Congressional Gold Medal Recipient And Montford Marine, Ambassdor Theodore R. Britton, Jr. to Speak at Nashville Rotary Club

The Honorable Ambassador Theodore R. Birtton Jr. is distinguished among his fellow Montford Point Marines by his presidential appoint as U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. The former Chief of Mission to Barbados and to the State of Grenada, hails from Augusta, South Carolina, where his early upbringing in good manners prepared him for global achievement as "Ambassador For Peace."

From 1974 to 1977 Britton served as Ambassador, (Chief of Mission) to Barbados and the State of Grenada, while simultaneously serving as the U.S. Special Representative to the States of Antigua, Dominica, St. Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla, St. Lucia and St. Vincent.

 Ambassador Britton has maintained a life-long interest in diplomatic affairs and international activities from 1971 as shown by his extensive participation in US Information Agency programs and the Paris based Group on Urban Affairs. He has served as Co-chair of the US-China Agreement on Housing and Planning and Executive Secretary to similar agreements with Mexico, Canada, Japan, and the former Soviet Union (USSR) Longtime Vice-Chair.

His degrees in banking and finance enabled him to serve as an officer and director in the savings and commercial banking arenas. He earned a B.S. degree and graduate diploma from New York University and from the American Savings and Loan Institute, respectively.  And as a specialist in housing and finance, his civilian service also includes a career at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

After a career in banking, Ambassador Britton was elected president of the American Baptist Management Corporation. Then later, entering into Government Service, his housing expertise was put to use as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology. His mission was to improve the production of housing and the delivery of housing services.

A veteran of World War II and Korea, The Ambassador offers a historically unique perspective on health, housing, education and veteran's affairs. He is a Life Member of the Second Marine Division Association, the Association of former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), and the Montford Point Marines. He is an advisor to the Hampton University Minority Men's Health Initiative and the Center for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development, in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the ranking recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, which honors 20,000 African American Marines who trained at the segregated Montford Point boot camp in North Carolina from 1942-1949.

Ambassador Britton is married to the former Vernell Elizabeth Stewart of Jacksonville, Florida. They live Atlanta, Georgia.

Ambassador Britton will speak at the Nashville Rotary Club on October 31, 2016 for the club's annual Veterans Day Program beginning at noon. Rotarians are welcome to attend. Members of the public luncheon fee is 35.00.

Phil Kirkpatrick on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations, leaders, and volunteers who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations, leaders, and volunteers  embody, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Genma, Phil Kirkpatrick, and his girlfriend, Vicki Schmidt at the Rotary Club of Nashville

On Saturday, January 16, 2016, tune in to hear Phil Kirkpatrick, an Entertainment and Intellectual Property/Technology Litigation attorney with Adams and Reese, LLP, share about rebounding from a tragedy and how to live life with no regrets.

Phil will talk about the road to survivorship and thriving.

A survivor who wasn’t running but was standing at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon when the bombs went off. Along with the other surivors, he received an invitation to run the 2014 Marathon, an invitation he accepted because he knows it won’t be offered again.

Phil's story will leave you teary eyed but inspired to finish the race, whatever the "race" maybe in your life and how to make 2016, your best year yet!

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires, and motivates us to live our BEST life, is heard on 760AM The Gospel in the Middle-TN area, Tune In,  military bases and on Ustream.TV worldwide from 9:00-10:00am CST.

More about Phil Kirkpatrick

Entertainment and Intellectual Property/Technology Litigation attorney Phil Kirkpatrick joined Adams and Reese in 2013 in the firm’s Nashville, Music Row and Memphis offices. Practicing his entire career in Tennessee, he has been a Federal Court litigator since 1979. Phil focuses on entertainment and intellectual property/technology litigation, products liability litigation, and commercial litigation.

In the music industry, Phil has represented artists, songwriters, producers, musicians, managers and major music groups including labels, publishers and merchandisers. He has also represented clients in numerous restrictive covenant matters, including non-compete, non-solicitation and trade secret cases. He has also represented manufacturers, sellers and others in products liability cases, including fire and explosion cases, as well as power tool cases.

Phil’s clients have included the Estate of Harlan Howard, the Estate of Tupac Shakur, Hall of Fame songwriter and recording artist Dave Loggins, recording artist Aretha Franklin, Universal Music Group, Full Throttle Sloonshine, LLC, Stanley Black & Decker, Atmos Energy Corporation and Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc. He has represented MCA Records in prosecuting claims for unauthorized use of sound recordings of artists Patsy Cline and Kitty Wells and copyright infringement of album cover artwork of Conway Twitty. He also has represented leading small appliance, natural gas meter, and natural gas distributor defendants in numerous multi-million dollar bodily injury fire loss cases.

Phil’s representative matters include:

• Represented Elizabeth Travis Management, Inc., against Randy Travis in manager v. artist litigation;
• Represented major label group in massive “Bridgeport” music infringement litigation;
• Represented exclusive merchandising agents for artists Chris Brown and Justin Bieber to obtain nationwide injunction and seizure orders to protect their name(s)and likeness(es) prohibiting bootleg merchandise from being sold at all venues throughout the U.S. in their respective nationwide tours;
• Represented Black & Decker to defense verdict in products liability case alleging “kickback” of portable circular power saw;
• Represented a large brake manufacturer plaintiff for Section 43(a) false designation and trademark infringement to jury verdict judgment, which was the first appellate reported case in State Court in Tennessee wherein a money judgment was awarded under the Federal Lanham Act.

Phil obtained both his undergraduate and law degrees from The University of Tennessee, graduating from law school in 1978, and earning his bachelor of science, with honors, in 1975.
In the community, Phil is an active voting member of the Country Music Association, and for six years he served as a Board of Trustees member and as General Counsel to Harding Academy, a K-8 Independent School in Nashville.  Phil also serves on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Art League in Nashville.

Phil is a former 7-midnight rock ‘n roll disc jockey, and was a drummer in an R & B band as well as a power trio band.

In his spare time, Phil enjoys his three kids, good music, great wine, swimming and running. Phil was injured by the first bomb at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, while about to take a photograph. He returned to Boston, and on April 21, 2014, ran the 118th Boston Marathon. He is an avid supporter of “Boston Strong — we will never forget,” and his article, "Why on Earth Would You Run Boston," is included in the articles/publications link on the right side of Phil's bio page.

Among the people Phil most admires are John Lennon and Owen Bradley because they both changed things.

Phil's headshot: Courtesy of Phil Kirkpatrick. Bio: Adam and Reese, LLC

General Dennis L. Via to Speak at Nashville Rotary

The Nashville Rotary will have a special Rotary Veterans Day celebration honoring men and women who served in the military. The program will include a special recognition of Rotary member veterans, a presentation of colors by Vanderbilt NROTC Color Guard & a baritone soloist will deliver the national anthem. Additionally, we will honor guest WWII African-American veterans (now in their 90’s) who recently received medals for their heroic service in segregated units in WWII.

The special speaker for the Nashville Rotary on November 3, 2014, will be speaker, GEN Dennis L. Via, who became the 18th Commanding General of the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) August 7, 2012. AMC is the Army’s premier provider of materiel readiness to ensure dominant land force capability for the U.S. Warfighters and our allies.

General Dennis L. Via

General Via’s prior assignment was as AMC’s Deputy Commanding General. He deployed to Southwest Asia in October 2011 as the Commander, AMC Responsible Reset Task Force with the mission of leading the strategic integration of the Materiel Enterprise for the Retrograde of equipment and materiel out of Iraq at the conclusion of Operation New Dawn. Prior to that, he served as Director for Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems, J-6, The Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.

USMC Mark McCann, Sr.(WWII Congressional Gold Medal Recipient), Mark McCann, Jr.(Iraq) and Bert Watkins (Vietnam Purple Heart)

Mr. Henry Shaw (WWII)

Along with WWII Veterans, other special Veterans in attendance to hear General Via will be the Triple Nickels, the first Black Paratroopers in the U. S. Army; Bert Watkins, USMC Purple Heart Recipient who fought courageously in the Operation Swift; Don McCasland, Army Veteran from Desert Storm, OIF, OEF, and co-founder of SAFE (Soldiers and Families Embraced) along with Co-founder, Veteran Rev. Jodi McCullah; Rick DelaHaya, Air Force Veteran who assisted communications for President Clinton and President Bush during 9-11.

 

It is worth noting that many of the guest veterans were hosts to thousands active duty members of the military, veterans, and their families who visited the Steve Mumford's War Journals 2003-2013 exhibition at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. They gave moral support and counseling while sharing their experiences with others.