16 Facts About Karl Dean

Karl Foster Dean was born on September 20,1955 and is an American politician who served as the 6th Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee from 2007 to 2015.

Karl Dean graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1978 and a Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University in 1981.

Karl Dean was friendly towards business and often used tax incentives to lure companies to Nashville.

Karl Dean is involved in conservationist efforts of historical areas such as Music Row through his involvement with Music Industry Coalition.

In 2017, Karl Dean declared his candidacy for Governor of Tennessee in the 2018 election.

When Metro Council members' health-care benefits came under scrutiny in September 2004, because the Metro Charter does not allow pension benefits for Council members, Karl Dean said that a health-care benefit wouldn't legally fall under a pension benefit, and therefore wouldn't be against the Charter.

Karl Dean claimed this is because the Tennessee General Assembly has not authorized the charter of the consolidated government to restrict the authority of a legislative body to levy an ad valorem tax on property.

Karl Dean created the Limitless Libraries program, which connects Nashville Public Libraries to Metro Nashville Schools, part of a greater push to enable opportunities for under-served schools in the city.

Karl Dean improved school choice by recruiting charter schools to the city and augmented teaching talent by partnering with Teach for America.

Finally, Karl Dean incentivized businesses to relocate to Nashville, including Bridgestone Americas and HCA.

In conjunction with this, Karl Dean opened two new precincts to more equally distribute areas of coverage and started Nashville's first DNA crime lab.

Karl Dean added over 4,000 acres of park land and created the city's Office of Environment and Sustainability.

On February 26,2017, Karl Dean announced he would run for Governor of Tennessee in the 2018 election as a Democrat.

Karl Dean cast himself as a pro-business moderate running on a message of education, jobs, and healthcare in Tennessee.

Karl Dean has been married to Anne Davis, a prominent Tennessee lawyer, since August 6,1983.

Karl Dean was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was raised primarily in Gardner, Massachusetts, and graduated from Gardner High School in 1974.