Love of running inspires unique tour company

Small Business Spotlight for The Memphis Daily News

July 26, 2010

John Lintner loves to run.

“I run about four to six miles a day, and nine to 10 miles on the weekends,” he said. “I’ve run four marathons.”

A certified personal trainer and head of sales for Breakaway Running’s bulk embroidery division, Lintner recently trained his wife, Crissy, for her first major race, the 13.1-mile Germantown Half Marathon.

“Whenever we weren’t fighting, it was fun,” John Lintner said.

The two newlyweds – married last September – have recently taken their love of running, the outdoors and a healthy lifestyle to a new level by starting Rockin’ Running Tours.

The idea is simple: take visitors to the city on a three- or six-mile tour of Downtown Memphis at their own pace, at street level, where they can take the time to see all there is to see.

There are several ways to see the sights of Downtown, including horse and carriage tours, a riverboat ride on the Mississippi River and Backbeat Tours, a music-themed tour company ... (read more)

Jurex's Rudolph unites nursing and legal professions

Memphis Standout story for The Memphis Daily News

July 16, 2010

Elizabeth Rudolph used her training as a nurse and an attorney to found Jurex, a Memphis-based company that trains nurses to be expert witnesses, review medical records in legal cases and become legal nurse consultants.

She developed the course in four formats: live, which is usually two full days of instruction, and by video, audio or an online e-course.

“What the course teaches is the legal and the marketing knowledge, and that’s combined with the nurse’s nursing knowledge,” Rudolph said. “The course comes with 15 accredited continuing education credits.” ... (read more)

Ewing Carruthers, insurance agent

My Profession story for The Commercial Appeal

July 6, 2010

Ewing Carruthers shows up at his office 5 1/2 days, each and every week.

Nothing remarkable about that -- except Carruthers is 93 years old and he has been at it a long time.

"I've been working since I was 12 years old," Carruthers said. "I enjoy it. It's rewarding. And it pays well."

Since 1939, Carruthers has sold insurance for Mass Mutual and recently was inducted into the Estate Planning Hall of Fame by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils.

Born in 1917, he grew up in Evergreen in a house built by his grandparents at the corner of Evergreen and Autumn, near Overton Park where his grandfather, A.B. Carruthers, tethered a black bear named "Natch" to a tree, the beginning of what would later become the Memphis Zoo. Nearby is a small street named for his family of land developers who also had a hand in developing the Evergreen neighborhood ... (read more)

Flying high

Memphis in May festivities end with air show

Spot news story for The Memphis Daily News

May 21, 2010

Airplanes seen flying through the skies is a part of the daily tableau for Memphians. Odds are they are FedEx or Delta planes lining up for landing or beginning an ascent into the clouds at any hour of the day.

But anyone who looked closely this weekend might have seen the bright red stunt plane of Fagen Inc. turning loops and performing corkscrew maneuvers over the Downtown skyline.

Saturday’s Memphis in May Sunset Symphony and air show this Saturday ended the month-long festivities.

The air show has been part of the Sunset Symphony, the longest-running program for Memphis in May, since 2007. Diane Hampton, executive vice president of Memphis in May, said it usually draws some 25,000 spectators.

“It’s part of a whole day of family entertainment,” Hampton said of the air show ... (read more)

Strategy for growth: Jackson builds on strong corporate, federal business to expand nationally

My Profession story for The Commercial Appeal

May 19, 2010

After years away for college and work, Laurita Jackson returned to Memphis to be closer to family and raise her children in the South.

She moved home in 2003 to work for the family business, Memphis Chemical & Janitorial Supply Company, and took over as president in the beginning of May, bringing aboard a commitment to her employees and community.

"It's great working for a family business," Jackson said. "One of the things that allows us to make it work is we have a saying, 'We do what's best for the enterprise,' and that allows us to make the right decisions for the company, and also maintain our family relationships."

Memphis Chemical is a distributor of janitorial supplies, cleaning chemicals and cleaning equipment, in addition to servicing that cleaning equipment. Distribution ranges from throughout the city to nationally for some FedEx facilities and customers in the federal government such as the departments of Energy and Veterans Affairs.

"We are locally based but we do have the capability to ship nationwide, and we do that," she said ... (read more)

Hutchison 8th-graders get long-distance lesson in global awareness

Feature profile for The Commercial Appeal

May 11, 2010

John Stephany traveled nearly 7,000 miles to teach his eighth-grade students at Hutchison School a lesson.

Stephany, a world history teacher, recently visited South Korea with the Group Study Exchange, a program aimed at promoting cultural awareness for 25- to 40-year-old professionals.

The four young professionals chosen for this trip by the sponsoring organization, Rotary International district 6800 of Germantown, include an auditor, logistics manager with Smith & Nephew, a publicist with Le Bonheur Children's Hospital and Stephany, who used the experience to teach his students back home about life in other cultures.

"Rotary is about trying to encourage communication, cultural awareness and things of this nature," Stephany said.

Even before Stephany was chosen for the trip, the world history curriculum at Hutchison was being expanded farther east from China and India to Korea and Japan. "I applied for this trip before I knew this was happening."

Stephany is no newcomer to travel; he has spent the last five summers teaching high school seniors at the School of Public Service at St. Albans School in Washington. He has also "bummed around Ireland," spent time backpacking around western Europe and visiting Germany, Prague and Poland. He visited China in 2008 on a trip sponsored by the Columbia University National Consortium for Teaching About Asia that also acted as a teaching tool for his students back home. He sees his time in Korea as an extension of that trip and an addendum to any textbook he might quote ... (read more)

A career of service for United Way's Harry Shaw

Feature profile for The Commercial Appeal

May 1, 2010

Harry Shaw never did work for an airline.

The president of United Way of the Mid-South retired in April having begun his tenure with the organization in 1969 when a friend suggested he apply for a job with United Fund, as it was then called.

"I'm thinking it had something to do with United Airlines," he said. "So I take the interview and I come home that day and tell my wife 'I never saw any airplanes on anybody's desk' and I don't know quite what this job is, but it did sound fascinating."

In his 22 years as president of United Way of the Mid-South, Shaw has seen donations rise from $11 million upon his arrival to just over $25 million now, partly by becoming more aggressive with grant writing. The needs of neighbors cut through politics, finance and celebrity, and Shaw, with his staff of 52, is reaching one-third of the population in eight counties within three states.

"Harry Shaw has done God's work -- striving to improve all segments of the community," said congressman Steve Cohen. "He has been an untiring leader. His compassion and drive will be difficult to replace. The Mid-South certainly has a stronger sense of community and is better off because of his efforts."... (read more)

Ritchey, MED Foundation get gritty for hospital

Memphis Standout Profile for The Memphis Daily News

April 30, 2010

When Memphians and those in the surrounding areas are faced with the trauma of a gunshot wound, life-threatening burn or car crash, chances are good that they’ll end up at The Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

For most of them, that visit is the difference between life and death.

Because of this, there is a scant degree of separation between most Memphians and The MED, said Tap into millions of public records, notices and articles on The Daily News.

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“There are not too many people who haven’t been touched by The MED in Shelby County,” she said.

To do the work the doctors and nurses of the trauma unit perform, tending to patients in what is known as “the golden hour” – those 60 minutes when critical care is at its most urgent – a certain “grittiness,” as Ritchey put it, is needed ... (read more)

Economist to address influence of big banks

Business news story for The Commercial Appeal

April 10, 2010

Is a financial system dominated by giant banking institutions good for business?

Dr. Paul Merski says that's a question that deserves an answer, and he plans to offer his insights next week in Memphis.

The Rhodes Chapter of the Financial Management Association and the Department of Economics and Business will host Merski's lecture, "Financial and Economic Outlook: A View from Washington," on Wednesday.

Merski is the senior vice president and chief economist for the Independent Community Bankers of America, an organization representing 5,000 community banks of all sizes throughout the United States.

"I'll be looking at where we've come from in the past few years with the large financial crisis and the meltdown in the financial sector largely caused by the too-big-to-fail Wall Street banks," Merski said recently by phone from his office in Washington ... (read more)

Art infusion: local artists look to beef up market in Midtown

Small business spotlight for The Memphis Daily News

April 6, 2010

Frank Roberts, the owner of nine businesses in six buildings known collectively as The Palladio Group, understands the way to best use retail space.

When his tenant at 2256 Central Ave., Artists on Central, with its various art vendors and flea market feel, fell on difficult times in 2008, Roberts felt that the century-old house could be used better. He wanted to upgrade the offerings and inject the Cooper-Young area with fine art.

“Artists on Central had an image that was not consistent, nor could it be made consistent with our vision, and where there’s no vision, people perish,” said Roberts, whose background is in architecture and home building. “So we wanted to be sure there was a very clear vision and a deliberately chosen and focused point to reach that vision: a true fine art gallery, a sophisticated gallery, not intimidating and stuffy.” ... (read more)

Firm wants to bring top talent to Memphis

Small business spotlight for The Memphis Daily News

April 5, 2010

Chris Chotard sees himself as a coach recruiting members to business teams throughout Memphis.

He founded his company, Top Notch, last year to bring the brightest college students to Memphis to spend eight weeks working for some of the most well known mid-level companies in the city.

“Some of the best marketers, best recruiters out there are college football coaches and their staff, or college basketball, and they’re selling very similar things,” Chotard said. “They’re trying to sell the city of Memphis as a place to live for a short period of time and they’re trying to recruit the best talent from cities around the country as well as locally.”

Chotard employs the same tactics to get the best to Memphis. And the mid-size businesses are his bread and butter ... (read more)

Cody named co-chair of Society of Attorneys General Emeritus

Law Talk profile for The Memphis Daily News

April 1, 2010

Michael Cody of Burch, Porter & Johnson PLLC was recently named co-chairman of the Society of Attorneys General Emeritus (SAGE).

SAGE is an organization formed in 1990 as a compliment to the National Association of Attorneys General, the 50-member group of active AGs. Cody was attorney general of Tennessee from 1984 to 1988. His co-chair is former attorney general and governor of New Hampshire, Stephen E. Merrill.

“What we (SAGE) do is a nice relationship, because current attorneys general can use our group as sort of a resource to talk with, we help them with programs,” Cody said. “It serves the purpose of us actually being a helpful part of their organization and giving us an opportunity to get together twice a year.”

Cody began his career with Burch, Porter & Johnson in 1961 under Lucius Burch, whom Cody considers a mentor. Except for his years in public service as attorney general, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee (1977-1981) and Memphis City Council (1975-1977), his entire law career has been spent at the law firm housed in the old Tennessee Club building overlooking Court Square ... (read more)

Stephenson finds success in Memphis

Feature profile in The Memphis Daily News

March 29, 2010

Susan Stephenson grew up in East Tennessee and followed her heart to Memphis when a young man she knew decided to attend graduate school here.

She ended up falling in love with a city instead.

“You don’t get to pick where you start, but you get to pick where you end and this is the place where I chose to build my life and my family and my career, and it’s where I choose to end,” Stephenson said. “I really genuinely love this city.”

The CEO and co-founder of Independent Bank never intended to enter the world of banking. Her liberal arts education in history and English from the University of Tennessee suggested a different track altogether, one that might have included teaching had she not ended up in the corporate training program at First Tennessee ... (read more)

Memphian relishes writing role as second story hits the shelves

Feature profile for The Commercial Appeal

March 28, 2010

Memphian Molly Caldwell Crosby credits her career as an author in the narrative non-fiction genre to her time as a researcher for writers at National Geographic magazine and a "morbid attraction to tragic stories."

"It (narrative non-fiction) tends to be a lot of hurricanes and earthquakes and great fires," she said, "not exactly uplifting."

Crosby's second book, "Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic that Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries" (Berkley Books, $24.95), was released earlier this month. It's the story of the sleeping sickness, or encephalitis lethargica, of the early 1900s, an epidemic that rode in on the wave of the Spanish flu outbreak of the time.

Falling into long sleeps for weeks or months, the victims totaled 5 million, with nearly a third of them dying. The disease would later be the focus for Oliver Sacks' book "Awakenings" and the movie of the same name.

Crosby, 37, grew up in Dallas and moved to Memphis to attend Rhodes College, where she graduated in 1995 with a degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing ... (read more)

Good news: Architect's passion for building goes beyond property to character, lives

Good News feature profile for The Commercial Appeal

March 16, 2010

Michael Walker builds houses and office buildings. He has built characters as an actor on stage and backdrops for those characters to move around. And he's helping build self-esteem and future success for a handful of young men at Manassas High School, both on and off the football field, as a volunteer coach and mentor.

Walker is the owner of Walkerarch LLC. Even as a child, the drawing, designing and creativity of his craft piqued his interest.

"We lived in a lot of new neighborhoods because of the moving (when his father was transferred for work), so I was always around construction and loved seeing things being built," he said. "As a kid, I was always building stuff or always had a project going of some sort, whether it was building a fort or models."

Born in Barrington, Ill., Walker attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. On a break from school, his father, knowing his son's interests and creativity, took him to meet an architect friend.

"My father literally walked me to his office and I said, 'Yeah, I love that, the detail of a section and how you make it look like stone or wood or insulation.' " ... (read more)

My Profession: Health care administration

My Profession profile for The Commercial Appeal

March 10, 2010

George Hernandez is a man on the move.

As the new CEO of Campbell Clinic, Hernandez is charged with carrying the 100-year-old orthopedic clinic into its next century of operation. He took the reins from former CEO John Vines, who retired Dec. 31.

Hernandez, 57, now oversees an organization that is at the top of its field in orthopedic surgery in the Mid-South, produces the top-selling textbook on orthopedics in the world, Campbell's Operative Orthopedics, and facilitates research in its field and the training of physicians domestically and internationally.

In addition, Campbell Clinic works with orthopedic implant manufacturers such as Smith & Nephew to develop new implants and devices for use in surgery.

"The support staff and I are here to provide the framework that allows the doctors to practice their skill, and that's to treat patients with orthopedic problems," Hernandez said ... (read more)

Carpenter finds new creative life with latest venture

New small business profile for The Daily News

February 26, 2010

Seven months after leaving the advertising agency that bore his name, Doug Carpenter has quietly hung out the shingle for his new venture, Doug Carpenter & Associates.

Devoted to advertising, public relations and consulting, Carpenter used social media to get the word out.

“My coming out was in the form of an e-mail to my database and a Facebook page,” he said. “And the response has been overwhelming.”

Carpenter in July sold his interest in the advertising firm carpenter | sullivan | sossaman – now known as CS2 – to fellow managing principal Brian Sullivan ... (read more)

Community college assignment evovles into exhaustively researched book

Rebecca Skloot's "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" reaches No. 4 on Amazon Books Bestsellers List

Feature profile for The Commercial Appeal

February 21, 2010

For Rebecca Skloot, creative nonfiction professor at the University of Memphis, immortality is at hand with her new book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (Crown, $26).

Born in Springfield, Ill., Skloot moved to Portland, Ore., early with her father, author Floyd Skloot, and mother, Betsy McCarthy, a hospital administrator and "professional knitter" who has published a book on the subject.

A self-proclaimed "derelict kid," Skloot failed her first year of high school and didn't excel academically until forced to attend community college at the age of 16 to make up high school credits.

"I had some issues with the traditional school system and eventually ended up at this alternative high school. ... It was like a hippie school, like a holdover from Oregon in the '60s, where we had dream studies instead of science," she said ... (read more)

No tired hang-ups here: Midtown shop reflects owner's exuberance, expertise

Small business profile for The Commercial Appeal

February 15, 2010

The sign reads: It's never too late to live happily ever after. Not only is the message a poignant one, but it is beautifully matted and framed as well.

For Danny Bubnick, happily ever after began at the end of last year when he opened Midtown Framer & Art at 1523 Union Ave.

"I'm feeling very good," Bubnick said. "People are extremely supportive."

Bubnick was manager for BA Framer in Midtown for 20 years until it closed, as did all its stores nationwide, in 2009. He brings his knowledge and a passion for the business to his new concern. When BA Framer announced its imminent closing, Bubnick knew he needed to act quickly and, while he looked elsewhere, he knew Midtown was where he needed to be.

"I didn't want to lose customers and we wanted to work closely with artists," he said.

Bubnick contacted property owner Jim Kinsinger about the 6,000 square foot space, known as Union House, and a four-year lease was signed for an undisclosed amount. Ten days after his previous employer closed its doors, Bubnick opened in his new home ... (read more)

Memphian's valentines spread love to people who don't otherwise get any

Profile/human interest story for The Commercial Appeal

February 14, 2010

Dixie Brown is not your typical cupid. She has no wings, no bow and arrow, and cherubic may have been an adjective used to describe her more than five decades ago when she married and moved south from Brookline, Mass.

Yet every year since 1979, Brown has helped to put a smile on people's faces by sending out hundreds of "penny cards" to the elderly, who normally may not receive anything on Valentine's Day.

The cards started as an extension of her work with Sacred Heart Church here and her visitations with shut-ins.

"I met a retired first-grade teacher, and the good Lord whispered in my ear that I could send her a valentine," Brown said, "and that year she got 25 of them and it tickled her."... (read more)