Riverfront Development Corp. Becomes MRRP on April 20

The Riverfront Development Corp. is changing names as the organization that manages city property by the Mississippi River has a change in leadership.

Effective Friday, April 20, the RDC becomes the Memphis River Parks Partnership.

Carol Coletta, president of the organization, says the new name reflects the organization’s broader role in working with private and public entities in developing the city’s riverfront. That will include more of a role in finding private and philanthropic funding for parts of the city’s riverfront redevelopment plan.

Coletta’s first day on the job is Friday. She succeeds the RDC’s founding president, Benny Lendermon, who announced his retirement in October.

The RDC was founded in 2000 and under a contract with the city of Memphis manages the city’s riverfront properties – mostly park land including the Mud Island River Park.

Coletta talks about the name change and the organization’s new role on “Behind The Headlines,” hosted by Eric Barnes, publisher of The Daily News, that airs at 7 p.m. Friday and 8:30 a.m. Sunday on WKNO Channel 10.

– Bill Dries

Toof Printing Inks New Lease

Toof Printing, doing business as 670 S. Cooper St LLC, has signed a 24,000-square-foot lease in Southeast Memphis to house its warehouse and distribution operations.

NAI Saig Co. vice president and business manager Hank Martin represented the landlord, Net Magan, in the five-year deal, while Henry Stratton of Colliers International represented the tenant.

Until recently, Toof Printing operated out of a location at 670 S. Cooper St. in Midtown, but that site was sold to Lehman-Roberts Co. for $2.3 million in January.

– Patrick Lantrip

Applications Open For MLK50 Grants

The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis has unveiled MLK50: The Next Step Forward grant program. The foundation will fund organizations building on Dr. King’s platform to create real and systemic change, focused on six pillars: poverty, better jobs/higher wages, decent housing, quality education, justice and peace.

The foundation will award one $25,000 grant in each of these six categories to agencies that are working in those areas to change the path forward for Mid-Southerners.

Organizations operating in the Memphis area that have had their 501(c)3 status for at least three years, have a current strategic plan, and have a profile at WHEREtoGIVEmidsouth.org are invited to apply.

Pre-application information sessions are mandatory and will be held throughout May and June. Grant applications are due Aug. 1, 2018, and will be awarded in September 2018. Full grant details are available at cfgm.org/MLK50-Grant.

– Don Wade

Pinnacle Expands Team in Memphis

Pinnacle Financial Partners has recruited a senior credit officer, credit adviser and two other financial services professionals to work at its main Memphis office on Shady Grove Road.

Evelin Amido, with 38 years of experience, is a senior vice president and senior credit officer. She comes from Iberiabank, where she was an executive vice president and senior credit officer.

April Heath, meanwhile, brings 16 years of experience to her role of senior vice president and credit adviser. Most recently, she spent six years at First Tennessee Housing Corp., where she was an investment officer and portfolio manager.

Ella Young joins Pinnacle as a financial adviser assistant. Before coming to Pinnacle, Young spent 13 years at SunTrust Bank, where she was an officer and client support specialist in SunTrust’s private wealth management group.

And Amanda Jones brings 17 years of experience to her role of merchant services adviser. Before joining Pinnacle, Jones was an account executive for Elavon Global Acquiring Solutions.

– Andy Meek

Opioid Scripts Slow Down Considerably in Tennessee

A new report published by the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science shows that Tennesseans filled 6.7 million opioid prescriptions at retail pharmacies in 2017, a nearly 9 percent decrease from the previous year and a 21.3 percent drop from 2013.

Tennessee outperformed most of its contiguous states and is on par with the national average for year-over-year improvements and five-year trends.

The Tennessee Medical Association, the state’s largest professional organization for doctors, points to the data as validation of the medical community’s ongoing efforts to self-regulate prescribing and reduce initial opioid dosage and supply.

“This report shows that Tennessee’s medical community is driving real change in the initial supply of opioids in our state, despite the fact that clear data to help us identify who is writing excessive amounts for patients is available only to government regulators,” said Nita W. Shumaker, M.D., TMA president. “Physicians for decades were told these medications were completely safe and faced potential litigation if we did not treat pain aggressively. As a result, patients developed unrealistic expectations about pain management. Once we recognized the addictive dangers of these medications we worked hard to change the culture and improve supervision. The report confirms that we are making progress.”

National trends show 22.2 percent fewer opioid prescriptions were filled in 2017 than had been filled in 2013, with every state in the nation showing some reduction in the past year. In 2017, a total of 196 million opioid prescriptions were filled in the U.S., representing an 8.9 percent decrease from the prior year – the sharpest single-year decrease reported by IQVIA.

Prescription opioid volumes in the U.S. peaked in 2011 at 240 billion milligrams of morphine-milligram equivalents and have declined by 29 percent to 171 billion MMEs.

TMA has led statewide efforts for years to educate physicians, physician assistants and nurses on safe and proper prescribing. Since 2012, the association has trained more than 5,000 health care providers through its live and online courses.

TMA was also a catalyst to changing the prescribing educational requirements for Tennessee physicians and has led public policies and other initiatives, including the Controlled Substance Monitoring Database (CSMD), which has reduced doctor shopping by 50 percent.

– Daily News staff