Mayor Megan Barry to headline Lipscomb's Nashville Business Breakfast Jan. 7
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry will be the featured speaker at Lipscomb University’s Nashville Business Breakfast at 7 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, in Allen Arena.
The cost of the breakfast is $30 in advance and $40 at the door. Registration is available online at www.lipscomb.edu/leaders or by calling 615.966.6609.
Barry is the seventh mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. Her election in the Sept. 10, runoff, after receiving the most votes in the Aug. 6 general election, represents a historic milestone as she is the first female mayor of Nashville.
Barry's election is also historic in that she is the first Metro Council member to ascend to the office of mayor. First elected in the runoff election of 2007 for the position of council at-large, Barry went on to receive the most votes of the five winning at-large candidates in 2011.
While on the council, Barry created the first fair wage law for Metro employees and maintained a 100 percent rating for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce throughout her eight-year tenure among other accomplishments.
Barry says her focus as mayor will be on improving the educational outcomes at Nashville’s public schools, engaging regional and state partners to develop a unified vision and plan for transportation, creating more affordable housing options for residents of all backgrounds, and continuing to grow the city’s economy while ensuring all parts of Davidson County share in the prosperity.
Born in California while her father was stationed at the El Toro Marine Corps base, Barry grew up in Overland Park, Kansas. She graduated from Notre Dame de Sion, a Catholic girls' high school in Kansas City, and she received her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Baker University, a Methodist college in Baldwin City, Kansas. She moved to Nashville in 1991 to attend Vanderbilt University, from which she received her MBA in 1993.
Barry has nearly two decades of experience as a corporate executive, including several years developing and managing ethics programs for a global telecommunications firm, and most recently in the role of ethics and compliance officer for Premier Inc., a health care company. She has also worked as an independent consultant to firms on issues dealing with business ethics and corporate social responsibility.
Barry has played an active role in civic life, having served on the boards of the Center for Nonprofit Management, the YWCA, Belcourt Theatre and the Nashville Repertory Theatre, and as an advisory board member for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. She is a past participant in Leadership Nashville and Leadership Music, has co-chaired the Center for Nonprofit Management's “Salute to Excellence” event, honoring the hard work of all who serve our community, and has co-chaired the Conexión Américas annual “El Cafecito” breakfast in 2013.
Barry’s husband, Bruce, is a professor of organization studies at Vanderbilt. Their son, Max, is a junior in college.
The Nashville Business Breakfast is a quarterly networking event, presented by Lipscomb University and the Nashville Business Journal, with a news-conference style format, featuring business leaders with local economic impact. The event is sponsored by PNC Bank and Crowe Horwath.