MICHAEL SKIPPER

Michael has more than 20 years of experience in public policy, community and regional planning, and social research. He served nine years as executive director of the Nashville Area MPO before being hired to lead the 80+ member staff of the Greater Nashville Regional Council (“GNRC”).

In 2017 the two organizations were integrated to form a more comprehensive council of governments to serve the planning and community development needs of the region. Today, GNRC serves as the Nashville area’s Metropolitan Planning Organization, Economic Development District, and Area Agency on Aging and Disability.

Michael serves as lead facilitator and advisor to the Middle Tennessee Mayors Caucus. The Mayors Caucus was formed in 2009 in order to provide leadership on important issues facing a rapidly changing regional landscape. Transportation, and particularly the pursuit of a modern mass transit system, served as the early catalyst, but in its brief history the Caucus has served as an effective forum for building personal relationships among mayors and has helped local governments support each other on issues ranging from flood recovery to regional tourism.

Prior to his return to the Nashville MPO in 2007, he directed the public transportation work program for an MPO in central Florida where he led regional consensus building efforts and spearheaded state legislative action to provide a dedicated source of funding for public transportation through the creation of the Polk Transit Authority. He was a technical lead in the seven-county Orlando area “How Shall We Grow” regional visioning process and the MPOs representative in the development of legislation that lead to the creation of the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority.