Greater Nashville Industrial Summit

John Cooper is the ninth mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. Since taking office in 2019, he has achieved some historic results for residents – including making Nashville’s teachers the best-paid in Tennessee. The financial turnaround Mayor Cooper helped engineer has enabled record neighborhood investments in schools, transportation, and parks. Meanwhile, Oracle Corporation is investing $1.2 billion and creating 8,500 jobs in Nashville; the economic development project is unrivaled in the state’s history. After adopting a Metro Transportation Plan for the first time, Nashville now has a local Department of Transportation, dedicated entirely to pedestrian safety, neighborhood infrastructure improvements, and better traffic management. The city has more than tripled its affordable housing resources, including a first-ever Metro Housing Division. Nashville is co-leading a private-public partnership to construct 100 megawatts of local, utility-scale solar power. Meanwhile, the mayor’s latest capital spending plan creates 60-plus acres of public green space– including a city park in one of the last districts that still has none. John Cooper served as an At-Large Member of Metro Council from 2015 to 2019. He brings more than 30 years of business and financial experience in retail, banking, and real estate to his leadership. He is the founder of The Heritage at Brentwood, a large, continuing-care senior living community, and Happy ReTales, a volunteer- directed, pet products retail store where all profits benefit animal rescue. Mayor Cooper holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree in business from Vanderbilt University. He was born in Nashville and raised in Shelbyville. He and his wife, former Constitutional law professor Laura Fitzgerald Cooper, have three teenage sons and three dogs. They attend Christ Church Cathedral.