Mayor Bill Purcell, leaders to kick off Business Leadership Speaker Series

Janel Shoun | 07/10/2007

Bill Purcell

Ned Ray McWherter

Colin Reed

Mark Ezell

T. B. Boyd III

Lipscomb University’s Business Leadership Speaker Series will kick off its 2007-08 slate of speakers with a look at how Nashville is poised to take on the future, featuring one of the last public addresses by Mayor Bill Purcell before the Aug. 2 mayoral election.

At the breakfast, titled “Nashville Today… and Tomorrow!” Nashville’s movers and shakers will gather at 7 a.m., Friday, July 27, in Allen Arena to discuss Nashville’s growth over the past eight years and how the city is prepared to face tomorrow.

Former Governor Ned Ray McWherter; Gaylord Entertainment Company CEO Colin Reed; Purity Dairies President Mark Ezell; and R.H. Boyd Publishing Company President T.B. Boyd will each speak on where Nashville finds itself today.

Mayor Purcell will then speak on his vision of the future for the city he will soon turn over to his successor.

Cost to attend the breakfast is $10 and that includes a complimentary copy of Celebrate Nashville!, the official publication of Nashville’s bicentennial celebration, offering a look at many of the unique people and places in Nashville. Registration is available online at http://leadership.lipscomb.edu and by calling 615.966.7653.

Purcell, Reed, Ezell and Boyd were all named as members of the Forward 50, a group of accomplished and active Nashville leaders selected as part of the Celebrate Nashville! bicentennial program.

Throughout his eight years in office, Mayor Bill Purcell has focused on enhancing education, public safety and quality of life in Nashville. Purcell established the Mayor’s First Day Festival on the first day of school and increased school funding by 42 percent, according to the mayor’s official Website.

His efforts have also resulted in new police precincts in Hermitage and North Nashville, land provided for the Schmerhorn Symphony Center location and the creation of a master plan for the city’s park system.

Boyd, Ezell, Reed and McWherter will each bring a unique point of view on Nashville’s current status.

• T.B. Boyd III is a native Nashvillian who attended Tennessee State University and began his career at the National Baptist Publishing Board. He served four years as the president of the 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee and currently serves as the vice chairman of the Meharry Medical College Board of Trustees. He is currently working to establish a museum of African American music, art and culture for Middle Tennessee.

• Mark Ezell began working at his family’s company, Purity Dairies, one of the most prominent businesses in Nashville, at the age of 15. Working his way from up from the back dock to president, Ezell is now at the helm of a company with approximately $160 million in annual sales and distribution throughout Middle and East Tennessee, Southern Kentucky and North Alabama.

• Colin Reed is a relative newcomer to Nashville, taking his position at Gaylord, the operator of the Opryland Hotel and various other hospitality and entertainment properties, in 2001. Reed led Gaylord through a strategic reorganization of the Gaylord Hotels, Grand Ole Opry, and ResortQuest Vacation Home brands.

• Ned Ray McWherter was born in rural Tennessee and served in the Tennessee National Guard, owned several local businesses and ran his family farm before being elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1969. He became Speaker of the House in 1973 and became governor of Tennessee in 1987, serving until 1995.