Nashville Mayor reflects on first 100 days in office at recent business breakfast
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry made history last fall when she became the city’s first female mayor and the first Metro Council member to ascend to that office. Barry recently stopped by campus to discuss her first 100 days in office at Lipscomb University’s Nashville Business Breakfast on Jan. 7.
Barry is the seventh mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. First elected to the Metro Council 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.
Kristine LaLonde, former chief innovation officer for Nashville and current associate dean for innovation and community impact in Lipscomb University’s College of Leadership & Public Service, introduced Barry to the more than 740 business leaders who gathered to the breakfast.
“Since she has become mayor, I’ve seen the way she uses this gift of asking the important questions, the questions that help us get to where we need to be to serve our city,” said LaLonde. “She asks the core questions and then encourages us to find collective and powerful answers. Mayor Barry has made incredible contributions as a public servant. Her public life is a testament of service. But as her friend, what impresses me more is the quiet ways in which generosity and compassion lay at the center of who she is.”
Barry has stated that 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.
At the business breakfast she reflected on progress made in those areas as well as what the first few days in office were like. She described the two-week administration transition time period as a time of building her team and rethinking the structure of the office. She said she also consulted with a group of 42 community leaders to help identify the changes that would help her office focus on the most important issues to Nashville and to help the office run most effectively. Education, affordable housing, economic and workforce development, transportation, infrastructure and diversity in Metro government were among the critical issues that emerged. She shared her vision for those areas with the audience.
Barry said one of the goals for her administration is about taking controversy and turning it into conversation and then turning those conversations into action.
“Those are issues that resonate with all of us across the state,” said Barry. “And there is common ground to be found on all of them.”
Barry said Jan. 3, the 100th day in office, came in a hurry.
“The first 100 days in office have flown by quickly,” admitted Barry. “Most of us don’t live our lives in 100 day increments. Maybe you live it in a semester or a fiscal year or by looking at those quarterly results. But no matter how you look at it, I can tell you what I feel is a great sense of urgency to get a lot of things done quickly for Nashville.”
She said identifying a new superintendent for the Metropolitan Nashville Public School system is high on her list of tasks to accomplish in the near future.
“I want Nashville to be in a position to recruit the best leader we can find,” she said.
Barry also noted that Nashville is filled with innovative, creative citizens who will develop innovative solutions to issues that will face the city during her tenure.
“I have a quote in my office, and I see it every day when I go in to work. It says that ‘power is about waking up every day and making a difference in people’s lives,’” said Barry. “With that power as mayor I have a responsibility to do just that, and I think my priorities reflect that. I want to make a difference in the daily lives of all Nashvillians. But I need your help.”
“I can’t do that alone. I can’t do it with just my great staff. And we need our city to go in a place where we all want it to go,” she continued. “One of the things that has always made Nashville special is that collaboration with the private sector, the public sector, the nonprofit sector and our colleges and universities. I look forward to seeing a lot more of that in the months to come.”
Barry shared her thoughts and insight on questions from the audience on a variety of topics including transit and traffic, education, the MNPS superintendent search, the future of the Nashville Fairgrounds and Greer Stadium and tourism among others.
When asked what she hopes to be remembered for, Barry said she hopes that it’s that Nashvillians are happy and doing well.
“For me it goes back to that quality of life component,” she said. “If can we have an increase in affordable housing, you feel safe, if we have an excellent education system and you can get around this city and you love Nashville, that’s what I want to be remembered for.”
Barry said her faith background and desire to make the community a better place help shape her outlook on her role as mayor.
“When I walk into the mayor’s office each day I think about what are the things I can do because I sit in that seat to make a difference in people’s lives,” she said.
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.
—Photos by Kristi Jones