Cleveland, Tenn.-based Life Care Centers of America recently named Michael Lops as its new chief compliance officer.

He had been general counsel for the health care firm and now succeeds Sharon Coleman as chief compliance officer.

Mr. Lops is a member of senior management and as such he will be responsible for making quarterly reports on compliance matters directly to Life Care Chairman Forrest Preston and the Life Care board of directors.

Mr. Lops served as vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and chief administrative officer for Mobility Products Unlimited, a home medical equipment supplier, in South Daytona, Fla., from 2005 to 2009.

Mr. Lops earned his bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He has an MBA from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., and received his law degree from Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Fla.

He and his wife, Diane, live in Cleveland. They have a son, who is an attorney in Orlando, Fla.

Life Care operates more than 220 nursing, subacute and Alzheimer’s centers in 28 states.

Malone named head of law firm

Partner Melvin J. Malone has been named chairman of the law firm of Miller & Martin, becoming the first African-American in the history of the 142-year-old firm to hold that position. This month he will succeed Howard I. Levine, who has been chairman since 2002.

“Quite simply, this appointment is one more indication of our firm’s genuine commitment to achieving a diverse workplace and building internal leadership from the pool of talented attorneys of our firm, regardless of ethnicity,” said Joseph R. Delgado, the firm’s diversity partner.

Mr. Malone, a native of Chattanooga, serves as managing member of Miller & Martin’s Nashville office. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Tennessee and has been with Miller & Martin for seven years.

Before joining Miller & Martin, he served as deputy legal counsel to Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist and commissioner of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority.

Miller & Martin has about 200 attorneys and has offices in three cities.

Cornerstone Bank appoints two

Cornerstone Community Bank announced its appointment of Linda Mosley as vice president and relationship manager and Jim Pemberton as special assets officer.

Ms. Mosley has been in banking in Chattanooga since 1972 and holds the certified financial planner designation.

She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and serves on the Hamilton County Board of Education. She and her husband have a son and live in Ooltewah.

Mr. Pemberton began his career in 1985 as an internal auditor with a national bank in Rockwood, Tenn. He then joined other national and regional banks in management positions, serving such markets as Cleveland, Tenn., and Knoxville. He and his wife and two children live in Cleveland.

Cornerstone is a locally owned and operated community bank with five branch locations serving the Chattanooga area and a loan production office in Dalton, Ga.

Carlton joins Covenant Allergy

Family nurse practitioner B. Gwen Carlton has joined Covenant Allergy & Asthma Care in East Brainerd. She will be practicing with Dr. Susan P. Raschal.

Ms. Carlton has 28 years of experience in the treatment of allergy and asthma. She is certified as an asthma educator by the National Asthma Educator Certification Board.

She received her M.S. degree in nursing from Vanderbilt University and earned a doctorate of nursing practice from the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center at Memphis.

She has taught in the family nurse practitioner program at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.

Wagner receives certification

Lance Wagner, a native Chattanoogan with the Nashville office of Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon, has become an ASFMP certified floodplain manager.

He joined the Nashville office of Barge Waggoner in 2005 as a civil engineer and now works for commercial and institutional development projects with an emphasis on stormwater design and analysis.

He is a civil engineering graduate of Tennessee Technological University and is a professional engineer registered in Tennessee.

Barge Waggoner is an employee-owned engineering, architectural, planning, landscape architecture and surveying firm with 10 offices.

Kristy Lyda wins recognition

Kristy Lyda, a financial services representative with the Hamilton Place branch of Northwest Georgia Bank, has won a regional award from the Georgia Bankers Association.

She received the award, her second consecutive, for her volunteer efforts during the 2008-09 school year through participation in the Personal Economics Program sponsored by Leadership GBA, an education arm of the GBA, while she served as coordinator of the the Ringgold, Ga.-based bank’s volunteer class instructors for Junior Achievement of Chattanooga, a news release said.

“We commend Kristy for her hard work teaching financial education in the community while benefiting two great organizations: the Georgia Bankers Association and Junior Achievement of Chattanooga,” said Tom Mastin, senior vice president of retail services at Northwest and a member of Leadership GBA’s Executive Committee.

12 area residents pass CPA exam

The Tennessee State Board of Accountancy has announced that 12 Chattanooga area residents are among 151 candidates who recently passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant examination.

Successfully completing the exam were Christopher B. Hubbard and Shoshannah R. Walker of Chattanooga; Bethany L. Blankenship, Apison; Sarah K. Oakman, Dunlap; Kevin C. Knight, Hixson; Khara H. Lounsbury, Ooltewah; Cara A. Smith, Pikeville; Jonathan D. Frost, Signal Mountain; Aaron M. Blenden, Autumn L. Jewell and Burton R. Johnson, Soddy-Daisy; and Amy M. Prince, Ringgold, Ga.

After passing the exam, the successful candidates were inducted as members of the Tennessee Society of CPAs and its Chattanooga chapter.

Clean Sweep receives award

Clean Sweep Inc., located at 1400 Dayton Blvd., has been selected for the 2009 Best of Chattanooga Award in the parking lot maintenance category by the U.S. Commerce Association.

The U.S. Commerce Association, based in Washington, D.C., is funded by local business operating in communities across the country. Its purpose of USCA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising, a news release said.

Peter H. Phillips is the owner of Clean Sweep, which has been in business since 1984. It is a member of the North American Power Sweeping Association and services clients in Bradley, Rhea and Marion counties.

Renaissance gets certification

Renaissance Physician Services, a medical billing, coding and software solutions provider, has announced its Allscripts MyWay product provider certification.

Owner Durie Andrews said the business passed “all prerequisites to become a reseller of MyWay this summer,” and is now able to offer this electronic health record solution to practices.