Members In The News
Tom T. Hall Inducted Into Country Music Hall of Fame
Congratulations to Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame Member and artist, Tom T. Hall, who received the honor of being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008, along with The Statler Brothers, and Emmylou Harris. Visit Tom’s page at the Country Music Hall of Fame site.
Members In The News
Hank Williams, Jr. Honored as a BMI Icon
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Hank Williams, Jr. will be honored as a BMI Icon at the U.S. performing right organization’s 56th annual Country Awards on November 11, 2008. Hank joins a joins an elite list of past honorees that includes other hall of fame members Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Whisperin’ Bill Anderson, and Loretta Lynn. Learn more about the BMI Icon Awards here.
Advisory Board & Friends of the Foundation
Meet Our Advisory Board
Rita Allison – Rita Allison was born Rita Mary Burke in Killarny, County Kerry Ireland. She is the youngest of three sisters, who all currently reside in the United States. She was raised in England, where she worked as a fashion model, and also appeared on television and in advertisements for various products both at home and abroad. She immagrated to the United States in 1960, along with her family, and has lived in New Orleans, Houston, and Los Angeles. While working in Los Angeles in 1968, she met and married music producer and executive Joe Allison, and the couple moved to Nashville in 1970, where she still resides. She is the mother of three sons, Greg, Brian and Mark. Along with her husband she has managed music publishing companies, and she is a retired realestate agent. She also owns Allison Antiques, a reflection of her love of art and history, a love she shared with her late husband. She currently works at Ingram Publishing in the Library Services Department. Her husband Joe is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Dr. Brian Biesman – Dr. Brian Biesman received his undergraduate and medical education at the University of Michigan, where he graduated with high honors. He completed his Ophthalmology residency at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary before taking fellowship training in Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital in New York, NY. Upon completion of his fellowship, Dr. Biesman returned to Chicago where he served as Chief Resident. Dr. Biesman then moved to Boston, where he assumed the Directorship of the Eye Plastics Service and the Center for Aesthetic Eyelid and Facial Surgery at the New England Medical Center, and was an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Tufts University School of Medicine. Over the next four years he earned faculty appointments in the Division of Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery at the New England Medical Center and the Divisions of Dermatology and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Biesman relocated to Nashville in 1998, and opened his own medical practice in 2002. Dr. Biesman has spoken and taught at the local, national and international levels on the use of surgery, lasers, and radiofrequency (Thermage ThermaCool TC treatment) for facial rejuvenation. He continues to do cutting-edge research to refine and develop cosmetic surgical treatments. He has authored many scientific papers and has written a textbook on the use of lasers in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. His research is directed toward broadening the use of lasers in soft tissue surgery. He is an Executive Committee member of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, a member of the Board of Directors for he American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, and maintains leadership roles in many local organizations as well. On account of Dr. Biesman's 14+ years of experience administering Botox his practice is designated by the drug's manufacturer National Training Center. In this capacity Dr. Biesman trains other physicians how to safely and correctly administer Botox.
Kelli L. Gabriel – Kelli L. Gabriel is Sr. Vice President and Financial Advisor of Morgan Stanley in Washington, D.C. Kelli began her career in financial services in 1983. Following a successful career at Merrill Lynch, she joined Morgan Stanley as a Senior Vice President in January 2007. She is a popular speaker and has taught numerous adult education classes on topics such as successful money management and strategies for financial independence. Specialty topics include Financial Planning, Stock Options and Managed Money, The Gift of Philanthropy and Investment Management for the Non-Profit Institution. Kelli has spoken to national organizations such as the American Chemical Society, Women in Real Estate, Network of Executive Women in Hospitality, Federal Realty Investment Trust, Hanley-Wood and the American Society of Microbiology. In March 2001, she was the keynote speaker on behalf of Merrill Lynch in Geneva, Switzerland at the prestigious MGI Private Banking conference discussing “Marketing to Women”. The Washington Post Magazine dubbed Kelli an “empowerment guru” in their September 2000 article, Women & Investing: Taking Stock. She has been featured on the PBS television news magazine, Health Week, and on the syndicated Reuters series, Consumer Reports (featured stories on long term care insurance, retirement plans for the self-employed and the marriage penalty tax). Kelli hosted “Morning Money Talk” on Washington, DC Business Radio 730 AM and was accepted to the Wharton Executive MBA Program. She is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of American University, with a B.S. in Accounting and Finance and is currently completing her CIMA (“Certified Investment Management Analyst”) designation through Wharton. She is a past trustee on the Board of Directors of the Langley School in McLean, Virginia and is currently on the Advisory Board of the Nashville Songwriters Foundation. Kelli has been a co-manager of endowment and operating funds for over a dozen prestigious foundations and non-profit institutions and currently resides in McLean, Virginia with her five children.
Bill Lee – Bill Lee is Chief Executive Officer of Lee Company, a $75 million mechanical services company with 600 employees. Raised on a farm in Franklin, Tenn., Mr. Lee later earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University, where he met and married his late wife,Carol Ann Person. In 1981 he joined the business his grandfather had started in 1944. In 1992, Mr. Lee became the President of Lee Company, which had revenues of $20 million. In addition to serving as a board member for numerous industry-, community-, political- and faith-based organizations, Mr. Lee also has served as an Elder at his church. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoys hunting and fishing on his cattle farm in Franklin, where he lives with his four children.
Dr. David Murph – Dr. David Murph is Director of Church Relations at Texas Christian University. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, received his Master of Divinity degree from Lexington Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from TCU. He and his wife, Jean, make their home in Grapevine.
Tom Patten – Tom Patten is President of Patten Properties, LLC of Nashville.
Chip Smith – Chip Smith is Managing Director, Corporate Security for The Bank of New York. He directs and supervises a worldwide security program that encompasses the investigation and prevention of fraud-related activities as well as the physical protection of corporate assets, employees, customers and executives. He serves on the Bank’s Crisis Management, Business Continuity, Contingency Planning and Anti-Money Laundering Teams. The Bank of New York is a global leader in the financial markets. Mr. Smith retired from the United States Secret Service after 24 years of service. He held a variety of positions in field offices and headquarters, culminating with his appointment as the Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office, the Service’s largest and busiest office. During his career, Mr. Smith was assigned to the Vice Presidential Protective Division, the Presidential Protective Division and as the Special Assistant to the Treasury Secretary. He served as the security coordinator for several high profile protective venues, to include: the U.S. delegation attending the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, 1992; the Presidential Inaugural activities of 1993; the dedication of the Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC, 1994; and the visit of Pope John Paul II to New York, 1995. In 1996, he supervised the protective detail assigned to Presidential Candidate Robert Dole. Mr. Smith holds bachelors and masters degrees in Criminal Justice from West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Barbara have been married 35 years and reside in Madison, New Jersey.
Dr. Ming Wang – Dr. Ming Wang, a Harvard Medical School and MIT graduate (M.D., magna cum laude, 1991), is one of the few LASIK surgeons in the world to hold a doctorate degree in laser physics. As director of the world-renowned Wang Vision Institute, Dr. Wang has built a state-of-the-art laser facility for refractive surgery and is responsible for introducing bladeless (Intralase) LASIK, the most state-of-the-art LASIK technology, to Tennessee. Dr. Wang and his team provide a wide range of laser treatments for myopia, astigmatism and hyperopia including photo refractive keratectomy (PRK), laser in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) and laser thermal keratoplasty (LTK). Dr. Wang also serves as Chief Scientific Officer of EyeVU, a joint venture biotech company that he co-owns with Vanderbilt University. EyeVu recently developed the world's first prototypic amniotic contact lens based on Dr. Wang's U.S. patent. Also a staff surgeon at Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville and an Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology for the University of Tennessee at Memphis, Dr. Wang serves as Director of Refractive Surgery for Aier Eye Hospitals in his native China. A musician himself, Dr. Wang has a passion for playing the erhu, a traditional Chinese string instrument, and is an accomplished ballroom dancer. With many years of classical ballet training, he joined the Harvard University and MIT Ballroom Dance Team and received training in all ten styles of international style competition ballroom dancing. The Harvard University team won the United States National Collegiate Championship several times. In the 1997 United States National Championship of USABDA, Dr. Wang won two gold medals in international style Latin at the gold and novice levels.
Lee Zapis – Lee Zapis is President of Zapis Capital Group. Since forming the privately-held company with family members in 2003, that organization has made a number of investments including Symphony Publishing, Lucidyx and Groundscape. During his more than 25 successful years in the radio industry, Mr. Zapis was president of Zapis Communications, a closely held corporation that owned and operated radio stations in Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown, Ohio, as well as Atlanta and Boston. Under his leadership, many of these stations received national broadcast awards, including Billboard Magazine's Black Radio Station of the Year; Program Director of the Year; Music Director of the Year and Air Personality of the Year. Zapis Communications stations were also repeatedly nominated for the Marconi award, the highest honor of the National Association of Broadcasters. Mr. Zapis also served on the Arbitron Advisory Council for a number of years. Zapis Communications sold its last radio holdings in 1999. Mr. Zapis is also managing director of Z2 Ventures, an LLC that invests in early-stage technology companies. Z2's investments include: Everstream (www.everstream.com); AdSpace Networks (www.coolsign.com); Advanced Imaging Systems; Simbionix (www.simbionix.com) and Media One Group which owns radio stations in Jamestown, New York. He is vice chairman of the Orthodox Christian Network, a national radio ministry (www.receive.org), and also serves on the advisory board of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation. A graduate of Cleveland State University, Mr. Zapis earned a B.A. in Communications.
Friends of the Foundation:
Bauer Askew Architecture, PLLC - Architects
Karen Byrd - Publicist
Mark Ford - Manager of Affairs
Buddy Jackson - Graphic Design & Art Direction
Irma Kaplan - Consultant
Richlyn Marketing - Web Design and Interactive Marketing
Jeff Skillen - Director of Development
Shannon Summers Smith - Interior Design Consultant