Attorney Stephany Pedigo joins the estate planning section of the Chattanooga law firm of Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C. Pedigo is licensed in both Tennessee and Georgia and has more than two decades of legal experience to assist clients from diverse backgrounds and will provide estate and trust-based solutions to her clients. Pedigo is a member of the Tennessee Bar Association and Chattanooga Bar Association. She graduated cum laude from the University of Tennessee and magna cum laude in the top 2% from Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law.
John T. Manion, a renowned curator at the Kaul Wildflower Garden at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, is the new Arboretum Curator at Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center in Chattanooga. As Arboretum Curator, Manion works to establish Reflection Riding as a leader in botanical knowledge, native plant advocacy, invasive plant management and overall habitat restoration across the region. Manion brings nearly two decades of public and private gardens leadership to his new role at Reflection Riding. During his tenure at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Manion developed the native plant collection into the largest documented in the state of Alabama. Manion holds a master of professional studies in public garden leadership degree from Cornell University and a bachelor’s degree in plant science from State University of New York at Cobleskill.
April Lomax is the new director of diversity and inclusion for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. In her new role, Lomax oversees all aspects of the BlueCross diversity and inclusion program, including developing and implementing an effective strategy to maintain an environment sensitive to the needs of today’s diverse workforce. Lomax has more than 10 years of experience in diversity and inclusion, and she most recently served as assistant director of diversity, equity and inclusion for Liberty Mutual. Prior to that, she was a senior manager of diversity and inclusion for Change Healthcare and served as an adjunct instructor of humanities at Georgia State University. From 2016 to 2018, Lomax worked at BlueCross, serving as a diversity and inclusion consultant.
Jeremy Sims, PE, joins the consulting firm Croy Engineering as a senior project manager. Based at Croy’s Chattanooga office location, Sims will support the firm’s transportation and traffic engineering practice areas, while also expanding the firm’s footprint in markets across Tennessee. Over his nearly three-decade career, Sims has provided development oversight and project management for numerous transportation engineering projects. Sims joins Croy after more than six years with the Tennessee Department of Transportation, where he was responsible for the management and oversight of the Region 2 project development technical offices, including environmental, right-of-way, utilities and survey. Sims holds a bachelor of civil engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Patrick O’Hagan is named regional impact director for Chattanooga State Community College. O’Hagan has served as the Kimball Site interim director in a full-time capacity, and as regional workforce development liaison in Marion County since Julie Bennett’s retirement in 2020. In his new role, O’Hagan oversees the economic and workforce development activities throughout the Kimball regional service area. O’Hagan graduated from Chattanooga State with an associate of arts transfer degree, then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology from Martin Methodist College and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction at Tennessee Tech University. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in higher educational leadership at East Tennessee State University and has already obtained a graduate certificate in community college leadership through ETSU.