Stratasan rebrands, Fetherling aboard

Stratasan will get 100% of Tod Fetherling, as he pushes to create new alliances for the health analytics firm; also, we provide a weekend update on the Nashville Technology Council's search for Fetherling's replacement as CEO. Read about it here.

CEO search underway for Nashville Technology Council

Chairman Andy Flatt and Vice Chair Chris Sloan say they're preparing to mount a search for Tod Fetherling's replacement, now the CEO has announced his plans to leave Nashville Technology Council for HealthDataSource. Story here.

Nashville IT hiring spotlight

Nashville Technology Council President Tod Fetherling reminds us of the more than 1,000 recent IT jobs listings in this area, the fact that local universities generate about 400 IT/CS undergrads per year and that key sectors, including healthcare, are booming. The Tennessean reports it (though it may be archive$ by the time you get there).

HealthDataSource unveils key advisors

Jason Moore's (at left) lined-up, possibly with the help of Tod Fetherington and other investors, a smashing-looking advisory board for his healthcare marketing data sourcing technology and services company. Read about it here.

Steve Ballmer, NTC pro-technology event

Tidbits from this morning's annual membership meeting of the Nashville Technology Council, convened at Trevecca Nazarene University, and attended by about 800 persons (largest NTC meeting ever, apparently): NTC Board Chairman Andy Flatt (CIO, Healthspring) said the association aims to establish statewide leadership, leveraging the Metro Nashville region's growth. President Tod Fetherling said the NTC board is holding a strategic-planning meeting this afternoon, no doubt mulling a raft of Fetherling initiatives and trying to prioritize for quality and resources. Fetherling said NTC memberships are up 18 percent, year-over-year, but didn't elaborate. Mayor Karl Dean told the audience last night's Music City Center approval by Metro Council will strengthen N'ville Healthcare, Tourism and, thereby, education, which is our biggest vulnerability as a destination for investment, relocation and retention of talent. Microsoft's personable CEO Steve Ballmer seemed tame, compared with his reputation in tech circles as an often frenzied speaker, but he delivered an engaging, albeit unabashedly commercial overview of MS' latest offerings and things now coming off the drawing boards. He noted that Sharepoint is the company's fastest-growing product, to date. He said technology can help society with one of its biggest and most persistent challenges: accelerating the pace of experimentation and innovation, and enabling faster iterative cycles in tech development and deployment. He mentioned, in particular, the relevance of this in modeling and simulations for energy, science and medicine. Ballmer showed some appreciation for Tennessee's foothold in those areas. (The acceleration and enablement themes were also woven through a tidy presentation by Abbie Lundberg, former editor of CIO.) Ballmer managed, with a wink to his audience, to do all this without uttering the words "Google," or "YouTube," focusing on Bing, Hulu and other platforms. Ballmer speaks at lunchtime to a similar gathering of Nashville Health Care Council at the Hilton downtown. Ballmer told the audience his e-mail is steveb-at-microsoft-dot-com

Tech Council moves on wi-fi under Flatt, Fetherling

Nashville Technology Council Chairman Andy Flatt, the CIO at Healthspring, apparently wasn't making idle chatter last summer, when VNC reported Flatt was considering a broadband or wi-fi initiative during his term atop NTC. The idea of launching a Metro wi-fi or wi-max network has been around more than four years, since well before a special Metro Council task force, chaired by Zycron Founder and entrepreneur Darrell Freeman, and spurred by then-Councilman David Briley, began pushing for improved broadband in Davidson County and environs. The Task Force report is here. NTC President Tod Fetherling told VNC this afternoon that, provided the small pilot of the system goes well in February, new nodes could be added beyond the core's rougly 1-mile radius by this spring. NTC, Fetherling said, is defraying the $3K pilot cost from NTC cashflow. San Francisco-based Meraki, which is supporting NTC's effort, has public wi-fi installations in many cities, including Harvard Square.

Entrepreneur Center Search update

Nashville Technology Council CEO Tod Fetherling tells VNC that Entrepreneur Center supporters have done well enough, already, to surpass their initial $200K target for raising money to enable the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce-linked EC to proceed with hiring its first executive director. Further, said Fetherling, there's now a strong field of candidates and someone could well be in-place by late January, and possibly announced even sooner. Fetherling said that Janet Miller has led the fundraising, with Fetherling and EC Project Manager Joe Kustelski also contributing to the effort.

Entrepreneur Center exec search continues

VNC reports today that the search for a new executive director for the new Nashville Entrepreneur Center continues.

Tech Council bash honors execs

Although Nashville Technology Council CEO Tod Fetherling aims for more nominees in 2010, he clearly considers last night's Schermerhorn awards event a success, with nearly 400 attending. While pushing recognition of excellence in the tech community, Fetherling has a lot else on his plate. Read about it here.

Comment: Ranking Nashville's future

Tod Fetherling, the agile CEO of Nashville Technology Council (NTC), asked this morning if we'd seen the latest Milken Institute report ranking Nashville 79th among 393 high-tech metro centers. Answer: We had seen it...and, despite the modest showing, we're optimistic. Why? Well, it's not really because we moved from 89th to 79th, while numerous Metros that previously outranked us fell. There are more durable reasons for hope: First, there's the resilience of this republic and our collective drive toward innovation. Second, there's the convergence nationally and in Tennessee not only of the genuine vision and understanding essential to appreciating our need for progress; but, also a convergence of the intelligence and resolve to do something smart about it. This wisdom has been manifest in numerous initiatives that outweight the sum of all follies, as reported by VNC. Globally, we hope we'll collectively beat our swords into hard-drives and petri dishes, and learn to be of service, one to another. Nationally, we'll encourage moral leadership and the getting of wisdom, rather than fostering avarice. Closer to home, our greatest hope is that Tennessee will be blessed with another smart, productive and ethical governor to succeed Gov. Phil Bredesen, and a productive General Assembly, come Inauguration Day 2011, so that we may build upon the strides made in recent years in economic development, human services and fostering entrepreneurism -- and, so we may place unprecedented emphasis upon education for all Tennesseans. There's no reason, you see, that Tennessee cannot rank first in aspiration. (Here are some earlier rankings-related posts.)

NTC prepares to kick-off 10th Anniversary

'Tomorrow the world' may be Tod Fetherling's maxim as he unveils this week the Nashville Technology Council robust new set of marketing and membership initiatives. As reported earlier by VNC, NTC is reinstating its work with ventures, as well as providing new programs for out-of-work techies, a new Techville directory to the Middle Tennessee tech community and much more. Later this week, at an unprecedented NTC member breakfast -- which will feature, among other, NTC founder Warren Ratliffe -- Fetherling is set to reveal the results of the "brandprint" process he's been employing the past couple months to set NTC's new course. Today's related story by William Williams is here. Fetherling told Williams he aims for NTC to be the best regional tech council in the world.

NV Busyness

Today's log shows that while Council Ventures is rumored to be approaching $90MM in its second fund, it also reportedly may lose a portfolio company, iKobo of Atlanta. Meanwhile, an ESPN-financed company has scooped-up two Nashville transactions companies... and over at Nashville Technology Council, there a changing of the guard, with Tod Fetherling taking the CEO post, following Jeff Costantine.

Capital ideas: Tennessee VC infrastructure

There are a number of new venture-capital and related initiatives afoot that deserve close attention: Obviously, the State pension plan's first-year authority to allocate something north of $750MM to private-equity investments is stunning. And, as we reported Friday, the strong capital-formation task force created by Tennessee Technology Development Corporation represents a real 'gathering of eagles'. There are other actors: In that same story yesterday, TTDC President Eric Cromwell indicated he's exploring an expanded role for Nashville Capital Network, an angel group that also has a sidecar investment fund. And, Nashville Technology Council's Tod Fetherling's public appearances make clear he hasn't lost any of his entrepreneurial spirit, in moving from ConnectivHealth to NTC.

New president for Nashville Technology Council

Tod Fetherling (left), a prominent veteran of ConnectivHealth, HCA and other healthcare and technology ventures, was today named president of Nashville Technology Council, succeeding Jeff Costantine. He formed BlueDot, a health and wellness consultancy in July, after parting ways with ConnectivHealth. Fetherling served several years as VP-sales for First Consulting Group, and founded Relegent, which was acquired by ConnectivHealth in 2007. He has also served as director of interactive marketing for HCA, and in a variety of interactive-development roles with The Health Network. Fox Broadcasting and others. He attended the University of Tennessee and the College of Wooster (Ohio).