Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Here are our weekly “news and notes” briefs from last week.

• First, some very sad news. Mary Kathleen Brown, wife of Tom Rogers, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the University of Tennessee (UT) Research Park, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at her home in Knoxville on September 15. No services are planned at this time, but will be scheduled for a later date. Her obituary can be found here.
• On a brighter note,  Get Spiffy, a fast-growing Research Triangle start-up that once focused only on mobile car washes, has expanded its reach both geographically and in the types of services being offered with the acquisition of Tennessee-based Pit Crew. The latter serves the Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville markets. As noted in this 2019 teknovation.biz article, Pit Crew was founded by several UT, Knoxville alums. Learn more here.
• Alt Finance Corporation has announced the appointment of Marcus Shaw as its CEO. In his new role, the former CEO of Chattanooga’s CO.LAB will guide AltFinance in its mission to increase diverse representation across the alternative investment industry. Shaw has spent more than 20 years as an executive in the financial industry with positions at Height Analytics, Piedmont Investor Advisors and Banc of America Securities and has also led programs dedicated to innovation, equity and development of young professionals at the Montgomery TechLab and MLT. One of his key early roles will be to launch the “ALTFinance Fellowship” program at Clark Atlanta University, Howard University, Morehouse College and Spelman College. For more information, read Alt Finance news release here.
• Ryan Stanton, who has led electric vehicle (EV) initiatives for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for the past three and one-half years, is moving to the Tennessee Valley Authority where he’ll lead the utility’s “EV Evolution Initiative.” In a social media post, Stanton wrote, “I’ll be working collaboratively to remove market barriers and accelerate the transition to electric transportation.” He starts September 27.
• As part of the upcoming “Startup Week CHA,” CO.LAB has joined forces with Malcolm Harris, Recruiting Manager at Steam Logistics and On Air Talent at Brewer Media, to host the inaugural “Startup Week CHA Job Fair.” According to a post from CO.LAB’s Lindsey Cox, the organizers hope to sign-up about 20 companies for the event set for 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. October 20 at the Waterhouse Pavilion. Companies can sign-up here.
• The Sync Space Entrepreneur Center is working with East Tennessee State University MBA students on a strategic visioning and marketing plan for Innovation Village in Kingsport. Students will work two semesters with Sync Space, designing a strategic vision for how to help entrepreneurs, inventors, makers and digital media experts have access to training.
• DEVNET, an automated property tax technology company, will hire 20 people as part of an eventual relocation of its corporate headquarters to Chattanooga. The company’s Edge^TM product line offers integrated land records management solutions for computer assisted mass appraisal, assessment administration, billing, collection, permitting, records management, wEdge eGovernment and mapping GIS capabilities.
• FCA Venture Partners, a leading healthcare technology venture capital firm headquartered in Nashville, has named three individuals as new Partners. They are Andrew Bouldin, Whitney Haley, and Andy Patton. More information can be found here.

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