Introducing Wanda Lyle, CNM’s New Interim President & CEO
February 22, 2023
Our team has some BIG news! We are pleased to announce that we have named Wanda Lyle as our new Interim President and CEO, effective February 13th. Wanda succeeds Tari Hughes, who announced her retirement from CNM last month and will continue to work as a special advisor to CNM and Lyle until the end of March. Lyle, who led the UBS Business Solutions Center Nashville until her retirement in 2021, is also the immediate past board chair of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, among her many other volunteer civic positions.
“Our entire board is ecstatic to have someone with Wanda’s skills, deep leadership experience, and reputation step into this interim role,” said Trace Blankenship, CNM Board Chair. “Wanda has not only led one of Nashville’s premier companies, but she has a proven track record as an exceptional nonprofit board leader for a long list of Nashville’s nonprofits, and we were gratified that she wanted to help us over the coming months.”
Lyle, who was a leader in the financial services industry for more than four decades, took over UBS’s Nashville hub in 2014, growing it from around 240 employees to almost 1,500 when she retired. She began her career at Merrill Lynch, where she spent over 29 years in various positions in Wealth Management Americas. Lyle was named among the Nashville Business Journal’s Power 100 in 2017-2022 and the Power Leaders in Finance in 2018-2021. She was also named to the Nashville Post’s annual “In Charge – Banking & Finance” list of industry leaders from 2016-2021.
“From the moment I arrived in Nashville in 2014, I have been impressed by the thoughtful and much-needed support that our nonprofits receive from CNM,” Lyle said. “Nonprofit leaders are motivated by their passion for a cause, but they are also business managers, and wearing both hats is not always easy. The support they receive from CNM is invaluable, and I am honored to step in and lead the organization at this important time.”
Wanda is passionate about the critical role nonprofits play in our community and is committed to supporting our 600+ membership base and advancing CNM’s impact in Middle Tennessee. You can read more about Wanda and CNM’s vision in our press release. CNM Board’s Vice Chair, Charles Sueing, will head the permanent CEO search committee later this year.
Sueing added, “With Wanda at the helm, CNM’s board will now be able to turn a larger part of its focus to finding our next permanent leader. We can’t thank Wanda enough for taking on this important assignment.”