Greg Fischer
Gregory Edward Fischer is an American businessman and entrepreneur who served as the second mayor of the consolidated city-county of "Louisville Metro" in Kentucky, from 2011 to 2023. In 2019, he was elected vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and in 2020, he served as its president.
Fischer ran in the Kentucky Democratic primary for the United States Senate in 2008, finishing second with 34% of the vote. In November 2010, he was elected mayor of Louisville in a tight race against Metro Council member Hal Heiner. He was reelected in 2014 and 2018, defeating Republican Metro Council member Angela Leet 61% to 37% to win a third term. Due to term limits, Fischer was ineligible to run for reelection as mayor in 2022.
Under Fischer's leadership as mayor, Louisville Metro gained 80,000 new jobs and 3,000 new businesses. In a 2016 Politico survey, he was recognized as the most innovative mayor in the U.S. In 2013, Governing magazine named Fischer its Public Official of the Year. The city has also attracted $24 billion in capital investment since the Great Recession, including a renovated and expanded convention center, dozens of new hotels and multiple tourist attractions centered around bourbon.
Early life and education
Fischer was born in Louisville to Mary Lee and George Fischer, graduates of Loretto and Flaget High School in Louisville, respectively, and has four siblings. George was the CEO of MetriData Computing Inc. and Secretary of the Cabinet of Kentucky under Governor John Y. Brown Jr.Fischer attended Trinity High School in the city and graduated in 1976. He has since been inducted as a member of the school's hall of fame. After high school, Fischer attended Vanderbilt University, where he majored in economics, graduating in 1980. To help pay for his education, Fischer worked summers as a crane operator on the fishing docks of Kodiak, Alaska, unloading salmon boats.
After graduation, Fischer traveled solo around the world for a year, spending the bulk of his trip in Asia, before returning to Louisville. He is married to Alexandra Gerassimides.
Business career
Fischer co-founded SerVend International with his father, George, and brother, Mark. At age 25, he co-invented the SerVend combination ice and beverage dispenser. Over the course of the Fischer's involvement with SerVend, it grew into a global manufacturing business employing over 300 people. In 1998, SerVend was one of three U.S. small businesses to be honored with a site visit by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award examiners. Also in 1998, Flomatic International, SerVend's valve manufacturing division, received the Oregon Quality Award. The Rochester Institute of Technology and USA Today gave SerVend a Quality Cup Award in the small business category in 1999. The Manitowoc Company purchased SerVend in 1997 for $78 million.In 1990, Fischer, along with his father and brother, Mark, was named a winner of an award sponsored by Inc. magazine, Ernst & Young, Merrill Lynch and Business First. As Kentucky and Southern Indiana's Regional Entrepreneurs of the Year in the manufacturing division for their work with SerVend, they were among the finalists for Inc.'s U.S. Entrepreneur of the Year award.
In 2000, Fischer co-founded bCatalyst, a business accelerator that evolved into a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm. In 2010, Louisville-based Hilliard Lyons acquired bCatalyst.
Fischer was an investor and board member with MedVenture Technology. MedVenture, in Jeffersonville, Indiana, is an engineering outsourcer and early stage manufacturer on non-invasive medical devices for companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic.
Until 2011, Fischer was part owner of Dant Clayton Corporation, a sports stadium design, manufacturing, and construction company with prominent sports-related projects around the U.S. In addition to his other ventures, he now serves as founder and chairman of Iceberg Ventures, a private investment firm in Louisville.
Community life
Fischer held chapter offices, including chapter chair, in the Young Presidents' Organization Bluegrass chapter in 1997 and 1998. There, he led the YPO-funded construction of a Habitat for Humanity home and also created a community partnership with Louisville's Center for Interfaith Relations in 2003, resulting in bringing talent such as Robert McNamara to Louisville for community learning. In 2007, Fischer was awarded the first-ever Bluegrass YPO "Best of the Best" award for community contribution in 2007 for lifelong community service.As past chairman of the Kentucky Science Center in 2001 and 2002, Fischer helped raise over $20 million to modernize the museum and create interactive children's programs. He has also endowed scholarships at Trinity High School and the University of Louisville. In 2006, Fischer received the Catholic Schools Distinguished Alumni Award from the Archdiocese of Louisville.
Fischer has been a guest lecturer at MIT and the University of Louisville, and was also an executive in residence at Indiana University Southeast in 1999 and 2000. He has served as a past board member of Crane House, an Asian cultural institute in Louisville, and Greater Louisville Inc.
2008 U.S. Senate campaign
Fischer was one of seven candidates in the 2008 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky. He ran a five-month campaign and finished second with 34 percent of the vote.Primary winner Bruce Lunsford went on to lose the general election to Republican incumbent Mitch McConnell.
Mayor of Louisville Metro
Election history
Fischer announced his candidacy for mayor of Louisville Metro in July 2009. On November 4, 2009, he became the first to file his letter of intent for the primary election on May 18, 2010.A television advertisement for Fischer released in late March 2010 cited four priorities under his would-be administration: creating jobs, investing in clean energy, making metro government more transparent and building two new bridges over the Ohio River.
Fischer won the Democratic primary on May 18, 2010, with 45% of the vote. In the November 2 general election, he defeated Republican former council member Hal Heiner and two independent candidates with 51% of the vote.
On April 23, 2013, Fischer announced to a group of supporters that he would run for reelection in 2014. Fischer was reelected with 68.5% of the vote to Bob Devore's 31.3%. His inauguration took place on January 5, 2015.
On March 24, 2017, Fischer announced to a group of reporters that he would seek a third term in 2018. He won the Democratic primary on May 22, 2018, with approximately 75% of the vote. In the general election, he defeated Republican Metro Council member Angela Leet, 61% to 37%.
Tenure
Fischer was sworn in as the second Mayor of Louisville Metro Government, and the 50th Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, on January 3, 2011.Upon taking office, Fischer announced that the city would observe three core values: compassion, better health and lifelong learning.
He also launched efforts to foster a data-driven approach towards government efficiency. This included the creation of the Office for Performance Improvement & Innovation and the implementation of Louiestat, which "brings individual Metro departments before the Mayor and his senior leadership team every six to eight weeks to identify, through consistent metrics tracking and data analysis, what the department can do to continually improve the services it delivers to the citizens of Louisville." The city has been recognized as a leader in the use of data and in making data open and available to the public, and is one of only four cities to receive What Works Cities' Platinum Certification.
Economy
Fischer's administration focused on building the economy and creating opportunities for residents. Early in his tenure, Fischer convened a committee of residents to identify opportunities in the food and beverage industries, culminating in a 2013 report and the coining of the phrase "bourbonism".The idea was to leverage the growing popularity of bourbon, which is largely produced in Kentucky, and Louisville's history with the beverage to create new economic opportunities in industries such as dining and tourism. The city now attracts 16 million tourists annually and has a dozen bourbon attractions, such as distilleries on the historic Main Street Whiskey Row.
Along with the redeveloped and expanded downtown convention center, bourbonism has been a factor in multiple new hotels opening in the city, including the Omni Louisville in 2018 and Moxy/Hotel Distil in October 2019.
Fischer's administration focused on attracting investment to lower-income neighborhoods, resulting in about $1.4 billion of investment in west Louisville. Among the investments in predominantly African American neighborhoods were the redevelopment of the Beecher Terrace public housing site through a $29.5 million federal grant, a new YMCA at the historic 18th Street and Broadway intersection, and a new indoor track and learning center by the Louisville Urban League with support from the city.
Fischer also focused on scaling Louisville's technology industry and talent pool. In 2019, Microsoft announced that Louisville would be its regional hub for artificial intelligence, internet of things, and data science. In 2013, Fischer worked to launch Code Louisville, a nationally recognized program that offers free coding training to Louisville residents. In June 2019, Fischer announced further efforts to scale Louisville's tech talent development efforts.
During Fischer's first nine years in office, the local economy added 80,000 jobs, 3,000 new businesses opened, and the net unemployment rate dropped from 10.2% in January 2011 to 3.3% in September 2019.
In 2014, Fischer cut ties with the regional commerce organization Greater Louisville Inc., citing concerns over the organization's financial stability and leadership. He then created a new Economic Development branch, Louisville Forward, creating 3,500 jobs and close to $500,000,000 in local investments its first 10 months, while being named one of the nation's top 10 economic development groups. But during Fischer's tenure, Louisville struggled to catch up to neighboring metropolitan areas in percentage of "high-paying jobs", ranking 9th out of 17 in the region.