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Biz Briefs

Business and Pleasure

Embassy Suites Nashville South/Cool Springs

When someone wants to get down to business‚ the Embassy Suites Nashville South/Cool Springs can deliver.

And when someone wants to leave the day’s business behind‚ Embassy Suites can deliver once again.

“We see a lot of company meetings and various groups‚ and we get a lot of corporate travelers‚” says David Latture‚ manager of the Embassy Suites‚ located on Crescent Centre Drive. “But we also see people who like to visit this area‚ who like to go antiques shopping or maybe go to downtown Franklin.”

Business travelers like the spacious two-room suites that include high-speed Internet access‚ as well as a variety of meeting rooms and other business-related amenities. The hotel‚ which opened in 2001‚ also includes a fitness room‚ pool and even an on-site sports bar known as the Athletic Club.

“This is very popular with the locals‚” Latture says of the sports bar. “It’s a great place to catch a big game.”

To Good Health

In the grand scheme of things‚ having a branch of CIGNA Health Care in Franklin may seem small.

But it plays a huge role in providing health insurance for companies large and small in Tennessee. It’s one of about 135 locations the Connecticut-based health insurance company has in the United States.

“We have about 150 employees in Franklin‚” says Shawn Hughes‚ vice president of sales for the Franklin office. “Chattanooga’s office has around 1‚200 employees‚ and there’s a sales office in Memphis.”

Located on Corporate Centre Drive in Cool Springs‚ CIGNA Health Care has been in Williamson County since the early 1990s‚ according to Hughes. The Franklin office merged with a Brentwood office about five years ago.

“Our main function is selling employer health coverage‚ with a focus on medical and dental‚ to [companies with] 50-plus employees‚” Hughes says.

CIGNA Health Care‚ which has close to 30‚000 employees worldwide‚ formed in 1982 as a merger between Connecticut General Corporation and INA.

STAR Power

STAR Physical Therapy has plotted its growth over the past 10 years with a lot of care.

Not surprisingly‚ that caring attitude spills over to how the PT centers’ clinicians treat their patients.

“When we start up a clinic‚ it’s all about starting it up around the right individual who has the same kind of goals and desires that we have as a company‚” says Regg Swanson‚ company president and one of seven partners. “We find the person first‚ build around that person and become a part of that community.”

After opening its first clinic in Brentwood in 1997‚ STAR Physical Therapy now has 65 locations in Tennessee‚ Kentucky‚ Indiana and Nebraska. The company opened its second clinic in 1998 in Franklin‚ where it has been headquartered since.

The clinics treat patients of all ages with a variety of physical ailments‚ through rehabilitation‚ physical ther­apy‚ occupational therapy and sports medicine.

“We have the best clinicians out there to take care of these problems‚” Swanson says.

Business Is Heating Up

His title may set him apart‚ but president Eddie Goodwin is typical of most employees at the APCOM‚ a Division of State Industries‚ manu­facturing plant in Franklin.

He’s very loyal to the company‚ and he has a long history with it as well.

The impressive longevity at APCOM “obviously gives us a good core of employees that know our process‚ know our culture‚ know how we do things‚” says Goodwin‚ who has been company president since 2000 and has been with APCOM for more than 25 years.

“In today’s world‚ labor is a high com­modity. If there isn’t a lot of turnover in your workforce‚ that generally bodes well for your quality and your cost‚ and everything that goes with that.”

APCOM‚ which makes thermostats and parts for water heaters and heating systems‚ was founded in Franklin in 1969. It has expanded five times since and now has a 125‚000-square-foot facility with 325 employees. APCOM also has a location in Cookeville.

A Smooth Move

Community Health Systems has been around the block in more ways than one.

The company‚ which was founded more than 20 years ago‚ has plenty of experience as one of the country’s leading operators of general acute-care hospitals in non-urban communities. Its affiliates own‚ operate or lease 77 hospitals in 22 states.

But the growth of CHS also allowed the company to move to a new office building in 2006. Once located at the Ramparts Building in Brentwood and then at Cool Springs Commons‚ today company headquarters are in a seven-story‚ 175‚000-square-foot building on Meridian Boulevard in Franklin.

“We had actually moved into Cool Springs Commons about a year earlier‚ so everybody sort of knew the drill‚” says Marty Schweinhart‚ the company’s senior vice president of operations for CHS. “The building has been fantastic‚ and the move was very smooth.”

Story by John McBryde
Photo by Brian McCord

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