James Baker joins BlueCross board

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has elected James B. Baker to the board of directors for the Chattanooga-based health insurer.

Baker is managing partner of River Associates Investments, LLC, where he has worked for the past 19 years.

"Jim has been a business leader of great stature in Tennessee for many years," said Vicky Gregg, CEO of BlueCross. "We look forward to adding his insights to strengthen an already outstanding group of board members."

Baker previously served in senior executive positions with Constar International Inc., a plastic container manufacturer, and he helped start and lead Baker-Dixon Packaging Inc., an Atlanta-based packaging distributor.

He earned a bachelor's degree and a master's in business administration from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

In addition to his service on the BlueCross board, Baker is a board member for all companies in the River Associates' protfolio. He also serves on the boards of Astec Industries and the Chattanooga bank of First Horizon National Corp.

Local law firm adds 3 attorneys

The Chattanooga-based law firm of Duncan, Hatcher, Hixson & Fleenor, P.C., recently added three attorneys: Stephen P. Parish, Pamela A. Fleenor, and Michael M. Thomas.

Parish has been practicing in the Chattanooga area for 34 years, and is a 1974 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Memphis and a 1977 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Law. Parish practices in all aspects of commercial, retail and residential real estate, including acquisitions, financing, development and construction, leasing and sales, shopping center law, title law, and general business law.

Fleenor is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a recipient of the Benwood Foundation's Chapin-Thomas scholarship to the University of Cincinnati College of Law, from where she graduated in 1986. She practices primarily in the area of civil litigation, including personal injury, probate, and collections, and in the area of criminal defense, including DUIs. Fleenor is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Thomas is a graduate of the Baylor School, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the University of Memphis School of Law. Thomas concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial litigation, bankruptcy and criminal defense. He is a firefighter with the Lookout Mountain, Ga., Volunteer Fire Department.

Mainline buys KgW & Co.

Mainline Information Systems has purchased KgW & Co., an IBM premier business partner headquartered in Chattanooga.

Founded in 1993, KgW & Co. is an end-to-end technology solutions provider that helps solve business problems with IT solutions. Mainline began in 1989 and has grown into a global IT company with more than 600 employees.

"We are excited to welcome KgW & Company into the Mainline organization," said Doug Harrell, senior vice president of Mainline in Tallahassee, Fla. "Their focused expertise in providing IBM solutions, as well as their solid partnership with VMware, matches perfectly with our current strategic direction and will also extend our existing reach deeper into the Southeast marketplace."

Harrell said Mainline will benefit from the existing leadership of Ken Way, founder of KgW & Co., and Trish Way, current president and CEO.

"Mainline has been a market leader in the industry and is a company that can continue to provide our clients a broader range of hardware, software and service offerings that complement and extend our existing offerings," Ken Way said.

THA honors Joan Frierson

Tennessee Hospital Association awarded Memorial Health Care System board member Joan Frierson with the 2011 Meritorious Service Award for Governance.

According to the THA, Frierson was "honored for her exceptional leadership, insight and knowledge in all of her work at Memorial Health Care System." At Memorial, she has provided strategic planning and leadership for a number of projects and has been instrumental in fundraising, morale boosting and helping the hospital adapt to health care changes.

"She leads by example and has the remarkable gift of making those around her strive to be better," Memorial Hospital President James M. Hobson said.

Frierson also has served as past chairman of the board of Girls Preparatory School where she co-chaired the school's 1996 capital campaign; past president of the Junior League of Chattanooga; past chair of Women's Build for Habitat for Humanity; past co-chair of Fast Day at the Chattanooga Community Kitchen and past member of the Hunter Museum of American Art board of directors.