Nancy VanReece

Carpe Diem Management - Strategy and Waymaking

Madison, TN

IT STARTS WITH A PROMISE - AND ALWAYS HAS A STORY

FROM THE GRASSROOTS UP

Intentions

December 27, 2022  /  Hon. Nancy VanReece

My 2022 intentions of Love, Service & Adventure became self-fulfilling!

Love: Joan and I just had our 35th Christmas together and have learned how to celebrate our third act by realizing the best investments in life are made in people, not things.

Service: My service to the City of Nashville is reaching a conclusion with a near decade-long vision to see the Madisonian renaissance and the long overdue respect for the Maplewood neighborhoods a reality.

Adventure: Visiting 17 cities, including five in France and one in Mexico, has given me a wanderlust for more travel for both work and fun!

The new job with LDG Development combines government relations with arts and culture and is just seven months old. It shows how a great company's character also comes from love and service!

My time within Class VIII of Leadership Tennessee proceeded three weeks at Harvard Kennedy Business School Executive Education program in State & Local government. I learned a lot but what I worked on most was myself. Finding a new confidence in vulnerability that has helped me understand that leadership is a verb.

My friend and artist Janna Leoff gave us hand-designed intention cards on New Year’s Eve last year, and we have drawn from them daily ever since.

I drew three today to see what would happen if I used them not just for a day but to set intentions for the year.

I think they’ll stick.

CHASE YOUR DREAMS. ROAD TRIP. STAY WILD

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Grand Opening of MADISON STATION BLVD and Plan Reveal of the MADISON STATION DEVELOPMENT

August 23, 2022  /  Hon. Nancy VanReece

MADISON STATION DAY

Thank you so much to the faculty and students of Hunters Lane, Maplewood, and Goodpasture schools for making this day particularly memorable!

Thank you, David Rast, of TTL, for keeping the wheels turning on the easements when everyone wanted us to slow down.  Your tenacity helped make this happen.

I have worked on this project for seven years. It was exhausting. I am quite sure that I would have hit the wall at some point if it had not been for a man named Rick Kirkpatrick.

Rick, don’t throw away my phone number just yet! -  Thank you for being the oxygen that this project needed to be completed.  Thank you for being the oxygen I needed to see this day.

Some history:

By 1830, three stagecoach lines ran out of town along Haysboro Road (now Gallatin Pike). As the town grew, the Thomas Stratton family would have a son Madison, who, at age 21, would continue to expand his landholdings and become a leader in the community. As a large landowner, Madison Stratton sold a portion of his land so that the state could build a railway line connecting Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Clarksville, Tennessee. The station was built and was named Madison Station in honor of Madison Stratton; the station later became known as Amqui Station. 

This past May 21st was the 164th Anniversary of the charter of the post office called "Madison Station" (1857)

In Dr. Guy Bockmon's book, using the 1880 census, Madison is described as: "a community of farmers, laborers, servants, people 'At Home' and 'Keeping House,' youngsters who were 'At School,' a few tradesmen, a handful of professional people, a couple of 'Hucksters,' three fishermen, one steamboat pilot, and one banjo player."

In 2020, The Madison on My Mind project from Metro Arts & Culture, funded by an NEA grant, re-established our commitment to storytelling in this place called Madison.

We have historic landmarks like The Maybelle, Rainbow Ranch, and the cornerstones like the home of Queen Kitty Wells and her beloved Johnny Wright and over 35 documented Grand Ole Opry musicians who have lived in the 37115.

Our history informs our future.

It was Mayor Bill Purcell who got the idea of the road to appear in the Capitol Improvement Budget. Nathan Massey diligently told the story to everyone that would listen.

When I was elected in 2015, the story for this road started shaping up. This road wasn't an extension of Neely's Bend. This road was our renaissance. When Mark North suggested to me that the road be called Madison Station (I added the Blvd because I wanted it to be pretty), the story started to unfold.

Mayor Barry heard the story and believed and placed in the 2016 spending plan the funds to get the community input, design, and construction underway. Mayor Briley agreed that the project should stay active and valued. He kept the valuable easements and stormwater designs going. Mayor Cooper kept the gas peddle down and provided the final budget necessary to complete this beautiful street, not just Madison Street but all the way to Old Hickory.

Imagine a Madison Middle School student riding their bike down that beautiful hill in an off-curb bike lane to the Madison Library.

In the final stages of procurement, I reminded us that there were only three reasons for a city to build a road of this nature and with this beauty;

  1. To help people get somewhere.

  2. To provide a sense of place for the community to gather

  3. To encourage additional private development that would bring housing, jobs, and commerce.

Madison Station Blvd does all of these things. In fact, as you can see, Timberhawk Hall is well underway.  The entire Amqui Station campus will be brought to life by this road. The fantastic landscaping that is provided for the front of Fifty Forward opens a beautiful, welcoming environment.

This is now and will continue to be a beautiful place.  The Madison Rivergate Area Chamber of Commerce has started a committee called The Friends of Madison Station Blvd. that will allow private and public collaboration to maintain the beauty of this place.

The banners you see on the signs are a direct result of the Nossi College of Art’s program that creates projects for students.  Artist Brilee Write used the influence of the modern font from the Madison Library and  Gallatin Pike signs and the community-inspired circles for our future park and our new roundabout to design our new logo.  She is here with us today - Thank you, Brilee!

Two things to do:

Please come back at 6 pm tonight and join me with Artesia Development, The Cauble Group, Smith Gee Studio, and Hawkins Partners to see the community-informed plans for the work that will begin at the former Madison Square to the South.  We will be inside at FiftyForward at 6pm and Mayor Cooper will join us for that.

Next: Please be sure to let the Mayor know how important it is to you to see the Park at Madison Station fully funded in the upcoming Autumn spending plan.  Let’s get a shovel in the ground for the Kitty Wells & Johnny Wright Park next Spring! 

Let the Renaissance continue!

Click here to see the presentation from ARTESIA, Gee/Smith Partners, and Hawkins Partners.

Land acknowledgment: the land of Madison Station is the ancestral territory and vibrant hunting ground of the Cherokee and Shawnee tribal nations. We recognize and respect Indigenous People as the traditional stewards of this land and continue today to contribute to the life of this city. We honor their stories – told and untold - and the people of the past, present, and future who have greatly contributed to this land's sacredness. We also must take a moment to recognize the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory.

We also acknowledge the painful history experienced by Black people in our community and their significant contributions on and around this land. In particular, we recognize the humanity of enslaved Black people who built our city’s economy. 

Additionally, as we stand in close proximity to the rail lines, we honor the Black people who built the L&N Railroad. Lastly, though we are not on the original campus for Amqui Station, we stand with the original building and must acknowledge the many Black soldiers who fought for our country in WWII yet were not able to enter the front door of the train station. 

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“As a newly formed, public-facing enterprise, our organization benefited from Nancy’s deep understanding and valuable experience in Public Affairs. She established community relationships — public and private, near and far — that will prove critical to our company’s success.
She is a positive and dynamic contributor.
Nancy defined the important role of Vice President of Public Affairs and Business Development beyond the scope of our expectations and executed the complex nature of this dual role seamlessly and with utmost professionalism.”
— Fred Kennedy, Harken Hall
“What can Nancy NOT do? Seriously - she approaches any role, job, task, or initiative with integrity, authenticity, and passion. She’s not afraid of the hard work needed to get the job done and is quick to look for wins for all parties. She also shows up with her community. Nancy is not merely well connected; she’s deeply connected and brings that network to any opportunity that has a chance to make the world better. ”
— Sam Davidson, Co-Founder Batch USA, LLC
“I worked with Nancy for 4 years and I can attest that she is a life-long learner, leader, and relationship builder. Nancy has never met a stranger. I’ve probably sat in over 100 meetings with her and she’s always found something to connect with the person across the table- “a virtual connector of dots.” That takes both empathy and emotional intelligence. Nancy is thoughtful in her approach to everything she does which makes her excellent at business development. She is able to think strategically at ten-thousand feet while being detailed oriented in the execution of tasks. Ideas are nothing without execution and Nancy balances those effortlessly. Having Nancy is your corner is nothing short of incredible.”
— RYAN CARTER, FOUNDER/CEO PARCHUTE MEDIA, LLC
“Nancy did a spectacular job rebuilding MDSave’s social media presence. One heck of a turnaround job. She was creative, reliable and has a solid work ethic. She came to the table with fresh ideas, was always on time and always kept a great sense of humor.”
— Chad Blackburn Vice President Business Development MDSave,Inc.

"I came to Nancy because I wanted to build my brand through blogging/social media and had zero knowledge about how to do it. She was the perfect person for the job. Her blend of social media expertise and calm, positive demeanor was exactly what I needed. 

Consultant/coach/patient trainer, she helped me create a path to launching my blog and gave me skills along the way. She made me feel like what I wanted to achieve was possible, and then got me there. There is lots left to do, but I feel confident that we will partner to achieve the long term results I'm hoping for."

- Lisa Pote, Consultant

“Nancy VanReece is the real thing. She knows how to build an effective social media brand/platform. Even better, she makes this complex, arcane world accessible (and dare I say FUN) for her clients. She stands on the valuable ground where social media, branding and marketing intersect. I’m incredibly relieved to have her on my team!”
— Amy Lynch, Generational Edge
“What can be said about Nancy VanReece that you may not already know? There is a general consensus (and a look at her LinkedIn recommendations confirms this) regarding her wide-ranging talent for just about everything at which she tries her hand. As communications director at the Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation (GBBF), I was responsible for helping to coordinate a statewide summit featuring thought leaders and communications experts in the non-profit arena. During the planning phase for the event, when charged with finding a presenter for the topic of social media engagement, I knew immediately that Nancy was the best possible choice. Nancy is on the cutting edge when it comes to helping organizations create comprehensive social media engagement strategies. Her presentation at the Tennessee Executive Residence was eloquent, sleek, articulate and – most significantly – effective. Our attendees left the summit invigorated with a real sense of how to implement Nancy’s ideas and reach more of their constituents in the ever-evolving ecosystem of social media platforms. I cannot recommend her highly enough, and I hope to work with her often in the future.”
— Kirk Graves, Communications Director, Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation
“Nancy has completely transformed our social media program, creating a viable and robust presence for us across a variety of platforms, from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to Google+ and Pinterest. She has played a critical role in upgrading and maintaining our website, and she piloted the launch of the Nashville Symphony’s mobile app, which today has been downloaded more than 5,000 times.

Nancy’s commitment to the job has been beyond compare, as she has spent countless evenings tethered to her iPad, monitoring and responding to the outpouring of feedback we receive through our social networks. Day in and day out, she has created, organized and posted dynamic content that represents the full breadth of who we are and what we do here at the Nashville Symphony — our concerts, our musicians, our education programs, you name it. We are a better institution for all of the incredible work that she has done, and she’ll be greatly missed.

In her own words: “I have enjoyed my nearly two years with the organization. Over 16,000 tweets and 2,200 Facebook posts later — totaling 204 million impressions — we have grown a great community on 11 platforms having 500+ conversations a week. I look forward to working with new clients as effectively!””
— Sr. Director of Marketing|Communications, Nashville Symphony
“Nancy put together a intensive 2 day workshop for Engage Kingsport and Kingsport Cultural Arts. The workshops gave individual artists the confidence and tools they need to enter the Social Media world as well as helped regional arts organizations refine and enhance their current social media strategies.”
— Bonnie Macdonald, Director, City of Kingsport Office of Cultural Arts
“Nancy was fun and informative. As the Luncheon Keynote Speaker for the Tennessee Conference on Social Welfare, Nancy provided great insight to a representation of over 20 different social service agencies. Her presentation spoke to each agency and everyone left with a more forward thinking mindset of social media and how it can be most effective and beneficial in telling their agency’s story! We loved Nancy!”
— LaTamera Woodley, LAPSW