1. Megan Christine Barry is an American businesswoman and politician who served as the seventh mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County from 2015 until March 6,2018, when she resigned after pleading guilty to felony theft related to an extramarital affair with a city employee who had served as the head of her security detail.
Megan Barry earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas in 1986, where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega.
Megan Barry earned an MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University in 1993.
Megan Barry worked in business ethics and corporate responsibility for the multinational telecommunications firm Nortel Networks.
From 2003 to 2012, Megan Barry was vice president of ethics and compliance at Premier, Inc.
Megan Barry was first elected to one of the five at-large seats on the 40-member Metro Council in September 2007, and won re-election to a second four-year term in August 2011.
Megan Barry performed the first same-sex wedding in Nashville on June 26,2015.
Megan Barry started her mayoral campaign in April 2013, filing paperwork with the Davidson County Election Commission naming Nashville attorney Leigh Walton as her campaign's treasurer.
Megan Barry raised US$1.1 million in political contributions during her campaign.
Megan Barry received US$1,500 from Wayne T Smith, who is the CEO of Community Health Systems; US$1,500 from R Milton Johnson, who is the CEO of Hospital Corporation of America ; US$5,000 from HCA; US$1,500 from Damon T Hininger, the CEO of Corrections Corporation of America ; and US$1,500 from CCA's Chairman, John D Ferguson.
Megan Barry received US$7,600 from the Nashville Business Coalition, a business organization.
Megan Barry took office on September 25,2015, becoming the first woman to hold the post and the second woman to serve as mayor of one of the "Big Four" cities in Tennessee.
Megan Barry's inauguration was held in the Music City Center in Nashville.
Megan Barry announced she would seek to place a referendum on the ballot in 2018 that would create a comprehensive mass transit system throughout all corners of Davidson County, though that initiative later failed to pass a popular vote.
Megan Barry spent two years improving the state of affordable housing in Nashville.
Megan Barry committed to putting $10 million in her recommended operating budget every year for the Barnes Trust Fund for Affordable Housing, a fund she helped create as a Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County member.
Megan Barry created the Housing Incentive Pilot Program in April 2017 to encourage mixed-income residential development, established private-public partnerships for affordable and workforce housing on Metro-owned property, and announced her intention to utilize $25 million in general obligation bonds to preserve existing affordable housing or construct new Metro-owned developments.
One of Megan Barry's accomplishments was the creation and expansion of the Opportunity NOW program, which aimed to reduce the rising rates of youth violence and unemployment by creating 10,000 paid job and internship opportunities for Nashville's teenagers and young adults throughout the private, public and non-profit sectors.
In May 2017, Megan Barry announced the opening of an Ikea store in Nashville, scheduled for 2020, which was cancelled.
In October 2017, Megan Barry unveiled her $5.2 billion plans for expanding Nashville's transportation infrastructure including the addition of light rail service.
In December 2017, Megan Barry dedicated the first historical marker in Tennessee to honor an LGBT activist, Penny Campbell, in East Nashville.
On March 6,2018, following weeks of news coverage and speculation regarding her future, Megan Barry pleaded guilty to a Class C felony in Nashville criminal court as part of a plea bargain.
In December 2023, Megan Barry announced that she would run in Tennessee's 7th congressional district against incumbent Republican Mark Green.
Megan Barry is married to Bruce Megan Barry, a professor at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management and a contributor to the Tennessee Lookout.
On January 31,2018, Megan Barry admitted that she had conducted a two-year long extramarital affair with Nashville Police Sergeant Robert Forrest Jr.
Forrest and Megan Barry attended various events and activities which included late-night concerts and yoga classes, during which Forrest accrued hundreds of overtime hours.
In March 2018, Megan Barry entered into a plea agreement that required her resignation.
Megan Barry ran in the August 2007 Nashville Council at-large election, but those returns are not available from the Davidson County Election Commission.
In 2007, Megan Barry won her first term to the Council as an at-large councilwoman.