Tim Kelly

Tim Kelly (born April 3, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who serves as the 74th mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He defeated Kim White in the runoff election held on April 13, 2021, by a margin of 15,966 to 10,661. Early life and education Tim Kelly was born on April 3, 1967, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Betty Sue and Patrick Kelly. Kelly is a 1985 graduate of Baylor School in Chattanooga. He was a John Jay Scholar, and majored in German Comparative Literature at Columbia University, graduating in 1989. At Columbia, he was a roommate of Brent Forrester, who went on to become a writer of The Simpsons and showrunner of popular shows such as The Office. After graduating, he returned to Chattanooga, where he began working and eventually took over the family's auto dealerships. Kelly returned to school in 2012, earning his M.B.A at Emory University in Atlanta. Business career After graduating from college, Tim Kelly took over his family's car business in Chattanooga, which consisted of a Cadillac and SAAB dealership. He added a Subaru dealership during his first year in business, and later began selling GMC Trucks, Hummers, Mitsubishis, and Infinitis. In 2001 he founded Polaris of Chattanooga, and in 2003 he started Southern Honda Powersports. He later created the Zipflip and SocialBot apps. Kelly had taken on several roles in Chattanooga community organizations including sitting on the boards of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation, Benwood, and the River City Company. Kelly is also a trustee of the Baylor School. Chattanooga FC In 2009 Kelly co-founded the Chattanooga FC along with Krue Brock, Marshall Brock, Paul Rustand, Sean McDaniel, Daryl Heald, Hamilton Brock, Thomas Clark, and Sheldon Grizzle. The team was founded to play in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid and considered roughly equal to the USL Premier Development League.