Speaker Friday, January 5, 2024
Politics, academia, business, How are they alike and how are they different? Our speaker this week Jim Shulman, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Cumberland University, will give us an idea of what he has learned over the past 3 months switching from political life to academia.
Jim Shulman is a new Assistant Professor of Political Science at Cumberland. Shulman is originally from Johnson City, Tennessee. He moved to Nashville where he attended and then graduated from Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt Law School. Almost immediately after graduating from Law School, Shulman went into government and policy work. He served as the lead legal counsel for the Tennessee Department of Finance under then-Governor Ned McWherter. Shulman then went to work as Chief of Staff for Tennessee Speaker of the House Jimmy Naifeh.
In 1999, Shulman decided to run for his District Metro Council seat in Nashville. He was elected and then re-elected for a four-year term in 2003. During his tenure on the Council, Shulman chaired the Budget, Transportation, and Public Works Committees.
Shulman left State Government and opened two Maggie Moo Ice Cream stores in Nashville, the first ones to be opened in Tennessee. After getting those stores running, Shulman went back to State Government where he served as the Deputy Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health and then as the Executive Director of the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability.
In 2015, Shulman ran and was elected to an At-large seat on Nashville’s Metro Council. In 2018, when the Vice Mayor’s seat opened, Shulman ran and was elected. He was then re-elected to a full four-year term in 2019. As Vice Mayor, Shulman focused on transparency in the Council proceedings, set special committees to focus on issues such as voting and crime rates, and directed that the Public Safety Committee review school security concerns. He also started the practice of letting children (of all ages) bang the gavel to start the meetings.
Shulman is married to Lori and they have two daughters and three grandchildren.
Our Current Speaker Schedule
Recent and Future Speakers
| 5/1/26 | Jim Easter, Healthcare trends in 2026 | ||
| 5/8/26 | Yuri Cunza, CEO Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce | ||
| 5/15/26 | Christiane Buggs, Bob Kucher, of PENCIL CEO | ||
| 5/22/26 | District Governor, John Christopher Williams | ||
| 5/29/26 | Laurel Creech and Casey Davis, The Nature Conservancy in Tennessee | ||
| 6/5/26 | Nashville Opera, Keri Alkema, Chief Strategy & Ops Officer | ||
| 6/12/26 | Todd Campbell, CEO Backfield in Motion — Serving and Providing Opportunities for Kids Through education and Sports | ||
| 6/19/26 | Jasmine Chambers, Co-Founder of Jasper |