Ed Cole information

This is information on Ed Cole, Tennessee Department of Transportation Chief of Enviornment and Planning. Mr. Cole is scheduled to appear at the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce Kick Off meeting at 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 11, 2007 at the Oakwood Clubhouse.

As I noted previously, Mr. Cole is highly respected and has been very responsive to requests for information etc. by the City of Lakeland

I think Lakeland residents will enjoy meeting and hearing Ed Cole, Paul Degges, and Michael Oakes and urge all area residents and businesses to attend.

Edward H. Cole

Chief of Environment and Planning
Tennessee Department of Transportation

Before his appointment by Commissioner Gerald F. Nicely to become the Chief of Environment and Planning for the Department of Transportation, Edward H. Cole served as Executive Director of Cumberland Region Tomorrow. A ten-county regional planning organization, this agency was responsible for development of a regional vision for land-use, transportation, historic site, social service and other factors that influence regional development in the Nashville area. Prior to that service he was senior principal for American Management Systems, a Fairfax, Virginia company.
Cole’s experience in state government totals 16 years. He functioned as deputy commissioner in the Department of Environment and Conservation and briefly served as interim commissioner in that department. He also had a stint as Chief of Finance and Information for the agency. His other involvement in Tennessee state government includes positions in information services in the Department of Children’s Services and the Tennessee Department of Health and Environment. He also worked briefly as an information systems consultant for the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet of the state of Kentucky.

A former employee of the Metropolitan Government in Nashville, Cole was an assistant to the executive director of MDHA from 1981 to 1983 and an environmental analyst for the Metropolitan Planning Commission and the Metropolitan Health Department from 1978 to 1981. Cole has also taught planning and political science courses at the university level and was a visiting lecturer in government at the University of Sydney, Australia from 1970-72.

A 1965 graduate in political science from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, Cole has an MS in Planning from the University of Tennessee and an MA in political science from the University of Florida.

Cole has served on many boards and commissions during his career including the Environmental Council of States, the Tennessee Public Health Association, the National Advisory Committee on Environmental Policy and Technology, the EPA Executive Steering Committee, the National Association of Information Systems Resource Executives, the Dede Wallace Mental Health Center, and the Hillsboro-West End Neighborhood Association.

Cole and his wife Pat live in Nashville where he enjoys bicycling, boating, traveling and volunteer work.