VOL. 129 | NO. 231 | Wednesday, November 26, 2014
NEWSMAKERS
Brought to you by 
Spillyards Leads Community Advisors Launch
By Kate Simone
Greg Spillyards has joined the brokerage team at Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors to launch the firm’s Community Advisors service line.
Community Advisors is focused on the Memphis city core, with a goal to provide real estate advisory services to assist in the revitalization of the city’s underserved areas with passion, creativity and entrepreneurship, and with service to those already living and leading in their neighborhoods.
Hometown: Born in Pine Bluff, Ark.; raised in Memphis
Experience: 1995 graduate of CBHS. Received BBA in Marketing from University of Memphis in 2000. Worked in leasing, construction management and property management at CBRE for 10 years. Received Masters of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary in May 2014 before returning to Memphis.
Family: I live life with a red-headed wife, three energetic, red-headed daughters (ages 10, 8 and 6) and a brown dog.
Favorite quote: “Most people prefer the hell of a predictable situation than risk the joy of an unpredictable one.” – Dr. Maxie Dunnam
What’s playing on your stereo right now? Needtobreathe: “Keep Your Eyes Open”
Activities you enjoy outside of work: Just spending time with the family, golf and running
What talent do you wish you had? I wish I could play guitar and/or piano by ear.
Who has had the greatest influence on you and why? Albert Crawford from the Bethel Grove Neighborhood had the greatest influence because he allowed for me to see that most of the challenges facing our society will be resolved by just loving our neighbors.
What attracted you to Commercial Advisors? The vision and leadership of Larry Jensen and the team matches the direction in which I believe we need to move as a city.
What are your goals for the Community Advisors service line? The goal is to build relationships throughout the city where together we work to create long-term sustainable opportunities seeking to serve and empower the people already living in the neighborhood and connecting the neighborhood to the larger economic cycle of the city.
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? Completing a 96-credit-hour Master of Divinity (including semesters of Greek and Hebrew) with a family of five. It was really more by God’s grace than my accomplishment.
If you could give one piece of advice to young people, what would it be? Just for the record, I still think of myself as in the category of “young people,” but I would have to say to not let your age prevent you from thinking big, commit your plans to action and don’t be afraid of failure.
Eric Robertson, president of Community LIFT, is one of 50 leaders selected nationwide for the NeighborWorks Achieving Excellence Program, conducted in collaboration with Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. The 18-month program educates senior leaders in organizations working to benefit their communities.
Jennifer Mayham, a 2014 graduate of the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, has been awarded the Tennessee Bar Association’s Law Student Volunteer of the Year Award. The honor is given annually to a Tennessee law school student or recent graduate who performs outstanding volunteer service to one or more organizations providing legal representation to the poor. Mayham will be honored at a program in January.
Tony Alexander of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC has been appointed to a four-year term on the board of the University of Memphis Research Foundation. Alexander is of counsel in Baker Donelson’s Memphis office and is a member of the firm’s intellectual property group.
Richard B. Vining has joined Visible Music College as director of development. Vining co-founded Revenue Assurance Professionals LLC in 2000. After Methodist Hospital bought RAP in 2005, Vining took a position at Streets Ministries, where he most recently served as business director.
Harris Shelton Hanover Walsh PLLC has received a Tier 1 ranking in the 2015 edition of U.S. News-Best Lawyers’ “Best Law Firms.” In addition, Steven N. Douglass was named the Best Lawyers 2015 Litigation – Bankruptcy “Lawyer of the Year” in Memphis, and William W. Dunlap Jr. was named the Best Lawyers 2015 Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants “Lawyer of the Year” in Memphis.
Twenty-nine attorneys from the Memphis office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC have been named to the Mid-South Super Lawyers 2014 list: Mary L. Aronov, David L. Bearman, Leo M. Bearman Jr., Lodie V. Biggs, Sam B. Blair Jr., Samuel D. Chafetz, Michael B. Chance, E. Franklin Childress Jr., Craig C. Conley, Angie C. Davis, Gregory G. Fletcher, Grady M. Garrison, R. Mark Glover, Stephen D. Goodwin, James R. "Josh" Hall Jr., Jonathan C. Hancock, Matthew S. Heiter, Emily Turner Landry, George T. "Buck" Lewis III, Bruce A. McMullen, Lori H. Patterson, Michael C. Patton, Eugene J. Podesta Jr., Kristine L. Roberts, Jill M. Steinberg, Bradley E. Trammell, Buckner Wellford, Maurice Wexler and Edward R. Young.
Nineteen attorneys from the Memphis office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC have been named to the 2014 Mid-South Rising Stars list: Adam S. Baldridge, Katherine Murphy Bogard, Zachary B. Busey, Quinn Nemeyer Carlson, Christopher J. Coats, Joann Coston-Holloway, Jacob Dickerson, Jay Ebelhar, M. Ruthie Hagan, Whitney M. Harmon, Nolan Johnson, Julia Kavanagh, Matthew S. Mulqueen, Kavita Goswamy Shelat, Jennifer A. Sink, Robert F. Tom, Nicholas L. Vescovo, Matthew G. White and Mason W. Wilson.
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart PC’s Memphis office has earned metropolitan “First Tier” practice area rankings in Employment Law – Management and Labor Law – Management in the 2015 edition of U.S. News-Best Lawyers’ “Best Law Firms.”
Stites & Harbison PLLC has received national Tier 1 rankings in the 2015 edition of U.S. News-Best Lawyers’ “Best Law Firms” in construction litigation, real estate litigation and trademark law. Additionally, it is the only firm in Tennessee with a Tier 1 ranking in equipment finance law and water law.