TriSummit CEO Lynn Shipley, left and HomeTrust Chairman and CEO Dana Stonestreet pose in Shipley’s office the day the acquisition was announced. Photo by Scott Robertson By Scott Robertson Last Wednesday afternoon, after issuing a press release announcing the planned purchase of TriSummit Bancorp, Inc. by HomeTrust Bancshares, Inc., HomeTrust CEO Dana Stonestreet and TriSummit CEO Lynn Shipley sat down toge ...

Revised Plan of Separation between Wellmont Health System and Mountain States Health Alliance Pursuant to Grant of Certificate of Public Advantage By the Tennessee Commissioner of Health This Revised Plan of Separation (“the Revised Plan”) is prepared as part of the application for Certificate of Public Advantage (“COPA”) submitted jointly by Wellmont Health System and Mountain States Health Alliance (colle ...

By Jeff Keeling In late May, Northeast State Community College announced it was one of 44 higher education institutions selected for a U.S. Department of Education pilot program allowing income-eligible high school students to apply for Federal Pell grants to pay for certain dual enrollment courses. This fall, eligible students in area “career academies” who are gaining college credit at Northeast are filli ...

By Scott Robertson As Alexander Whitaker, King University’s newly minted president, strolls along the oval walkway around which the Bristol campus is built, he points out the newly laid brick and surrounding fresh green grass. Only two weeks before, landscapers had been laying brick and sod, with orange plastic temporary fencing everywhere. “Today it looks beautiful,” he says. All evidence of a sweaty summe ...

By Scott Robertson So one day you’re reading your email at the office when you notice a message at the bottom of the screen saying, “This account is active at another location.” The next screen shows an IP address, which you look up, only to find that someone in Lagos, Nigeria is sending messages from your account. First, change your password. That very second. Next, notify everyone you know that the email ...

By Scott Robertson Hanging on my office wall I have a hodgepodge of mementos, mostly from my time with this publication. The first printer’s proof of our very first glossy color issue is framed there, a gift from former publisher Jeff Schumacher. So too is the first printer’s proof of the first issue of The Journal published under our current ownership, the May 2012 issue. Hanging behind my desk is a blow-u ...

By Jeff Keeling ‘Boy, this sounds familiar,’ I thought one recent Monday night as I listened to Johnson City Power Board (JCPB) leaders answer questions from Johnson City commissioners about JCPB’s request to be granted “authority” status. “We need to be able to adapt to changes in the marketplace.” “The core of our business is threatened by innovations in our industry and changing use patterns by consumers ...

August 9, 2016 Alan Levine President and CEO, Mountain States Health Alliance 303 Med Tech Parkway, Suite 30 Johnson City, Tennessee  37604   Bart Hove President and CEO, Wellmont Health System 1905 American Way Kingsport, Tennessee  37660   Dear Mr. Levine and Mr. Hove:   I have attached a set of preliminary questions that the Virginia Department of Health (“Department”), in consultation wit ...

Southwest Virginia Health Authority deems merger application complete Process ongoing in Tennessee Story and photos by Jeff Keeling ABINGDON, Va. – Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont Health System reached a milestone Friday in their effort to gain approval to become one system as the Southwest Virginia Health Authority (SVHA) deemed the hospital systems’ application for a “cooperative agreement” c ...