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The Honorable Mayor Kasim Reed
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Kasim Reed was inaugurated as the 59th Mayor of the City of Atlanta on January 4, 2010. Since taking office, Mayor Reed has hired more than 525 police officers, re-opened all of the city’s recreation centers as safe havens for young people and improved core city services such as fire-rescue response times and sanitation operations. He has increased the city’s reserves from $7.4 million to more than $94 million dollars. Working with the Atlanta City Council and the city’s employee unions, he successfully initiated a series of sweeping reforms to address the city’s $1.5 billion unfunded pension liability.
Mayor Reed is Chairman of the Transportation and Communications Committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Chairman of the Regional Transit Committee of the Atlanta Regional Commission. He is a member of the Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellowship Class of 2007, Leadership Georgia Class of 2000 and Leadership Atlanta Class of 1998. He served as a Board Member of both the National Black Arts Festival and Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund.
Mayor Reed has received numerous accolades since taking office. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington D.C. honored him in spring 2012 with the Louis E. Martin Great American Award, saying he “heralds a new and creative approach to leadership.” Governing Magazine named Mayor Reed as one of the top state and local government officials of the year in November 2011.
Mayor Reed’s civic leadership and service also have been nationally recognized on programs such as Meet the Press, The Charlie Rose Show, John King U.S.A. and Andrea Mitchell Reports. He has been featured in publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Washington Post and Black Enterprise. Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer-Prize winning New York Times columnist, called Reed “inspiring” and labeled him as “one of the best of this new breed of leaders.”
Prior to his election, Mayor Reed established a track record of leadership during his 11 years as a member of the Georgia General Assembly. He was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1998 and served two terms. From 2002 to 2009, he served in the Georgia State Senate, where he was Vice Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus and a member of the Judiciary Committee, Higher Education Committee, Ethics Committee, Transportation Committee, and State and Local Government Operations Committee.
Mayor Reed is a former partner in the litigation practice of Holland and Knight LLP, an international law firm with offices in Atlanta, where he specialized in entertainment law. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association and the State Bar of Georgia.
Mayor Reed grew up in the Cascade community of Southwest Atlanta, where he attended Utoy Springs Elementary School and Westwood High School (now Westlake High School). He is a graduate of Howard University in Washington D.C., where he received his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees and an honorary Doctor of Laws. As an undergraduate member of Howard University's Board of Trustees, he created a fundraising program that has contributed more than $10 million to the school’s endowment since its inception. Mayor Reed was appointed as Howard University's youngest General Trustee in June 2002 and remains a dedicated member of the Board of Trustees.
Mayor Reed enjoys attending sports events and reading. Some favorite books include Master of the Senate by Robert Caro and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass. He likes playing golf with his father, Junius Reed, and calls his mother, Sylvia Reed, his “best friend.” He also enjoys spending time with his three older brothers: Chuck, Carlton and Tracy. Mayor Reed is a member of Cascade United Methodist Church.
Download Mayor Kasim Reed's biography here.