Entrepreneur seeks West Knox council seat

Victor Ashe
Shopper News columnist

Brandon Bruce, 38, is running for the West Knoxville city council seat now held by Vice Mayor Duane Grieve. Joining him in the contest are Andrew Roberto, David Williams and Wayne Christensen.

Bruce lives in the far western tip of the district, adjacent to Pellissippi Parkway. He and his wife, Tricia, have two children, Sonoma, 7, and Carson, 5. He moved to East Tennessee in 2007, lived in Blount County and then moved two years ago to Knoxville. He was born in Torrance, Calif., and is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Brandon Bruce, co-founder & COO of Cirrus Insight at their offices Wednesday, August 24, 2016. Cirrus Insight is the first application to connect Gmail with Salesforce. The company is one of the top 50 fastest growing private companies in the country. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

He is an entrepreneur who owns Cirrus Insight, which makes software for sales teams. He says 65 people work for him. He says he needs to raise $85,000 for a citywide council race with the primary set for Aug. 29.

He comes across as a charming, articulate candidate who wants to be involved. At 6 feet, 8 inches he stands out in any crowd. He has been a member of Introduction Knoxville and Leadership Knoxville. Issues he cites are neighborhoods, updating zoning rules and a sidewalk building program. "I would push for Sheffield Drive to have a sidewalk" in West Hills, he says. All the candidates in this district back a sidewalk for Sheffield Drive. A walk for it will be held in September, according to Sandi Robinson, who is spearheading the effort.

Bruce is involved in the Northshore PTA, Junior Achievement and serves on the board of the The Muse children's science museum. He thinks it is important to keep the current momentum of the city going. He points out the city has to decide the next best steps for the Civic Auditorium and Coliseum. He wants a Knoxville Technology council.

Only two of these four candidates will make the Nov. 7 runoff.

The State Museum has a new director, Ashley Howell, who replaced the 35-year veteran, Lois Riggins Ezzell. She was forced out by chair Tom Smith after a controversial tenure, including a statement saying "I am the Museum." Howell has already moved to change personnel with the departure of Leigh Hendry, who once worked at the Knoxville Museum of Art.

Howell faces the difficult issue of being paid $162,500 a year while every other employee at the museum except for one is less than $100,000 a year and most at less than $62,000. The pay inequity among the 45 employees is glaring. A new museum will be officially opened in December 2018. Howell herself is considered a welcome change and polite, able leader.

When the legislature voted $120 million for the new state museum, there was a requirement that another $40 million be raised in private funds to reach $160 million total. Gov. Bill Haslam, along with his former chief of staff Mark Cate, have been raising this private money for a public building. No disclosure at this time has been made of the donors or the amount raised to date.

Under the where are they now category is former Knox County delegate to the 1977 state constitutional convention Craig Jenkins, who was 22 years old at the time and the youngest member of the Convention.

Other delegates to the convention at the time from Knox County included well known attorneys Bernard Bernstein and Bruce Foster Jr.

Jenkins lived in Beverly Acres in North Knoxville at the time of his election. Now he lives in Nashville, having served two terms on the Metro City Council representing a district in south Davidson County from 1995 to 2003. He moved to Nashville in 1979 along with his wife, Debbie. They have two children. He feels his major accomplishment on the Nashville Metro Council was securing a new library for his district.

He was assistant general counsel of the state Department of Revenue. beginning his service under Commissioner John King (who still practices law in Knoxville and is active in GOP circles). Recently Jenkins retired from state government. On the Nashville council he worked with two mayors, Phil Bredesen and Bill Purcell, who he described as very different in personality but both able.