TBR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

J. THOMAS COCHRAN
Executive Director
The United States Conference of Mayors

J. Thomas Cochran is Executive Director of The United States Conference of Mayors, the official nonpartisan organization representing mayors and cities over 30,000 in population. He has served the organization for over 30 years since 1969.

Under his broad range of responsibilities as executive director, Mr. Cochran:

	Crafts and oversees implementation of an overall lobbying strategy to produce federal policies that protect and enhance the public safety, health, housing, transportation, and economic and social well being of people in the nation’s urban and suburban areas; as such, he has been involved in virtually every major federal issue of importance to city officials, including, most recently, reauthorization of the COPS Program, Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, gun safety and many others;
	Serves as President of the Conference of Mayors Research and Education Foundation, which provides direct technical assistance to mayors through a variety of programs in the arts and culture, energy and the environment, community policing, employment and training, health, housing and other areas;
	Develops strong partnerships with the private sector through such initiatives as the Mayors Business Council of The United States Conference of Mayors, established in January 1998;
	Manages and oversees the organization’s administrative, financial, legal, personnel, technical, and educational services; in this regard, Mr. Cochran leads the overall fund-raising efforts of the Conference of Mayors by approaching foundations, the private sector and others for support of programs and events;
	Provides the overall direction and strategic vision of the Conference of Mayors through analyzing political trends, identifying emerging public policies, and translating these into next-generation policy positions and programs to benefit local government; and
	Generates new international and domestic initiatives to assist majors, their citizens and the organization in achieving this mission, including CITIES/2000, initiated in 1999, which is engaging U.S. mayors with mayors from major cities of the world in joint efforts aimed at democracy-building, increased trade and investment, sharing of best practices and building new relationships and exchanges; The Mayors Business Council, established in 1998; the Best Practices Center, established in 1998; development of U.S. Mayor, the official newspaper; the United States Conference of Mayors/National Association of Counties Center for Sustainable Communities, 1996; the USCM Internet presence; the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ expanded public employee benefits program; the USCM Urban Water Council and many others.

Before becoming the Conference’s Executive Director in March 1987, Mr. Cochran was Deputy Executive Director for seventeen years. As Deputy Executive Director, he had overall responsibility for the Conference’s legislative program and, with the Conference’s Executive Director, joint oversight of the organization’s administrative, financial, legal, personnel, technical and educational services.

Prior to joining the Conference of Mayors, Mr. Cochran served in the Office of Economic Opportunity, Executive Office of the President, under the directorship of Sargent Shirver. He was director of Congressional Relations for the Job Corps and in that capacity received several awards for outstanding service. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Georgia.

Mr. Cochran enjoys a variety of interests, including the arts, music, movies, literature and cooking. He is the father of three sons, Tom, John and Alexander. His wife, Carlotta, has two daughters, Ansleigh and Havalynn, and one son, Harold. Frm this group there are four grandsons – Wells and Lawton Jones and twins, Williams and Jackson Riddle – and two granddaughters, Martin Lane Cochran and Olivia Grace Jones.

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