Angelia Nystrom, J.D., LLM, joins East Tennessee Foundation as Vice President of Advancement and Chief Legal Counsel, effective October 1, 2023. Most recently, she’s practiced law as a shareholder with Long, Ragsdale, and Waters, P.C., focused primarily in the areas of estate planning, fiduciary administration, charitable planning, and probate administration. She was previously with the University of Tennessee Foundation, Inc., for 12 years, spending the last 8 as Executive Director of Specialty Programs for the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA). Before UT Foundation, she was an attorney in private practice for nearly 18 years, spending the last 11 years at Baker Donelson in their Nashville and Knoxville offices.
Angelia received her law degree from Mercer University and was a visiting scholar at the University of Tennessee. She received an LLM in Estate Planning and Elder Law from Western New England University in Massachusetts. Her experience includes charitable gift planning, estate planning, estate and trust administration, real property transactions, conservatorships and guardianships, general corporate matters, probate litigation and use tax litigation. She is a frequent lecturer on estate planning, probate, and elder care issues.
Angelia is the immediate past Chair of the Tennessee Bar Foundation and has been a member of its Board since 2015. She is the three-time Chair of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Estate Planning and Probate Section and has served as President of both the Knoxville Estate Planning Council and the Smoky Mountain Planned Giving Council. She received the Tennessee Bar Association’s President’s Award in 2014 for her work as producer of the Legal Handbook for Tennessee Seniors, 2014 Edition.
Angelia is a frequent contributor to the Knoxville Bar Association’s DICTA, and her columns have been published as a hard-cover book, Legal Ease and Life Hacks: Essays on Pursuits of Excellence.
In her spare time, Angelia enjoys floral arranging and is a member of the Knoxville Garden Club. She is active in several swimming-related organizations and is the current President of the Greater Knoxville Area Interclub Swimming Association (GKAISA), Board member for University Swim Club, and previously served as Board Secretary for Tennessee Aquatics.
Angelia is married to former Knox County Commission Chair Hugh Nystrom, and they have a son, Trace, who is a student at the Webb School of Knoxville.