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Tennessee is an economic engine. Stuart McWhorter is one of the conductors.
During his tenure as the Tennessee Economic Development Commissioner, McWhorter has overseen nearly 160 projects, which represent more than 21,700 job commitments and $10.9 billion in capital investment.
In this episode of Climbing the Charts, Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller sit down with the TNECD commissioner to understand how the state invests in and attracts business.
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Nashville has been in the top 10 hottest housing markets in the United States. The city has drawn attention from individuals and investors from coast to coast.
However, over the last two years sales have slowed some due to high interest rates and uncertainty surrounding the economy.
In this episode of Climbing the Charts, we sit down with Greater Nashville REALTORS Vice President of Member Engagement, Jack Gaughan, and former President turned Realtracs Board Member, Steve Jolly, to explore the past, present and future of Nashville real estate.
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Fehlende Folgen?
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Glenn Funk balances safety and social justice in his role as Nashville District Attorney.
The Nashville District Attorney was sworn in nearly a decade ago. Nashville’s daily prison population is about half of what it was before he took office.
The second term elected official says reducing incarceration increases rehabilitation and saves metro money — $45 million a year by his estimate.
Funk discusses some positive legislative changes from the 2024 session, including Jillian's Law, homelessness and much more in this episode of Climbing the Charts.
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The Nashville Chamber of Commerce is the front door to the region’s business ecosystem. Ralph Schulz is the guide.
The CEO has overseen the organization since 2006, steering it through the city’s explosive growth. During his 18-year tenure, the median salary in Nashville has increased by more than 50-percent, city’s skyline has reached new heights and major corporations like Amazon and Oracle have set up shop here.
In this episode of Climbing the Charts, Schulz shares how business and politics have shaped Music City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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Four years ago, Burke Nihill ran across a job listing on LinkedIn: General Counsel for the Tennessee Titans. He applied, but he didn’t think he would be drafted.
His sports “experience” included dreaming of “wanting to be the third baseman for the Chicago Cubs” and declining an offer to play basketball at a Division 3 College.
Nonetheless, Nihill won owners over. 4 promotions and 8 seasons later, the former OfficeMax attorney turned Titan’s CEO is quarterbacking the organization through its most watched season — the construction of a new Nissan stadium.
Slated to open in 2027, the 60,000 seat, enclosed arena is estimated to cost nearly $2.1 billion.
In this episode of Climbing the Charts, the CEO delves into the design of the stadium and how its experiences will bring more than a Super Bowl to this city.
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"I came to realize that I would never have the chance to work in an administration with somebody that I [am] so closely aligned with on issues. It makes it really easy to go to work.” – Bob Mendes, speaking of his working relationship with Mayor O'Connell
Climbing the Charts was excited to sit down with Bob Mendes, Chief Development Officer for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, to learn about the future of Nashville’s East Bank, the series of events and negotiations that paved the way for a new, $2.1+ billion dollar Titans stadium, as well as other challenges and opportunities Music City’s new development director sees in his crystal ball.
And while the East Bank is one of the largest projects ever undertaken by a city, Bob wants Nashvillians to know that though he will dedicate time to the East Bank project, his focus is on development in and for Nashville as a whole.
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“My whole mission is just to affect positive change with people, and housing is such a key component to people’s health, well-being, and safety.” -- Andrea Prince
According to Nashville's 2021 Affordable Housing Task Force, chaired by Mayor John Cooper, the city must create 52,498 new housing units by 2030—a daunting challenge, given that only 1,344 affordable units were being built annually at the time of the report.
Today on The Climbing the Charts Podcast, as recorded by our sister podcast The Real Estate Mailbag, we're joined by Matthew Wiltshire, President of Pathway Affordable Housing Corp. and former Chief Strategy Officer at MDHA, Andrea Prince, Executive Director of Rebuilding Together Nashville, and Joshua Haston, Development Manager at LDG Development, LLC and Board Member of the Nashville Industrial Board. These leaders share their personal journeys and insights into tackling Nashville’s housing crisis, discussing innovative city tools and divisive zoning proposals debated in Metro Council. They also explore the impact of Tennessee’s new “home bond” bill on affordable housing.
Tune in to understand why affordable housing isn't just crucial for your future, but for the future of Music City itself!
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“We’re not building new roads (for the most part), so it’s about trying to use that [existing] infrastructure in better ways that meet our modern needs.” --Michael Briggs, director of mobility at Vanderbilt University's Transportation and Mobility Office, currently on loan to the City of Nashville as a director of transportation planning through 2024
On November 5, 2024, less than six months from today, Nashvillians will go to the polls to vote on critical issues and races, including who will serve as our nation’s President. Locally, however, Nashvillians will also vote on a multibillion dollar transportation improvement program called Choose How You Move, the first transit referendum to appear on the local ballet since 2018.
Climbing the Charts sat down with Briggs to discuss why transit should be considered essential infrastructure, how this plan differs from the prior failed transportation plans presented to Nashvillians and explores how improving transportation addresses broader community needs (affordable housing being at the top of that list).
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“I knew that if I had a Plan B, I would be 50/50. I would be one foot in and one foot out, and I had to be fully dedicated.” - Derrick ‘Moe’ Moore
When the Climbing the Charts podcast first launched in 2022, the co-hosts created a list of dream guests – Moe Moore was at the top of that list, being a co-founder of Slim & Husky’s. Almost two years and many amazing guests later, this is that episode, and it was fitting that the Tennessean was even on hand to take some photos!
Moe is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Slim & Husky’s, a pizza concept that is more than pizza – it’s pizza, art, and music. Moe shares how music and art are built into the DNA of Slim & Husky’s, and shares his hard-earned life lessons about what it takes to make it as a successful entrepreneur (including the often unappreciated advantages of having no Plan B). He discusses the future plans and dreams for Slim & Husky’s, and even gives an overview of the rich culture and community of North Nashville.
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“What people don’t understand about Juvenile Court is that literally two-thirds of the cases that we deal with are about the parents.” –Judge Calloway
Judge Sheila Calloway, Davidson County’s Juvenile Court Judge, and Lonnell Matthews, Davidson County’s Juvenile Court Clerk, are two of Nashville’s most accomplished individuals. They are an entertaining pair, but are serious about bettering the lives of “our kids.” They discuss misconceptions about the work of the Juvenile Court, the Nashville Youth Campus for Empowerment (coming in 2027), and recent legislation that will dramatically impact the juvenile justice system. Spoiler alert: the TN General Assembly did not seek their input, but they remain open and ready to assist when asked…hint, hint.
Julieanna Huddle is the Executive Director of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). Julieanna explains the mission of CASA and how YOU can make a difference in the lives of all of our children who are in desperate need of an advocate.
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“When you’re in the middle of the battle, to be policy-driven is smart, to be politically-driven is dangerous.” - Jeremy Faison
Few people have had a closer seat to the important issues, drama, and national and international garnering headlines involving Tennessee politics than Representative Jeremy Faison, Chairman of the Tennessee House Republican Caucus. Representative Faison discusses what drew him into politics and what it’s like to be a leader of a party now enjoying a supermajority. In a Paul Harvey fashion, Faison weighs in with the “rest of the story” on the alleged complaint against him noted in the recent Chancellor Perkins opinion, his now infamous “pantsing” incident, what people fail to understand about Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton and even the recent “whistling” episode involving the high school girls’ Picket County Bobcat Team. Beyond that, Faison, a libertarian, addresses many of the issues that have been presented during the current legislative session.
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“It’s already a presidential race and lots of people are going to come out and vote for the President…however, we know…that about 18% of the people who go into that booth don’t keep going down the ballot… If you’re in the voting booth, don’t stop… Make your vote count all the way down.” -Megan Barry
In a hotly anticipated interview, Climbing the Charts sits down with former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry. Barry served as Nashville’s seventh mayor and was the first woman ever elected to the office. Barry’s tenure as Music City’s mayor, however, was marked by almost Biblical highs and lows. Megan speaks to her time in the Mayor's Office, and catches us up on what she has been doing since leaving the Mayor’s Office, including her decision to re-enter the political arena as the Democratic challenger for the 7th Congressional District of Tennessee. The incumbent, Congressman Republican Mark Green, announced he would retire, only to rejoin the race a few weeks later. Megan makes a compelling case for why she can win this race, and then tells us how she will do it.
Many astute observers consider Megan Barry to be one of the most charismatic and gifted communicators in the political arena in Tennessee today.
https://www.meganbarryforcongress.com/
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“It’s a diverse world. Companies sell products to consumers that are very diverse. Their teams and technical talent should reflect the communities that they sell products to.” – Dr. Isaac Yao Addae
Dr. Isaac Addae is a man with many hats – first-generation Ghanaian American, computer engineer, strategist, business professor, entrepreneur, investor, and author of “Black Boy Fly: Embracing My Ancestry, Blackness, and Purpose in the African Diaspora.” Isaac also served as the Treasurer for Freddie O’Connell’s mayoral campaign, and now has agreed to wear yet another hat as the “Small and Minority Business Engagement Liaison” for Nashville.
Listen in as Isaac shares how he came to Nashville, why he will always spend a significant amount of time as an educator, how navigating two worlds as a Ghanaian American became his superpower, and why we should all care about diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in the workforce. Also learn why Isaac’s new role will be one of his biggest challenges yet, and about how some of the plans being put into motion in the Mayor’s Office are likely to move the needle for small and minority-owned businesses. Isaac also makes a unique, compelling case for how Nashville can adjust the lens that the rest of the world views Nashville through and emerge as an increasingly ascendant tech hub.
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“If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day. If you teach him to fish, he eats for a lifetime. But if you teach a woman how to fish, she feeds the village for a lifetime. The ripple effect that women entrepreneurs have on communities and the global economy is phenomenal.” — Sherry Deutschmann
Climbing the Charts sits down with Sherry Stewart Deutschmann, a serial entrepreneur, a sought-after speaker, a highly coveted board member, and the bestselling author of “Lunch with Lucy: Maximize Profits by Investing in Your People.” But it is Sherry’s role as the founder of BrainTrust, which is empowering women entrepreneurs so they can 10X their companies and change the world, that is now changing the business landscape in Music City and beyond.
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Former Mayor Karl Dean was known to ask, rhetorically and always in good humor, what Nashville would be without music (answer: Birmingham), but he could have substituted “the Ingrams” for music and arrived at the same punchline.
There are few beloved things in Music City without fingerprints, known and unknown, that in some way trace back or connect to the Ingram family. While Martha Ingram was the driving force behind, among many other things, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, her son John, who now serves as Chairman of Ingram Industries, is the driving force behind one of Music City’s latest loves: Major League Soccer in the form of Nashville SC! The story of how John and his carefully assembled team brought MLS to Music City has been told before, but never quite like this.
A favorite part of the conversation with John involves his telling of why the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock in The Great Gatsby has always spoken to him, "it's all about possibilities." When John sees the green light, "that's where [he's] headed." And, we think that's where Nashville is headed, as well.
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In the 1950s, Frank Sinatra famously proclaimed Jack Daniel’s the “nectar of the gods.” Sales doubled, the warehouses emptied, and Mr. Daniel’s “nectar” was on allocation for the next twenty-five years.
In 2013, a state law in Tennessee established a legal definition of “Tennessee Whiskey” for the first time, better known as the “Lincoln County Process.” While a few whiskey nerds followed the arcane legal and political developments that paved the way for official “Tennessee Whiskey,” on November 4, 2015 the worlds of music and Tennessee whiskey would again collide when Justin Timberlake made a surprise appearance to join Chris Stapleton on-stage for the 2015 CMA awards. While Tennessee Whiskey was originally written by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove in 1981 and made famous by George Jones in 1983, the Stapleton-Timberlake collab equated to a sonic boom in the worlds of music and brown liquor, bringing a new level of national and international attention to Tennessee’s favorite spirit that was now a “category” all its own. It almost goes without saying that sales of Stapleton’s debut studio album, “Traveller,” produced with Dave Cobb, would also explode, winning numerous awards and ultimately becoming the top selling country album of the 2010s.
The story of Tennessee Whiskey is complicated, and fascinating. Join us for this very special episode of Climbing the Charts as John Brittle, real estate guru and founder of The Whiskey House, a 501(c)(3), and Heath Clark, a recovering healthcare attorney turned whiskey entrepreneur and founder of H Clark Distillery, tell us the incredible true story of how Tennessee went from almost 1,000 distilleries before Prohibition, to having just TWO distilleries until Prichard’s opened in 1997, to now having almost 50 distilleries with almost 30 that are now part of the officially designated “Tennessee Whiskey Trail.”
There are few better at turning phrases or crafting tall-tales than these guests (e.g., “I can have a one-night stand with a bottle of wine, but with a bottle of whiskey, I can have a long-term relationship.” — John G. Brittle). We promise, whether you are a whiskey novice or aficionado, you will learn a lot and laugh even more through this episode, and you’ll also have a true appreciation for the fact that all bourbon is whiskey, but that not even all Tennessee whiskey is “Tennessee Whiskey” . . . . with the exception of Prichard’s!
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In this episode, Climbing the Charts sits down with Republican Representative Todd Warner (District 92) and Democratic Representative Aftyn Behn (District 51). Aftyn, increasingly described as the “AOC of Tennessee,” the youngest woman elected to the Tennessee House, is poised to be a fearless advocate for progressive values. Todd, by contrast, is the “Unapologetic Conservative,” a successful business and family man who is devoted to protecting and furthering traditional, conservative values and constitutional freedoms.
These two, who had previously never met, go head-to-head on matters from the Scotty Campbell scandal to the expulsion of the Tennessee Three to reproductive rights, school vouchers, gun control and bipartisanship. Tennessee politics were a source of outrage, tragedy, and scandal, but also weighty policy debates and memorable humor in 2023, inspiring multiple sketches and commentaries on Colbert and Saturday Night Live. After CTC’s discussion with these representatives, we cannot wait to see what’s in store in the Tennessee General Assembly in 2024.
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On July 21, 2006, the New York Times published an article entitled: “Creating Demand for City Living in Nashville.” The piece’s author, Lisa Chamberlain, noted that at that time, the frenzied pace of downtown residential development was slowing in major cities like New York and Chicago, but in cities like Nashville, “where no residential population had existed, people are suddenly hungry for an urban lifestyle and are willing to pay for it.” Just three years prior to the publication of this article, there were all of 10 units for sale in downtown Nashville, but then something happened: “one developer, Anthony Giarratana, is credited with single-handedly creating a market for residential housing in the central business district.”
Booming downtowns with arts and culture and thousands of residents don’t happen by accident, and Tony is the first to admit that nothing significant is accomplished single-handedly. Nonetheless, the story of how Nashville went from having almost no downtown residents in 2003 to about 17,000 twenty years later in 2023 is a truly incredible story that spans law, politics, zoning, vision casting, as well as a truly remarkable levels of persistence (imagine making pitches to 69 banks before a single one says yes to your first residential tower project (The Cumberland). There's perhaps no better person to tell this utterly fascinating story than the man, the myth, the legend himself: Anthony “Tony” Giarratana.
Tune in for this very special episode, which includes a proper telling of how downtown Nashville came to be what it is today, as well as a wide-ranging discussion of many hot issues, including the East Bank redevelopment, 2024 market forecasts, why 30,000 residents is the magic inflection point for downtowns, why Nashville should embrace taller builders, as well as why he will never complain about “chores.” Tony also shares a book everyone should read, as well as some eloquent nuggets of hard-won wisdom about the role of kindness in life and in business.
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On this new episode of Climbing the Charts, we sat down with Jon Michael, who after 15 years of toting the metro zoning code under his arm in various roles as a lawyer with Metro, joined the local Nashville law firm of Thompson Burton PLLC to create his own land use practice.
If you have ever listened to a conversation about development, attended a Metro Planning Commission meeting, or have even just heard someone at the office water fountain spouting acronyms like AR2a, RS80, R20, R6, OR20, or MUL, you may have guessed that you are in the presence of Nashville’s zoning code. After the acronyms are rattled off, someone then usually utters a name: Jon Michael.
Legal entrepreneurs are a different class of entrepreneurs, as most view attorneys as risk-averse, or at least extremely calculating, by nature. But, Jon Michael is cut from a bit of a different cloth. The son of a preacher who grew up in Dickson, TN, Jon shares his entrepreneurial story with us – and it is a great story filled with trials and tribulations. The best careers are often non-linear, and Jon’s is no exception. In addition to being a gifted raconteur, Jon is a true student of about everything and brings an insatiable curiosity to life.
Every city in America has struggled with how to regulate the “sharing economy,” which in Music City includes a thriving short-term rental market (think Airbnb and VRBO). As the Metro Zoning Administrator from 2018 to 2021, Jon was at the center of the efforts to balance commerce/tourism and community and neighborhood quality of life concerns. Most observers think Nashville has struck a good balance, especially compared to some cities (think: NYC). Jon shares his thoughts on this topic, but also offers his vision for how Nashville can continue to grow smartly. With rumors of a massive overall to the Metro Code in the not too distant future, it’s almost a given as well that Jon will play a significant role in that process for only a handful of attorneys have such deep knowledge and expertise in the area.
We promise you will learn some very interesting things in this inviting conversation, as well as learn more about Jon’s path from public servant to private entrepreneur, political connector, dad, husband, and humorist. Jon's new role is something he views as neither pro-development nor pro-neighborhood, but “pro-Nashville.”
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For the launch of Episode 1 of Season 3, Climbing the Charts sat down with Sam Davidson, who on June 28, 2023, was announced as Jane Allen’s successor as the next CEO of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC). Sam hit the ground running in this high visibility, high impact new role, which he describes on his Linkedin profile as: “Working to make Nashville the most entrepreneurial city in America.”
For more than a decade, the EC has connected entrepreneurs with critical resources to create, launch, and grow businesses, and has become a centerpiece of the connective tissue and business ecosystem of Music City. Sam provides us with an overview of the EC’s current programs and services, as well as provides some truly fascinating metrics about its impact and successes in a city that now boasts 2 million people and 53,000 businesses.
During our conversation with Sam, we learn about his path as a four-time entrepreneur, author of three books, and noted speaker, as well as some of the unique experiences, both business and personal, that have shaped him and the thinking he brings to bear in his new role. Sam also has some incredible insights and advice for would-be entrepreneurs, as well as those trying to scale their businesses. Learn why Sam believes adaptability is the thread that unites the most successful entrepreneurs, and how the single most critical factor for success is “access to a mentor” (that’s where the EC comes in). Sam also offers some fascinating insights on the role community plays in personal and business successes, and explains what he means that the height of his success is “directly related to the depth of my community.”
We promise you will learn some very interesting things in this inviting conversation, as well as learn more about Sam’s vision and future plans for the Nashville EC. Music City was ranked as the 4th best city for starting a business by Inc in 2020, so we still have work to do to achieve Sam’s vision of Nashville as the most entrepreneurial city in America!
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