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Nashville Chapter In-Person Event | War Stories from Years in Private Company Boardrooms

Richland Country Club
1 Club Dr
Nashville, TN 37215

Friday, May 19, 2023, 7:30 AM - 9:00 AM CDT

Category: Nashville

War Stories from Years in Private Company Boardrooms

Overview

Michael D. Shmerling, CPA
(Inactive)

A native of Nashville, he began his career 46 years ago as a Certified Public Accountant (now “Inactive”) with the Nashville office of Ernst & Young, formerly Ernst & Ernst CPAs. Following 17 years in Public Accounting, Mr. Shmerling founded or co-founded eleven businesses, four (4) of which were ultimately sold to publicly traded (NYSE or NASD) companies. Following the sale of Background America, Inc. to Kroll Inc, in 1998, he joined Kroll – eventually serving as a member of the Board, EVP, Chief Operating Officer of Kroll Inc.; and subsequently a Senior Advisor to Marsh Inc., following the sale of Kroll to Marsh. He currently serves as Chairman of private equity firm Clearbrook Holdings Corp, formerly known as XMi Holdings. In addition to Clearbrook Holdings, he also serves as Chairman for several other local companies, including RLCL Acquisition LLC, dba Gray Line of Tennessee, Maynard Select, LLC, and Choice Food Group Inc.

In 2007, he was awarded both the Tennessee Society of CPA’s; and the American Institute of CPA’s Public Service Award. In 2009, he received Community Nashville’s Human Relations Award. He has received numerous Nashville Business Journal Future 50 – as well as INC. 500 Awards for companies in which he was involved. In addition to this recognition, he received the Tennessee Society of CPAs – Outstanding CPA in Business and Industry Award in 1999.

Mr. Shmerling currently serves as Founder and Board Chair of not for profit, Abe’s Garden. Over the last 44 years, he has served on no less than 25 non-profit boards, including Fisk University, The Community Foundation, Renewal House, TPAC, the TPAC Foundation, United Way of Middle Tennessee and the Tennessee Society of CPA’s. In 2023, he retires from two public company boards; Renasant Bank (“NASD – RNST”) - (16 years of service), and HealthStream Inc. (“NASD – HSTM”) – (18 years of service).

Interviewer

Tony Heard
Partner
InfoWorks, Inc.

Tony Heard, a partner with InfoWorks, Inc., has 25 years of experience serving on corporate and non-profit boards. Specific industry experience in banking and finance, healthcare, transportation, and technology.

Current board roles include serving as board chair of the Ascension Saint Thomas health system with $2 billion in net patient revenue, and serving as a board member of Paladin Capital, Inc., the largest transportation ESOP company in America. Paladin operates multiple transportation companies in the Southeast. Operations include truckload, dedicated, logistics, equipment sales, leasing, and a captive insurance company. Aggregate equipment includes 1,250 tractors and 3,300 trailers operating out of 40 terminals across the country. Tony is past board chair of both United Way of Greater Nashville and the Nashville Public Education Foundation and still serves on both boards.