PYA’s Marty Brown named Chair-Elect of Knoxville Chamber board
The current Innovation Council Vice Chair moves onto the leadership track as the Chamber rolls out its FY27 board, currently chaired by Regions Bank's Rob Stivers.
Marty Brown has spent more than three decades helping build PYA from a Knoxville-based accounting and consulting firm into one of the country’s most recognized advisory firms. Now he is stepping up to help steer the organization that shapes the business climate around it.
The Knoxville Chamber has named Brown, PYA’s CEO, as Chair-Elect of its fiscal year 2027 Board of Directors. He will step into the chair role in July of 2027, a position currently held by Rob Stivers, the lead market executive at Regions Bank.
Brown currently serves as the board’s Vice Chair for Innovation, one of five council seats that drive the Chamber’s agenda. The five seats are Business Climate, Economic Development, Infrastructure, Talent, and Innovation.
His innovation focus mirrors how Brown has spent much of his career outside the firm. He is a General Partner of Market Square Ventures, a co-founder and/ or investor in PYA-affiliated startups, including Realty Trust Group and PYA Waltman Capital, and the ideator behind the PYA Ballard Innovation Award. This annual competition has grown into one of East Tennessee’s largest pitch prizes. Most recently, he became a founding member of UT Ventures, a new angel network offering by the University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF), where he also serves on the board and investment advisory committee.
Additionally, Brown is also a huge supporter and advocate of PYA’s Teknovation, which is the firm’s publication focused on entrepreneurship, economic development, technology, and innovation in Tennessee.
Brown joined PYA in 1991 after leaving a “Big Eight” accounting firm, and under his leadership, the firm has earned national recognition, including repeated rankings among the nation’s top healthcare consulting practices. A University of Tennessee, Knoxville graduate, he stays close to his alma mater through advisory roles at the Haslam College of Business and the UTRF.
Forbes named him one of America’s top CPAs in 2024 and a Best-in-State CPA in the two years since, and the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA) named him its 2025 CPA of the Year.
The Chamber serves as the economic development organization for Knoxville and Knox County and represents more than 2,200 member businesses.
Meet the FY27 Knoxville Chamber Board of Directors
Officers and Executive Committee
- Rob Stivers, market executive, Regions Bank, board chair
- Marty Brown, president and CEO, PYA, P.C., chair-elect and vice chair, innovation
- Nikitia Thompson, owner and broker, Realty Executives-Nikitia Thompson Realty, LLC, board secretary
- Dave Miller, president and CEO, Apex Bank, board treasurer
- Mark Mamantov, member, Bass, Berry & Sims, general counsel
- Misty Mayes, CEO, Management Solutions, LLC, vice chair, business climate
- Jim VanderSteeg, president and CEO, Covenant Health, vice chair, economic development
- Bridgett McMahan, president, Besco, vice chair, infrastructure
- Matthew Kittrell, director, CGI, vice chair, talent
- Chrystal Armstrong Brown, president and CEO, United Way of Greater Knoxville, ex officio
Directors
- Justin Bailey, CEO, Realty Executives
- Andrea Baker, senior vice president and director of HR, Bush Brothers & Company
- Myles Baker, director of safety, risk and environments, Clayton Homes
- Heather Beck, vice president and director of communications, BarberMcMurry Architects
- Jim Biggs, executive director, Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (ex officio)
- Debbie Billings, investor and commercial realtor, Heritage Realty
- Harry Boston, general partner, Market Square Ventures
- Chris Caldwell, CFO and co-chief of staff, Knox County Government
- Kelli Chaney, president, TCAT Knoxville
- Allison Comer, president and CEO, Muse Knoxville
- Alfonso Cruz, owner, Spray-Net Knoxville
- Susan Dakak, president, Smart Views, LLC
- Jamie Davis, senior vice president, fiber, and chief technology officer, Knoxville Utilities Board
- Ali Fraley, vice president of learning and development, Axle Logistics
- Britton Garrett, CEO, i-O Urology
- Shaun Gleason, director of partnerships, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Mike Howard, CEO emeritus, Electric Power Research Institute
- Justin Irick, CFO, Tombras
- Randy Jenkins, CFO, Partners Development
- Nadim Jubran, CEO, PIER Group
- Jamie Landis, senior vice president, business planning and execution, Pilot Company
- Gay Lyons, chief development officer, East Tennessee Historical Society (ex officio, Downtown Knoxville Alliance)
- Drew McKenna, managing partner, One Knoxville SC
- Lauren Miller, CEO and partner, MoxCar Marketing + Communications
- Susana Navarro, president and CEO, Navarro Research & Engineering, Inc.
- Allison Page, president, Magnolia Network, Warner Bros. Discovery (ex officio, Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority)
- Pete Pearson, CEO, Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic
- Jennifer Podhajsky, CEO, Yee-Haw Brewing Company
- Bert Robinson, senior state director, government and community relations, Tennessee Valley Authority
- Grant Rosenberg, chief operating officer, City of Knoxville
- Deana Sanabria, director of government sales, Expoquip, Inc.
- Matt Schaefer, president and CEO, Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital
- Matthew Scoggins, chief of staff, Office of the Chancellor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- Dr. James Shamiyeh, executive vice president and chief operating officer, University of Tennessee Medical Center
- Laurie Shanderson, president and CEO, Knoxville Area Urban League (ex officio)
- Richard Stair, design director, Texas Instruments
- Wes Stowers, chairman, Stowers Machinery Corporation
- Abhijit (AV) Verekar, president and CEO, Avero Advisors
- Lisette Vergara, director of operations, Buckhead Construction Company (ex officio, Centro Hispano de East Tennessee)
- Jenny Vipperman, president and CEO, ORNL Federal Credit Union
- Erin Wakefield, CEO, The Wakefield Corporation
- Patty Weaver, vice president, external affairs, Pellissippi State Community College
- Patrick Wilson, president and CEO, Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority
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