Bill Purcell

Adjunct Professor of Public Policy

Bill Purcell is an adjunct professor of public policy at Vanderbilt. He formerly served as the fifth mayor of Nashville and Davidson County, elected first in 1999 and reelected to a second term in 2003. In 2008 he was named director of Harvard University's Institute of Politics (IOP) at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Purcell assumed the post on September 1, 2008. He was one of three co-chairs of the Harvard University Allston Work Team. He is now in private practice of law in Nashville.