business briefs

• PYA, PC., recently promoted Brad Leskoven to tax principal and hired two new principals, Rhonda Hampton and George “Deuce” Lukemeyer II. Leskoven will continue to serve as director of Atlanta Tax Operations. With more than 20 years of business advisory experience, he is responsible for developing and implementing specialized tax services for physical practices and other healthcare organizations. Hampton joined the firm as tax principal earlier in June and serves as director of state and local taxation. With nearly 30 years experience, Lukemeyer joined as healthcare consulting principal.

• Pellissippi State Community College recently received a grant to expand its YouthForce Technical Training Camps, which introduce high school tudents to skilled careers.

• 7 Mortgage, LLC, recently appointed Travis Morrow as president of 7 Mortgage, a jointly owned credit union service organization of ORNL Federal Credit Union and Consumer Credit Union. Morrow replaces Wendy Robinson, who retired earlier this year.

• Jonathan Stanley recently joined The Christman Company as project engineer for the firm’s office in Knoxville. Stanley currently is focused on the new corporate headquarters and manufacturing operations for Smith & Wesson in Maryville.

• Logan Bryant recently joined Wells Fargo Advisors as a financial advisor. He has been in the financial field for 22 years.

.• University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences professor Annette Engel, who is part of a team studying subterranean biodiversity associated with lava tubes on Hawaii, has been named principal investigator on a four-year, $1.29 million collaborative research grant from National Science Foundation.

Also, continuing with the legacy of Shamrock Shake’s integral role in building the first Ronald McDonald House, participating McDonald’s restaurants donated 25 cents from every Shamrock Shake to local RMHC chapters.

• UT-Knoxville recently announced the launch of the Institute for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing, for which the event was hosted at the institute’s headquarters in the 200-acre UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm.

It represents UT’s increasingly interdisciplinary approach to tackling real-world problems for the benefit of Tennesseans and beyond.