NEWS

Fairgrounds Nashville goes out of state for new director

Joey Garrison
jgarrison@tennessean.com

Laura Schloesser, a longtime parks administrator from Milwaukee, has been tapped to be the new leader of The Fairgrounds Nashville.

The Metro Board of Fair Commissioners voted 5-0 Monday to hire Schloesser, who for the past 17 years has worked as chief of administration and external affairs at Milwaukee County Parks in Wauwatosa, Wis.

In picking Schloesser as new executive director of the Metro-owned fairgrounds, the board chose the only of six job finalists who is from outside of Tennessee. The group included two former Metro Council members, Jason Holleman and John Summers, after an initial batch of 134 applicants applied for the position.

“I’m all in for my move and I’m all in to this place as well,” said Schloesser, who had already been planning to locate to Nashville from Wisconsin with her family because of a new job that her husband is transitioning to. “It was a very thoughtful and intentional decision on my part to apply here in its current state because there’s so much opportunity.

“It’s going to be a hard job — I know that going in — but an exciting one.”

Schloesser, 46, replaces Buck Dozier, who retired in the spring after serving as fairgrounds director for eight years. When she emerged as the favorite for the job earlier this month, the lobbyist group Save Our Fairgrounds came out against her candidacy because of her lack of Tennessee ties. But during a 45-minute final interview with the fair board Monday, her residency was not raised by commissioners as a factor.

Nashville’s 117-acre fairgrounds off of Nolensville Pike, which includes a speedway and expo center and hosts the annual Tennessee State Fair, has been a source of controversy in recent years after former Mayor Karl Dean’s failed push to redevelop the property. Nashvillians voted via public referendum in 2011 to keep the status quo at the site by making it harder to ever redevelop the property.

Schloesser, who met with Mayor Megan Barry on Monday and will begin her new role in August, is budgeted to make $90,000 a year.

Two weeks ago, the fair board voted to whittle the final candidates down to Schloesser and Beth Morrow, an administrator at Lipscomb University, but Morrow later withdrew her candidacy. The biggest critic of the final choices was commissioner Kenny Byrd, who has said the new director needs to have greater experience with the fairgrounds in order to handle a job that’s often in the crosshairs politically.

Byrd had sought a special meeting to consider inviting back additional job candidates for more interviews, but that request was not granted by board chairman Ned Horton. Still, Byrd said he was impressed with how Schloesser handled his questions during her final interview.

“You have addressed a lot of my concerns about being able to handle walking into a landmine,” Byrd said.

Commissioner Bonna Johnson said Schloesser has “deep experience running a government agency” and has dealt with several areas that overlap with her upcoming fairgrounds work, including sponsorships and special events.

“It really translates well to what we’re doing here,” she said. “And I think after today’s meeting, I feel like she understands the complexities of what we’re dealing with here.”

Schloesser told commissioners on Monday that she’s heard from a lot of fairgrounds stakeholders over the past two weeks. She said she views all the feedback as “opportunity” and plans to sit down with as many people as possible to “listen and learn.”

“Yes, I got calls that we want someone local,” she said. “I’m not, but that doesn’t negate my commitment to this place.”

In interviews Schloesser positioned herself as a consensus builder and discussed her role in the recent transformation of Milwaukee’s Johnsons Park, which had been in disrepair but is now the subject of a makeover via public-private partnership. She also pointed to her role in facilitating operational changes at a beer brewery in Wisconsin to improve the quality of nearby waterways.

Looking ahead, Schloesser said she has been struck by the absence of a strategic plan for the fairgrounds. She said now is the time to create one that would take into account $12 million in future fairgrounds upgrades that are carved into Barry’s recently approved budget.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.