The Tennessee Aquarium has appointed Gordon Stalans as its new chief operating officer. For more than 30 years, Stalans has served as chief financial officer and chief information systems officer, focusing on creating the aquarium's annual and long-term financial plan. He also serves as financial director for the Creative Discovery Museum and the Hunter Museum of American Art.
Mike Bradshaw has been named director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Gary W. Rollins College of Business. Bradshaw has served as the first entrepreneur in residence for the center since 2021 after previously serving as executive director for The Company Lab, president of Trinity Communications and director of software development for The Learning Co.
Jensen Hyde has been named chief medical offer for Erlanger Health System, becoming the first female chief medical officer to lead the 130-year-old hospital. Hyde previously served as chief medical quality officer for Erlanger and worked as a hospitalist at Erlanger. Hyde is also an assistant professor with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center's Department of Internal Medicine, including associate program director.
The Chattanooga Technology Council (ChaTech) has named Austin Corcoran as executive director, following his term as interim head of the technology trade group in Chattanooga. Austin has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and has served in leadership roles in both the local non-profit and private sectors, most recently serving as chief of staff at CO.LAB and director of talent engagement at the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce.
Chandra Ward, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, has taken on the added role of director of community engagement for UTC's Center for Urban Informatics and Progress (CUIP). Ward, a UTC faculty member since 2017, is an urban sociologist who serves on the boards of The Chattery, Stoveworks, Humanities Tennessee and SPLASH Youth Arts.
Ashley Nichols, a chartered financial analyst, has joined the financial planning and wealth management firm Acumen Wealth Advisors as a senior investment strategist and portfolio manager. Nichols is a graduate of Rice University and earned her MBA from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She has worked in finance for nearly 15 years.
Family nurse practitioner Todd Belk has joined the medical staff of Cempa Community Care. Belk is a native of the Chattanooga area and earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Krikor Jansezian, formerly chief operating officer for St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings, Montana, has been named the new chief executive of Parkridge Health's behavioral health services overseeing Parkridge Valley Adult Campus, Parkridge Valley Child & Adolescent Campus, Parkridge Valley West and Parkridge Valley Cleveland Outpatient. Jansezian received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles and has worked in key management roles at a number of California hospitals.
Wim Messiaen has joined Mohawk Industries as president of Mohawk's Flooring Rest of the World segment. Messiaen was previously CEO of the corrugated packaging division of VPK Group and earlier worked for 16 years with Etex, a leading global building materials company.
Rachel Tolliver has been named director of the behavioral health team at LifeSpring Community Health. Tolliver, who earned her doctor of nursing at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, previously served as a licensed and board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Counseling Center.
