Karl Dean is the sixth mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. He was elected on Sept. 11, 2007 and was re-elected on Aug. 4, 2011. Mayor Dean’s priorities are improving schools, making neighborhoods safer and bringing more and better jobs to Nashville. He also works to sustain and improve Nashville's high quality of life through numerous initiatives that promote health, sustainability and volunteerism. Mayor Dean first held public office when he was elected as Nashville’s Public Defender in 1990, a post he was re-elected to in 1994 and 1998. Mayor Dean served as Metro Law Director from 1999 to January 2007, when he resigned to run for the office of mayor. Mayor Dean completed the program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in 1999. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Vanderbilt.