Dr. Joseph Interrante was named CEO of the Year by the Center for Non Profit Management (CNM) at the annual Salute to Excellence awards this week. The award, sponsored by the Association of Non-Profit Executives and Bank of America, highlights the importance of executive leadership in an organization's achievement of mission-related results. Terry Adams of Genesis Learning Centers and Patricia Harman of Monroe Harding, Inc. were also finalists in the prestigious category.

Now in his twelfth year as CEO, Dr. Interrante has overseen a client increase of more than 300 percent, tripled the size of the agency's staff, and increased the budget for HIV/AIDS services by more than 400 percent. Through his leadership, Nashville CARES has become one of Tennessee's most respected and effective non profits with many of its programs serving as national models for HIV care and prevention education.

Nashville CARES and the Comprehensive Care Center (CCC) were also honored as finalists for The Frist Foundation Award of Achievement for Team Building. Project Positive Embrace, a collaboration between CARES and the CCC, is a program providing pre-natal and post-partum medical cares, treatment, and support to HIV-infected women and their infants. This care has dramatically reduced the transmission of HIV from mother to baby in program participants. To date, transmission has occurred in only two of 130 births, a 98.5 percent success rate.

Each year CNM hosts Salute to Excellence, the "Academy Awards" of the Middle Tennessee nonprofit community, to honor area nonprofits for their commitment to management excellence. Seven awards and more than $90,000 in unrestricted funds were awarded to nonprofits on Wednesday, November 9, 2005.

Nearly 1,000 people attended the celebration held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Nashville. Keynote speaker Mayor Bill Purcell thanked the nonprofit community for its profound contribution to the quality of life in Middle Tennessee and Harry Chapman, NewsChannelNews Channel 5 anchor and Talk of the Town host, was the master of ceremonies.

CNM, established in 1986 by the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville and The Frist Foundation, provides training and consultation services to nearly 600 member agencies each year. The Center for Nonprofit Management helps these agencies prepare strategic plans, raise funds, select board members, and work through crisis.

Nashville CARES' mission is to promote and participate in a comprehensive and compassionate response to HIV and AIDS infection through prevention education, advocacy for responsible public policy and provide direct services to people living with HIV and AIDS. Each year Nashville CARES reaches more than 3835,000 Middle Tennesseans with prevention education and serves 1,8002,000 men, women and children with HIV, helping them to live productively, independently and with dignity.