Nursing home operator Advocat has tapped a veteran of the local health care finance space to be its new chief financial officer.

Effective Aug. 20, Jay McKnight will join Brentwood-based Advocat to take the place of Glynn Riddle, who left the company earlier this month. McKnight has been CFO of NuScriptRX, the former New Day Pharmacy, for the past three years and has been its CFO since 2010. Before that, he was controller at Take Care Health Systems and its predecessor, I-trax, and director of financial reporting at American HomePatient.

“We are extremely pleased to have Jay join the Advocat executive management team at a key time for the Company,” said President and CEO Kelly Gill. “We are confident that Jay's leadership, finance and accounting depth along with his diverse corporate development experiences will make him a strong and valuable contributor to our company as we grow.”

Advocat runs 47 skilled nursing centers with more than 5,400 beds in the Southwest and Southeast. The company (Ticker: AVCA) is fending off a takeover attempt by a Georgia-based investor group.