City of Knoxville - Mayor's Biography

CITY OF KNOXVILLE MAYOR

Biography of Mayor Bill Haslam

Mayor Bill Haslam

Mayor Bill Haslam's strategic plan for our city - Knoxville Works! - is aimed at making Knoxville America's premier city in which to live, work and raise a family.

His administration is focused on four goals:

Stronger, safer neighborhoods

City services you can count on at a competitive price

An energized downtown; everybody's neighborhood

More and better jobs

Much progress on those goals has been made since he began his first-term in December 2003. At the same time, his administration has presented balanced budgets and restored fiscal responsibility to the City after years of deficit spending.

Among his accomplishments in this short time are:

Restoring a regular road paving schedule that ensures every street is paved every 20 years, while also spending $1 million each year building and repairing sidewalks that make walking to school safer for children and connect neighbors with each other.

Creating a neighborhood traffic safety program that enables residents to come together, with City support, to determine measures to stop speeding motorists.

Giving citizens one number - 311 - to access city services and information.

Leading the effort to turn the lights back on at the Historic Bijou after the successful renovation and reopening of the Tennessee Theatre.

Working with Regal Cinemas and historic preservationists to find a way to save the S&W Cafeteria and build a premier downtown cinema.

Initiating a public planning process to create a vision for the South Waterfront.

Among his greatest achievements are the partnerships Mayor Haslam has forged with other leaders and organizations working to make Knoxville an even better place.

Jobs Now!, the region's first coordinated approach to job recruiting, for example, is credited with landing Knoxville in the top 10 hottest cities for business by Expansion Management magazine this year.

An avid bicyclist and runner - Mayor Haslam completed the half-marathon in the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon both years - he is also a dedicated supporter of greenways and parks.

Previously, Mayor Haslam served as president and director of Pilot Corp., a Knoxville-based company operating convenience stores and travel centers nationwide. He also is the former chief executive officer of SAKS Direct, the e-commerce and catalogue division of Saks Fifth Avenue. He is an owner of the Tennessee Smokies East Tennessee AA Baseball Team.

He has served in leadership roles in numerous charities and non-profit organizations in the Knoxville area, including chairman of the board and general chairman of the United Way of Greater Knoxville; chairman of the board and president, Project GRAD; executive committee chairman, Young Life of Knoxville; chairman of the board and executive committee, Salvation Army; chairman of the board, East Tennessee Center for Non-Profit Management; campaign chairman, Foothills Land Conservancy; and vice chair, Knoxville Museum of Art.

Mayor Haslam has also served on the board of directors of the Cornerstone Foundation and World Vision; on the advisory board for Emerald Avenue Youth Foundation; and on the Diversity Task Force of Nine Counties, One Vision.

He and his wife, Crissy, have two daughters, Annie and Leigh, who are in college and a son, Will, who resides in Knoxville with his wife, Hannah.

The family attends Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church, where Mayor Haslam is an Elder.