Howard Gentry, Jr.

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Howard Gentry, Jr. (born ca. 1952) is an American politician. He was the vice mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville, Tennessee, and Davidson County, and the President of the Metropolitan Council. He was elected in 1999 as the sixth vice mayor in Metro history and the first African-American vice mayor to hold the post. He was re-elected in 2003 and ran unopposed.

As an appointee to the Mayor's Taskforce to End Chronic Homelessness, he his known for his involvement in mayor Bill Purcell's strategic plan to reduce chronic homelessness in Nashville by 2015.

In 2003 he cast a tie-breaking vote in the Metro Council that defeated an anti-discrimination bill that would have protected gay and lesbian employees of the Metro government, stating that there has not been an adequate number of complaints against the Metro government on behalf of Metro employees to justify passing the law.^[1]

Howard Gentry obtained a Bachelor of Science in Health, Physical Education and Recreation from Tennessee State University in 1974 and a master's degree in 1999. He began his professional career in banking, working for five years at Citizens Bank and First American Bank for three years. He then worked as Court Officer and Law Clerk with Metropolitan Criminal Court Division I from 1987 to 1990, in automobile sales, and as President and Operating Officer of Citizens Insurance Agency.

From 1990 until becoming vice mayor, he held various positions at Tennessee State University, including Director of Athletics and Associate V.P. for Technology and Administrative Services. He served as CEO of Backfield in Motion, a non-profit organization that provides academic tutoring, leadership training, and athletic programs for inner-city youth. Gentry recently resigned from Backfield in Motion in order to run for the Mayor of Nashville.^[2] He is also the host of the Howard Gentry, Jr. Sports Talk Show on WNSR Radio Sports56.

After Purcell announced he would not be running for re-election, Howard Gentry announced his candidacy for the 2007 mayoral election in October 2005. If elected, he would have been the first African-American to hold the post in the city's history; he conceded defeat in the race around 8:30 P.M. on August 2, 2007.