Business
July 29, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
About 300 people turned out when the Town of Farragut welcomed a new business at the former Sitel site, Maverick Insurance, which held its grand opening at 11221 Outlet Drive, Saturday afternoon, July 25.
Maverick owners, Josh Naginewicz,
Zach Thomas, Jordan Liles and Mantonio Rondinone joined senior directors, Horizon Insurance owner Mat Cacace, and many others for the grand opening celebration.
“We are truly grateful that you guys came to share this moment with us,” Rondinone said. “One thing we have learned greatly is the power of faith, the power that one man can have.
The company expects to have 1,000 employees in the 45,000-square-foot building with plans to grow.
“I welcome this group because they are what makes this Town work,” Farragut Mayor Ron Williams said. “The opportunity for them to be here, the vision they have, is what makes Farragut.
“We’re a very close-knit group of citizens,” he said. “We’re now 26,000 strong.
When Williams started serving the Town 10 years ago, he said the population was less than 20,000.
He said developer Jim Nixon’s crew built the structure, which now will house Maverick Insurance and Horizon Insurance, both under the FFL umbrella.
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July 29, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
Tollie Mullins of Farragut has bounced back since leaving The Painted Tree in West Knoxville.
His business, A Welcoming Touch, now is in a booth at The Shoppes at Homespun in Farragut, where he said he is doing well.
There, people can find an array of bows, wreaths and other handmade decors for the home.
“What we’re going after is to help people, maybe give them some different ideas on how to give a welcoming touch to their family and friends in their home,” he said. “And, it starts at the front door but it goes throughout the whole house.”
Originally, Mullins had his business at The Painted Tree, a location with a layout similar to The Shoppes at Homespun.
“They had a lot of stores,” he said. “It was a national company with stores in many states. It was pretty well-known.
“The one here [in Knoxville] had been here five or six years,” Mullins added. “I don’t really know what happened.”
“We got in with them in August or September of last year,” he said. “We really liked it. It was a great concept.”
Mullins pointed out the management team was very helpful, but he had trouble communicating with the corporate office.
“I don’t know if it was several stores or the whole concept,” he said. “We couldn’t keep up with whether they had been sold two or three times.
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July 29, 2026 by Rachel Totten, Contributor
Well known for his contributions to the welding field, Farragut resident Dr. Stan David has added yet another accolade to his impactful legacy: a Presidential Plaque from the American Welding Society.
The prestigious award was presented to David, a retired Corporate Fellow Emeritus at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), earlier this year by American Welding Society President Dr. Josh Burgess in honor of his “lifelong accomplishments in advancing welding science and technology.”
In a letter announcing the achievement, Burgess commended David for his role in strengthening the practice of welding across critical industries, ultimately inspiring a myriad of researchers, engineers and students. He particularly noted David’s work on welds of austenitic stainless steel, mathematical modeling and weld pool simulations, as well as single-crystal welding and high-performance materials.
“Over a remarkable career, you have helped elevate welding from an art into a rigorous scientific discipline grounded in metallurgy, modeling, experimentation and engineering application,” Burgess wrote to David. “Your leadership at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, including your stewardship of the Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences Welding Science Program, has shaped generations of research and set a standard of excellence that continues to influence the field worldwide.”
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