Mayor Dean Featured Speaker at Feb. 5 Nashville Women’s Political Caucus Meeting

Nashville Metropolitan and Davidson Co. Mayor Karl Dean is slated to speak at the Feb. 5 Nashville Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) luncheon.

Mayor Dean, the sixth mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, was elected in a runoff election Sept. 11, 2007, following a general election where he also received the most votes.

Born in Sioux Falls, S.D., Dean was raised in Gardner, Massachusetts. He earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in New York City and then came to Vanderbilt Law School, where he received a J.D. in 1981. He worked in a Massachusetts law firm before moving permanently back to Nashville in 1983 and becoming an assistant public defender.

He first held public office when he was elected as Nashville’s Public Defender in 1990, a post he was re-elected to in 1994 and 1998. During that time Mayor Phil Bredesen chose him to serve on the Commission of Twelve, a specially formed crime prevention task force.

Dean served as Metro Law Director from 1999 to January 2007 under Mayor Bill Purcell, advising him on legal issues and bringing people together to solve problems. During his tenure as law director, Dean led the effort to revitalize neighborhoods by closing down more than 30 massage parlors and other adult businesses that operated as houses of prostitution.

He completed the program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in 1999. He has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Vanderbilt.

Dean has served on the boards of Greenways for Nashville, Leadership Nashville Alumni; the Oasis Center; the National Conference for Community and Justice; Reconciliation Ministries; and as President of the Board of United Cerebral Palsy of Middle Tennessee.

He is married to Nashville native Anne Davis.

NWPC’s mission is to promote full and equal participation of women in government and in the political process. We encourage women to seek public office, whether elected or appointed. We support measures that will open economic and political opportunities for women. NWPC is a multi-partisan, multi-ethnic organization.

NWPC membership is open to anyone living in the middle Tennessee area.

The Feb. 5 NWPC luncheon is scheduled for noon, at The Doubletree Hotel, located at 315 4th Avenue North, Nashville. Cost is $15 for members; $25 for non-members. Seating is limited. Contact NWPC at (615) 664-3382 or at nwpc@nashvillewpc.com for lunch reservations or for more information by Wednesday, January 30th