10 Year Vision for Knoxville
Knoxville is known as "The Prettiest Place to Change the World." We have an outsized VC group choosing to reinvest in the IP coming from ORNL and our tech community. TVA is the clean energy leader and modular nuclear power is ramping up. UTK has surpassed UF in the collegiate rankings and our new medical school is attracting top talent especially around medical devices and invention and proton therapy. Knoxville is providing a safe and beautiful place to work and live where the finest minds in the world can solve complex problems and find all the support they need to thrive.
What is Knoxville's Best Kept Secret?
Knoxville has some incredibly successful entrepreneurs who are keeping a low profile. People who have built a business from nothing to fairly large and who have exited who do not have publicists touting their brilliance. We have successful IT professionals, government contractors, security businesses, software companies and even people who chose Knoxville as the place to build their dream home after selling their company and making their fortune elsewhere.
What would you do to strengthen Knoxville?
Knoxville needs stronger families. We should do all we can to make sure that people have premarriage and marriage counseling and are learning how to break cycles of neglect and abuse and parent in a nurturing way. We need more collaboration amongst our churches like we saw with All4Knox. We need effective violence prevention focused on relationships, not buildings. Finally, we need to bring back Boomsday, and create a weekend long concert festival celebrating bluegrass, blues, at the crossroads city of Knoxville, that celebrates our city and welcomes and connects our new neighbors.
What is your favorite Knoxville memory?
My favorite memory in Knoxville has to be the missed field goal by Collins Cooper in 1998. I was one of 107,000 plus in Neyland, and it was a season that also included a comeback win against Arkansas, and a National Championship, but if you know you know. That game ended with a celebration where Tennessee fans, young and old, from every background, had a joy and love for the team and for one another that was really special and beautiful.
What is your favorite book or what book is currently on your nightstand?
My favorite living author is Thomas Sowell and I highly recommend all of his books.
What is the best advice you have received from a mentor, and who was that mentor?
"You will never be defined by this particular job, but you will always be defined by whether or not you keep your word, and whether or not you are a quitter." My dad's advice when I wanted to quit a logging job. He models integrity and joyful obedience and has been my most significant mentor in life.
What advice would you give to your 16 year old self?
"I don't know" is always the best answer when it is the truth.
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