Adolpho A Birch III - Chief External & League Affairs Officer, Tennessee Titans

A native Nashvillian, Birch received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, after which he earned his juris doctorate from Vanderbilt University School of Law.

After a clerkship with federal District Court Judge Tom Wiseman, Birch worked as an associate at Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston before joining the National Football League in New York. Over the next 23 years he served as an advisor to Commissioners Paul Tagliabue and Roger Goodell, taking a leading role in labor relations, player engagement, integrity of the game and government affairs.

At the Titans, Birch oversees a variety of club matters, recently working with Metro Nashville, the State of Tennessee and countless stakeholder groups to craft the historic East Bank stadium and development project. He also has been a catalyst in redefining priorities for the team's foundation and community efforts.

Secretary of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust, Birch also participates in many civic and philanthropic endeavors including serving as director of Ingram Industries, commissioner of the Tennessee Access to Justice Commission, national board member of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and national board member of the Sports Lawyers Association.

Birch regularly plays but rarely enjoys golf and is a semi-competent home cook and armchair critic of home design television shows.

Antonio Carroll - Attorney, Nashville Electric Service

A.K. Dettwiller - Treasurer, Reyes Holdings

Ann Kathryn, “A.K.” Dettwiller comes from a family with a rich multi-generational heritage in the beverage distribution industry in Tennessee. After graduating from the University of Mississippi in 2000, A.K. spent her first year in the industry with a beverage distributor in Alabama. This only reconfirmed her desire to learn the industry; and, in 2001 she joined her father in Nashville at DET Distributing Company – founded by her grandfather in 1951.

For the next 2 decades, unwilling to conform to stereotypes, she learned all facets of the beverage business and industry, in positions ranging from warehouse worker to sales, account management, brand integration and wine and spirits. During her last 2 years she focused on governmental relations while also serving as President of the company.

Passionate about the industry, A.K. served in various capacities on the boards of both the Tennessee Malt Beverage Association and the National Beer Wholesalers Association. A.K. is also a Certified Cicerone, having worked to attain an expert-level of knowledge of malt beverages.

Active in the Nashville community, as well as her industry, A.K. has served or serves on numerous boards including Keep Tennessee Beautiful, Launch Tennessee and the Nashville Police and Public Safety Alliance. Since 2014 she has also served as a Davidson County Election Officer.

Most recently having completed her transition position supporting the sale of the company in 2022, A.K. intends to continue her community involvement and pursue her personal hobbies and interests including travel, reading, cooking and target shooting.

Rusty Gaston - CEO, Sony Music Publishing Nashville

Rusty Gaston is CEO of Sony Music Publishing (“SMP”) Nashville. Since his appointment in 2020, Rusty and his team have advanced the company’s modern vision and songwriter-first approach with landmark deals, enhanced songwriter services and chart-topping hits.

Under Gaston’s leadership, SMP Nashville has closed key deals and extensions with legendary songwriters including Ashley Gorley, Cole Swindell, Lainey Wilson, Miranda Lambert, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Gabby Barrett, Chris Young and Dolly Parton, and has continued to nurture the careers of breakthrough talent such as Nate Smith, Megan Moroney and more.

Previously Gaston led THiS Music, which he co-founded alongside Nashville hitmakers Tim Nichols and Connie Harrington. THiS Music’s roster included award-winning songwriters Ben Hayslip, Emily Weisband, JT Harding and more, who together celebrated over 60 BMI and ASCAP award-winning songs. Prior to co-founding THiS Music, he spent five years as the general manager of Song Garden Music, owned by producer Byron Gallimore.

Gaston has been recognized multiple times on Billboard’s Country Power Players list, and in 2023 he received Billboard’s Country Power Player Executive of the Year honor. He serves as a Board Member of the Academy of Country Music (ACM), Nashville’s Studio Bank, and Belmont University.

Dan Hogan - Principle, Barrel Stock Trading Company

Dan Hogan is currently a Co-Founder of his own investment firm, Barrel Stock Trading Company, that specializes in opportunities for investors to participate in the rapidly growing bourbon and whiskey markets.

Previously, he founded and led Medalogix—a Nashville-based post-acute specific predictive modeling and workflow company, established to help home health providers deliver more efficient and effective patient care. A former home health agency owner and operator, Dan’s hands-on healthcare knowledge guided Medalogix from the idea stage to scale as the company solved some of today’s most pressing healthcare challenges, like hospital readmission reduction and end-of-life care coordination.

For his work developing Medalogix, Dan was honored as Nashville’s “2016 Entrepreneur of the Year.” He has been twice recognized as one of the Nashville Business Journal’s “Most Admired CEO” and a “Healthcare Hero.” He was awarded the Nashville Technology Council’s “2016 Innovator of the Year.”

Additionally, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society awarded Medalogix the Health Information Technology award, which distinguishes the software as one of the best emerging technologies in the Southeast. Most recently, Medalogix was recognized by Fierce as a “Fierce Innovation Finalist” and Harvard University as a Health Acceleration Challenge finalist, Becker’s as a “Top Disruptive Healthcare Company to Watch,” and the Nashville Technology Council as “2016’s Early Stage Company of the Year.” As a public speaker, Dan has presented at several conferences, including the National Association of Home Care and Hospice’s annual conference, the Visiting Nurse Association of America’s annual conference, Harvard’s Forum on Healthcare Innovation, Yale’s Global Health and Innovation conference, Leadership Nashville, and TEDx Nashville.

As a graduate of Nashville Emerging Leaders, Young Leaders Council, and Leadership Nashville, he has been civically minded since arriving in Nashville in 1998. He has since been honored as the YLC Young Leader of the Year in 2014, and Dan currently serves on the Boards of Tennessee Resettlement Aid, the Metro Nashville Sports Authority and Entrepreneurs Organization, a group he served as president of in 2016.

A Chicago native, Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from the University of Georgia and spends his free time running, mountain biking, dabbling in photography, and hanging out with his daughter, Maddie, when she is home from college.

Michelle Kennedy - President & COO, Nashville Predators

Michelle Kennedy joined the Nashville Predators / Bridgestone Arena in March 2008 as In-House Counsel. Kennedy, a CPA, was named Chief Financial Officer in 2010, while continuing to serve as General Counsel.

In 2017, Kennedy was named Chief Operating Officer and in 2023, Kennedy assumed the additional roles of President and Alternate Governor. She also serves as the chairman of the Nashville Predators Foundation.

Kennedy’s career began at KPMG, where she spent five years working in public accounting. She then joined Vanderbilt University Department of Athletics for seven years, ultimately serving as its Senior Associate Director of Athletics. Kennedy left her post at Vanderbilt Athletics to attend law school at Vanderbilt, continuing to do consulting work for Vanderbilt during law school.

In addition to being named to the Sports Business Journal's "Game Changers’ Class of 2018," Michelle was a finalist for the Nashville Business Journal's CFO of the Year in 2015 and featured in Nashville Lifestyles Magazine's Top 10 Women in Business in 2016. She was named a NBJ Woman of Influence in 2023. Michelle currently serves on the boards of the Nashville Humane Society, the YWCA of Middle Tennessee, Vanderbilt Women’s Volleyball Executive Board, and the Nashville Police & Public Safety Alliance.

Kennedy obtained both a Bachelor of Arts in economics (1992) and a Juris Doctorate (2007) from Vanderbilt University.

Clay Stauffer - Senior Minister, Woodmont Christian Church

Dr. Clay Stauffer is a fourth-generation Disciples of Christ minister, following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.

He was officially installed as Senior Minister of Woodmont in October of 2007 at the age of 27, the youngest minister in Woodmont’s history to ever hold that position.

Clay earned degrees from Texas Christian University (B.A.), Princeton Theological Seminary (M. Div.), and the University of the South (D. Min).

His doctoral research at Sewanee focused on the intersection of faith and politics in a polarized world. Before being called to Woodmont, he served The Riverside Church in New York City (2003-2005), Christ Church in Lausanne, Switzerland (2004), and Lindenwood Christian Church in Memphis (2005-2007).

In 2010, Clay was named one of Nashville’s “Top Forty Under 40” by the Nashville Business Journal at the age of 29, honoring top young influential people for their leadership, gifts, and accomplishments. In July 2011 he received the Fred Craddock Award for excellence in preaching during the General Assembly of the Christian Church. In 2017, he was honored by Faith Family Medical Center for his leadership and vision in helping offer health care to the uninsured and underinsured in the Nashville community.

Clay is a regular columnist for the Faith and Values section of The Tennessean, and does some church consulting and leadership training on the side. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt University focusing his research on morality, character, emotional intelligence, and political polarization. His most recent book, Spiritual Reflections on Faith, Values, & Culture, addresses the deeper issues that matter most in life: faith, wisdom, values, spirituality, relationships, connection, and self-reflection. He is also the author of Preaching Politics: Proclaiming Jesus in an Age of Money, Power, and Partisanship, published in 2016 by Chalice Press.

He is a trained speaker and life coach through The John Maxwell Team. Clay has also served on many non-profit boards including the Nashville Food Project, Faith Family Medical Center, Disciples Divinity House at Vanderbilt, Phoenix Club of Nashville, Downtown Rotary Club, The Blake McMeans Foundation, and Woodmont Christian Preschool.

Alfonzo Alexander , A.K. Dettwiller, Aubrey Harwell, Dan Hogan, Tom Ingram, Bess McWherter, Ronald Roberts, Molly Sudderth, Charlie Trost , Jerry Williams, Patricia Glaser Shea, Phillip Many, Chief John Drake