversee the legal staff who work across the city’s dozens of boards and commissions. He’ll report to the mayor.
Richard Beeland has served as a city employee for nearly 17 years in various roles, including assistant director of the Chattanooga Public Library, deputy administrator for the Department of Economic and Community Development, human resources deputy director and communications director.
He holds bachelor’s degrees in communication and political science, a master’s degree in public administration and has been an adjunct instructor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
As the administrator of economic development, Beeland will oversee the city’s economic development efforts, including partnerships with Hamilton County and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, in order to drive equitable growth. He’ll report to the mayor’s senior adviser for economic opportunity.
Chris Sands will take up the mantle of gun violence prevention, where he’ll work with community organizations, internal departments and the city’s partners at Trajectory Changing Solutions to stop gun violence before it starts.
Sands has served as a youth pastor and assistant to Bishop Kevin Adams at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church and is a founder of the Lighthouse Collective, which provides mentoring and life skills to teens and young adults.
He was formerly the director of community engagement, but he found himself drawn to gun violence prevention efforts and began working under Dr. Mary Lambert in the Office of Community Health to coordinate a curriculum to draw youth away from violence.
Weekley gets new role at TVFCU
Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union has promoted Eric Weekley from vice president of real estate to vice president of consumer and mortgage lending. This is a new position at the credit union that will combine his current responsibilities in the real estate department with a leadership role in the credit union’s consumer lending division.
Weekley joined TVFCU in 2019 after spending five years at ORNL Federal Credit Union in Knoxville as vice president of mortgage lending. He’s worked as a processor, originator, operations manager and vice president on several mortgage and consumer lending teams throughout his 25-year career.
In his new role, Weekley will lead both credit union divisions as they work with members regarding mortgages, HELOCs, auto loans, education loans and other personal loan options.
Originally from Williamstown, West Virginia, Weekley earned his bachelor’s from Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. Aside from his work, Weekley serves on the board of the Home Builders Association of Greater Chattanooga.
Waterhouse PR adds account executive
Waterhouse Public Relations has expanded its team with the addition of Kait Fletcher as an account executive. Fletcher brings a wide range of skills to the firm including content creation, storytelling, social media management, copy writing and radio broadcasting.
Before joining Waterhouse, Fletcher worked in the higher education field, serving as the communications specialist for Bethel University in McKenzie. In this role, she was responsible for both internal and external communication strategies along with acting as principal writer, press liaison and social media marketing manager for the university.
As an account executive, Fletcher will help develop and implement social media strategies for Waterhouse clients, foster client media relations and support overall strategic initiatives.
Fletcher is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin, where she earned a master’s degree in strategic communications and a bachelor’s degree in public relations.
Her previous work in public relations has garnered numerous regional and national awards.