Team Nashville

• Economic Development

  Team Nashville

  The economic development team at the Nashville Chamber of Commerce has more than 100 years of combined experience assisting businesses to relocate, expand and thrive in the Nashville region.

  Janet M. Miller, CEcD, FM

  Janet M. Miller is Chief Economic Development Officer for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. The economic development department, through its Partnership 2020 initiative, serves as the Nashville region’s lead marketing and business recruitment agency. On a day-to-day basis, Miller works with corporate executives of relocating companies and professional site consultants, typically hired by Fortune 500-level clients to conduct relocation studies. She specializes in corporate headquarters relocations and has extensive experience working with companies whose core business is health care services, telecommunications, technology, manufacturing, data center operations and customer care.

  Successful relocation projects in which Miller has been involved include CLARCOR, Louisiana-Pacific Corp., Asurion, Caremark Rx, Quanta Computer, VoiceStream, ClientLogic, HCA and Ford Motor Credit.

  Miller is a Nashville native and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a bachelor’s degree in economics. She is also a graduate of the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma, earning her “Certified Economic Developer” designation in 2000. Prior to her tenure at the Nashville Chamber, Miller served as director of research and marketing for Grubb & Ellis/Centennial, Inc., one of Nashville’s largest commercial real estate firms.

  An active member and leader in numerous professional economic development groups, Miller is a past president of the 400-member Tennessee Industrial Development Council and a state board director for the Southern Economic Development Council. She serves on the Tennessee board of the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks, is a member of the American Economic Development Council and is an associate member of the International Development Research Council.

  Outside the office, Miller enjoys hiking, collecting wine and traveling, including annual trips to the Arizona desert and California’s wine country.
  
  

  Melia Leedy

  Melia Leedy serves as the Economic Diversity Project Manager. She supports the activities and initiatives of the 10-county regional business recruitment, existing business, and Partnership 2020 investor relations initiatives. She works with P2020 investors to build stronger relationships and implements all Partnership involvement activities. Her responsibilities include volunteer involvement and committee efforts, oversight of the economic development web site, and planning inbound and outbound marketing events.

  Leedy joined the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce in January 2009 as the business recruitment coordinator for the economic development department. She holds a bachelor's degree in both marketing and German from Lipscomb University and is currently pursuing an MBA from Lipscomb.
  
  Outside the office, Leedy enjoys baking and traveling the globe with her husband.
  
  
  

  Katie Barton
  
  Katie Barton is the Economic Diversity Coordinator for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. She supports the day-to-day work of the existing business and business recruitment teams at the Nashville Chamber. This includes information support for economic diversity projects, preparing RFP’s, providing support for committees, marketing, and other economic diversity events.
  
  A native of Savannah, GA, Barton joined the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce in January 2013. She previously worked as the Executive Assistant to the President of the Savannah Economic Development Authority and World Trade Center Savannah.
  
  Barton holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia, and a master’s degree in international affairs from North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega, GA.
  
  Outside the office, Barton enjoys running with her dogs, spending time with her boyfriend, and finding new and exciting things to do in Nashville.

• Relocation Team

  Jeff Hite

  Jeff Hite serves as vice president of business recruitment for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. In this role, he is responsible for promoting Nashville and the Middle Tennessee region as a prime location for business investment and expansion. He has more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience, primarily in the travel industry.

  Prior to joining the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Hite was senior convention sales manager at the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, working primarily with the religious and sports markets.

  Hite lives in Hendersonville, Tenn., with his wife, son and daughter.
  
  Ben Gatlin
  
  

  Ben Gatlin serves as Director of Business Recruitment for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. In this role, he is responsible for promoting Nashville and the 10-county Nashville Economic Market as a prime location for business investment and expansion. He has over 10 years of recruitment, sales, and event management experience in a variety of industries.

  Ben graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor’s degree in Communications and holds a master's degree in education from Vanderbilt University. Prior to joining the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, he served as an Admissions Officer for Vanderbilt University where he recruited students from across the country as well as several international territories.

  Outside the office, Ben helps coach the Vanderbilt club ice hockey team, is an amateur artist, and enjoys everything Nashville has to offer.
  
  

• Expansion Team

  Courtney Ross

  Courtney Ross is vice president of existing business for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. As a part of the economic development team through the Chamber’s Partnership 2020 initiative, Ross oversees all economic development activities involving existing business retention and expansion in the 10-county Nashville region. These responsibilities include support for CEO-level leadership of existing businesses and assistance for companies interested in expanding in the Nashville area.

  Prior to joining the Chamber, Ross served as an associate for Applied Marketing Sciences, an economic development marketing firm, and previously held a position with the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce as director of corporate recruitment. In this role, Ross was responsible for company recruitment to the five-county Greater Austin region. Prior to living in Austin, Ross served as the assistant director at the Memphis Bioworks Foundation. Her responsibilities included recruiting biotech companies to the city’s first biotech research park. Ross began her economic development career with the State of Tennessee as deputy director for the Film and Music Commission, recruiting the film and music industry to the state.

  Ross is a native of Memphis, Tenn., and received her B.A. from the University of Arkansas. She lives in Nashville with her husband Jason and their children Jake and Ellie.

  Judith Hill

  Judith Hill serves as director of existing business for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, where she is responsible for promoting Nashville and the 10-county Nashville Economic Market as a prime location for business investment. Hill works with CEOs and other corporate, government and community leaders to provide oversight of hands-on project management assistance for companies interested in expanding or interested in retaining employees and business activity in the Nashville region.

  Prior to joining the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Hill was a jobs development specialist for the State of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, recruiting new businesses to the Nashville region and helping existing businesses expand and retain operations.

  Hill is active in community service, including as a big sister (mentor) in Big Brothers Big Sisters and a buddy in the Preston Taylor Ministries Lunch Buddy Program.

• International Business Team

  Blewett Melton

  Blewett Melton is the director of international business of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. In this capacity, she leads the Chamber’s international business initiatives, promoting the Nashville region globally and facilitating economic growth through inward investment and the expansion of existing regional industries into international markets. She also leads the International Business Council, which is a network of international business leaders focused on expanding Middle Tennessee’s global footprint through recruiting foreign direct investments; becoming the information source for international business; and connecting global companies with critical resources.

  Melton joined the Nashville Area Chamber in 2002 as program coordinator for workforce development and existing business. In 2005, she began working with the international program as existing business events manager, handling logistics for international and workforce development events. Melton also played an active role in starting the Chamber’s young professionals initiative, and was involved with the Partnership 2010 entrepreneurship initiative.

  Melton holds a B.B.A. from the University of Mississippi.Her volunteer commitments include service on the boards of the Scandinavian American Economic Development Alliance; Sister Cities of Nashville; and Ole Miss Alumni. She was co-chairman of the Middle Tennessee Ole Miss Young Alumni from 2007 to 2010. She is currently president of the Middle Tennessee Chi Omega Alumnae Board, where she has also served as social chairman and vice president. She is a founding board member of the South Eastern Young Alumni organization.

• Talent and Workforce Team

  Rebecca Leslie, MBA 

  Rebecca Leslie is vice president of talent development for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. In this role, she leads an expanded effort to ensure that the Middle Tennessee workforce meets the needs of the region’s growing economy. Key programs and initiatives under Leslie’s supervision include human resource and young professional programming, higher education initiatives, and strategies for regional workforce solutions.

  Prior to joining the Chamber in 2007, Leslie was extension and colonization manager for Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity in Brentwood, Tenn., and sales manager for Pointelle Enterprises in Birmingham, Ala. She holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Alabama, and an MBA from Lipscomb University.

  She serves on the boards of Hospital Hospitality House and Bridges, previously League for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Ear Foundation. She is a graduate of Young Leaders Council and Nashville Emerging Leaders, and previously served on the board for the Southeastern Young Alumni Charitable Foundation.

  Outside the office, Leslie enjoys photography and traveling with her husband.
  
  Alex Hughes

  Alex Hughes is manager of talent retention for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. She is the primary contact for individuals looking to find a career or get involved in the Nashville region. Key programs and initiatives under Hughes’ direction include young professional communications, the InternNashville program, and NashvilleJobsLink, a community Web-based recruiting tool. 

  Previously, Hughes served as the member relations coordinator for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce where she was responsible for the engagement of new members. She holds a bachelor's degree in public relations and biology from Belmont University. 

  She is currently a mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee and serves as a judge for the Student of Integrity scholarship program through the Better Business Bureau.

  Hughes is a native of Nashville, where she enjoys hiking, collecting wine and watching the Titans.

• P2020 Investor Relations Team

  Donna Mattick

  Donna Mattick serves as chief investor relations officer with the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. She oversees the combined Relationships Team, which is comprised of the membership development, member services, programs and events, and Partnership 2020 investor relations functions. Mattick began her chamber career in 1988 as the first executive director of the Brentwood Chamber of Commerce, where she served four years. Mattick became vice president of marketing for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce in 1992, where she led the effort to build the Chamber’s first combined membership and marketing team and helped the Chamber grow to more than 4,500 member businesses.
   
  In 2005 and 2006, she served as director of the Partnership 2010 campaign, which produced $16.2 million of funding for the five-year set of regional economic development strategies now being implemented in Middle Tennessee.
   
  Mattick is a graduate of the Institute of Organizational Management at the University of Georgia, and holds a degree in mass communications, public relations and business administration from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Prior to beginning her chamber career, she served as national marketing director for shopping center developer Company Stores Development Corporation in Brentwood, and assistant marketing director for retail developers Cousins Properties of Atlanta and J.W. O’Conner of New York.