"Global Nashville: Karl Dean" & Lord Mayor of Belfast Alderman Frank McCoubrey

In this episode former Nashville Mayor Dean talked with Alderman Frank McCoubrey. He is the current Lord Mayor of Belfast, Northern Ireland, one of Nashville’s sister cities. They were accompanied by leaders from Nashville and Belfast to join the conversation about the Sister City relationship and exchanges and the common issues in municipal government in times of health and economic challenges. Lord Mayor of Belfast Alderman Frank McCoubrey (53) represents the Court area of West Belfast. Alderman McCoubrey has achieved the rare honour of serving as High Sheriff, Deputy Lord Mayor and now Lord Mayor of Belfast. He has served as a councillor on Belfast City Council since May 1997. Karl Dean was 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. He completed his second term in office on September 25, 2015. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee World Affairs Council. John Greer is the Director of Economic Development at Belfast City Council and leads a team delivering the economic development, tourism, festival, heritage and markets strategies. Áine Mallaghan, based in Chicago, is responsible for the USA Mid-West operations for Invest Northern Ireland, an agency within the Northern Ireland government responsible for growing the economy of Northern Ireland. Áine has worked with companies such as Baker McKenzie, Allstate, Caterpillar, Dow Chemical and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to set up and expand operations and jobs in N Ireland. John leads the Global Business Team at Baker Donelson a distinguished Nashville law firm. Among his many contributions to the community is his service on the Board of our World Affairs Council. And importantly, for this conversation, John is the Honorary Consul General of the United Kingdom in Tennessee. LCDR Patrick Ryan, USN (Ret) is a native of New York City. He enlisted in the Navy at age 17 and volunteered for submarine duty. He served aboard nuclear fast attack and ballistic missile boats during the Cold War, rising to the rank of Chief Petty Officer. In 1982 he was commissioned and served aboard a cruiser in the Western Pacific before becoming a Navy Intelligence Officer. Ryan served aboard the carrier Constellation in the Pacific, the Joint Staff Intelligence Directorate in the Pentagon, the Center for Naval Analysis, and the Intelligence Directorate of U.S. Central Command. Ryan retired from the Navy in 1998 and worked as a consultant on Intelligence Community projects and as the VP/COO of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. Ryan ran a newsletter publishing business on international affairs from 1999-2016. He founded the Tennessee World Affairs Council in 2007.