Board
All About Women, Inc. 2013 Board of Directors
Sophie Moore – President* - Community Health Systems - Sophie Moore is manager of Communications and Public Relations at Community Health Systems. Previously, she served as director of Communications at the Nashville Health Care Council. Before that, she worked for the State of Tennessee, providing communications, media relations and public relations guidance for the Department of Health, Department of Revenue and the First Lady’s Office. Sophie is also on the board of Nashville Emerging Leaders and serves as Sponsor Relations Chair.
Nancy Dickson – Vice President* - Nancy is the Director of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, a professional and leadership development programs for international educational leaders at Peabody College. She comes to Peabody College from LEAD Academy, a public charter school in Nashville,Tennessee where she served as the Director of Operations and a founding team member of the charter school. Additionally, while teaching in Washington,D.C.public schools, she collaborated with National Geographic, Meridian International, and George Washington University to provide city-wide professional development and teacher preparation programming. She holds her Masters of Public Policy degree from Peabody.
Nancy Benskin - Secretary* - Nancy is a Senior Vice President of Private Banking for Avenue Bank. Nancy graduated from the University of Kentucky with a BA in Business Administration. She currently serves as Secretary and Board Member for All About Women. She is a past Board member, Development Committee Member, and past chair of The Mad Hatter for the Sexual Assault Center. Nancy is serving on committees for the Ballet Ball and the Symphony Fashion Show. Nancy is also a graduate of the Young Leaders Council, is a member of the Friends of Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, and the Pencil Foundation.
Dana A. Zukierski – Dana is an assurance partner in theNashville practice of Ernst & Young. She focuses exclusively in the health sciences industry and serves health sciences clients who have SEC reporting responsibilities, private equity backed entities and not-for-profit clients. Dana’s experience includes providing assurance services related to the following: public and private equity and debt offerings, acquisitions and divestitures, private equity ownership matters, SEC reporting matters and the implementation and ongoing evaluation of internal controls under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. She is currently on the board of directors for Life Sciences of Tennessee, Belle Meade Plantation and All About Women. She has previously served on the board of Leadership Health Care (LHC) as the Chair of the Education and Events Committee for LHC.
Melissa Puri – Past President* - Melissa is a healthcare veteran, having spent the last 15 years in the healthcare industry. She is an integral part of the Mobile Health team for Verizon Wireless, a dynamic team founded to address gaps in healthcare. Her primary responsibilities are to lead large healthcare partners through clinical studies to achieve outcomes. Melissa is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives (former Executive Board Member) , Leadership Healthcare, Women’s Political Collaborative of Middle Tennessee (current Executive Board member and All About Women (2012 President and current Executive Board member). Melissa is married to Chris, a healthcare attorney and they have one son, Colin.
Sally R. Smallwood – Founder* - Sally has been actively volunteering since moving to Nashville in 1991: chairing or serving on the committee of over eighty-five programs and fundraisers for various non-profits. In 2002, she founded All About Women. She is also a past president of the Nashville Ronald McDonald House, a four-time Junior League of Nashville Board member, Leadership Nashville alum and Program Co-Chair as well as Vestry member at her church. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, she has been married over 31 years (whew!) to Geoff Smallwood and has two children, Lauren and Andrew.
Karen Abbott - Karen is Vice President and Associate General Counsel of IASIS Healthcare Corporation. She has been with IASIS since November, 1999. She is a graduate ofCarsonNewmanCollegeand Nashville School of Law. Karen is married to Hal Abbott and they have a daughter, 17 and twin boys, 16.
Betty Anderson – Betty is president of Anderson Consulting, a state government affairs consulting firm. She has 30 years experience in the public policy arena, serving as chief lobbyist for the TN Education Association, legislative liaison for Gov. Ned McWherter, and as head of her own business, Advance Public Strategies. Betty is a graduate of the Nashville School of Law and led the public policy group for Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz for nine years. She is a member of the advisory board for Monroe Harding Children’s Home, a member of theNashville, theTN, and the American Bar Associations, and a member of the Board of the TN Women’s Political Collaborative.
Alexis Bartley Paulson – Alexis was raised inNashville, attendedBelmontUniversity for undergraduate school and theUniversity ofPennsylvania for her master’s degree. She is a practicing Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner who recently transitioned from a community health setting providing OB-GYN care to uninsured/underinsured women to The Vanderbilt Breast Center where she currently guides women with abnormal mammograms through the breast biopsy process. She is passionate about women’s health care needs and raising awareness for the resources available to women in Middle Tennessee.
Shannon Clemmons - With a performing arts background, she spent years traveling with her own production company before partnering with her husband, Sam, to form Elite Emergency Services, an emergency department physician staffing service now operating over a multi-state area with a roster of over 200 physicians. Shannon has been instrumental in business development, marketing, and strategic planning for the past 13 years and has launched Edit Healthcare, an interpersonal training program for physicians and ancillary staff. Shannon has been actively involved in Make-a-Wish of MiddleTennessee for the last 6 years, and is currently developing a multimedia project branded for young girls focusing on positive choices and self- esteem. Shannon enjoys spending time with her husband, son, and two daughters, travelling, and snow skiing. A graduate ofAustinPeayStateUniversity, she holds degrees in corporate communications and political science.
Nicole Cottrill – Nicole is a partner at Seigenthaler Public Relations where she conceives and directs strategic communications programs on behalf of SPR’s clients. Nicole has a well-established reputation as an expert on healthcare and science industry issues and trends. Trained as an analyst and researcher, she provides SPR’s clients with unparalleled expertise in these areas, as well as in crisis communications, media relations, corporate partnership and sponsorship development, coalition building and policy analysis. Prior to joining SPR in 2006, Nicole was a Vice President at Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications where she managed the firm’s science, technology and healthcare practice. Before Rasky Baerlein, she held positions at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine andUniversityHospitals ofCleveland. Nicole is a graduate ofCaseWestern ReserveUniversity with degrees in sociology and history.
Nancy DeKalb –Nancy is a partner with KVBPR. She has more than two decades of experience in corporate and agency public relations and has successfully implemented programs for clients in the civic growth and development, health care, publishing, consumer goods, entertainment and hospitality industries. Throughout her career, she has developed expertise in product branding and promotion. She has also conducted national media relations programs for a diverse group of clients and has managed community education and grassroots advocacy programs for development companies. She is a graduate ofKentStateUniversity. She serves on the management committee of Urban Land Institute Nashville District Council, a board member for Nashville Adult Literacy Council, a past president of Breakfast Club of Nashville and was the chair for the 2012 SEC Women’s Basketball Championship local organizing committee.
Mary Falls – Mary is a non-practicing attorney, currently serves on the boards of St. Thomas Health System and Alive Hospice. She is the former board chair of Alive Hospice, Catholic Charities of Tennessee, and numerous other regional non-profit organizations.
Kim Karesh – Kim has nearly 15 years of experience in communication and account services. She is Senior Vice President of Healthcare Strategy at W Squared where she supports account management, implementations and overall customer satisfaction. Ms. Karesh’s expertise is focused in the technology-oriented portions of Healthcare Reform. She began her career as a reporter for WLAC-AM inNashville,Tennessee and served state and local governments as a spokesperson prior to joining the city’s world-renowned healthcare industry. She earned her Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Broadcasting and her Master of Business Administration (MBA) atWesternKentuckyUniversity.
Kim Looney – One of the leading attorneys in the Healthcare industry, clients call on Kim Looney to advise them on day-to-day operational issues such as recruitment and employment, and regulatory issues such as maintaining ongoing compliance with Stark and federal anti-kickback regulations. Recognized for her leadership, Kim frequently speaks at state and national teleconferences and seminars on healthcare topics. Best Lawyers recognizes Kim as a leading attorney in the category of Healthcare Law. Her professional affiliations include being a member of the Tennessee and American Bar Associations; past chair of the Health Law Section of the Tennessee Bar Association; member of the American Health Lawyers Association; fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation; and member of the Lawyers’ Association for Women. Kim Looney is also very active in the community having served as co-chair of events such as the Heart Gala for the American Heart Association; Bal d’Hiver, the oldest charity ball in Nashville for the benefit of Family and Children’s Service, CASA and the Kappa Alpha Theta Foundation; and Golden Hour, for the benefit of Lifeflight and Trauma Survivors Network for Vanderbilt Medical Center. Kim Looney received her law degree fromVanderbiltUniversity and has been with Waller since 2004.
Barbara Mathieson – Barbara is a search engine marketer for Lionzone, a local internet media company. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Previously, she has worked as a print production director for several national publishers. She is a docent at the Nashville Zoo and also serves on the board of Friends of Shelby Park.
Elise Stacey – Elise is a project coordinator for the President and CEO of Mapco Express. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in History and an MBA. Elise became involved with All About Women through a masters degree internship, later joining the board. She is involved with many charitable organizations and enjoys travel.
Betsey Usher – Betsey is the manager of events at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, providing strategic leadership in the creation, execution and growth of various events for all constituents of the School. She also co-oversees social media strategies to safely and effectively brand the School to internal and external audiences. Betsey’s background includes stints in development at several colleges and health care institutions, financial education and newspaper distribution. She has a B.A. in political science from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland and a M.Ed. from Vanderbilt.
Kimberly Vinson – Dr. Kimberly Vinson is an assistant professor in the department of otolaryngology atVanderbiltUniversity and works as a laryngologist at theVanderbiltVoiceCenter. She is also Assistant Dean for Diversity at Vanderbilt University of School of Medicine. Dr. Vinson received a bachelor of science degree in psychology/biology fromBirmingham-SouthernCollege inBirmingham,AL, and her medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Shelley Walker – Shelley is assistant director of communication and media relations for the Tennessee Department of Health, providing internal and external communication, media relations and public relations services. She has previously served as a public relations specialist forTennesseeStateUniversity, and has more than ten years of experience as a local television news producer inNashville. Shelley serves asTennessee’s voting member in the National Public Health Information Coalition, and has special training in emergency and crisis communications.
Patricia H. Wesson - Patricia is the SBA Business Advocate of the year recipient and past chapter president of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NWBO). She is also President and Chief Advocate of Contracts For Women, Inc. dba ContractsforWomen.com. The company provides certification, registration, and advocacy services to women business owners seeking government and corporate contract opportunities. www.contractsforwomen.com
Cathy Wind – Cathy has over 29 years of banking experience. The last 18 years have been exclusively focused on financing healthcare companies. Previous experience includes Healthcare Sales Executive at Regions Bank where she was responsible for the strategic direction of Healthcare Banking services overseeing $5.5 billion in commitments and serving over 300 clients. She also spent 12 years at what is now Bank of America. She has served on several boards including the Nashville Healthcare Counsel, President of Middle TN Kidney Foundation and All About Women. Currently she is a Healthcare Banking Relationship Manage at First Tennessee Bank.
