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1. James Haslam II
Patriarch and leader of the Inner Circle
(8 out of 8 votes)

James Haslam II, (Big Jim), was the only unanimous selection to our list of the 12 most powerful Knoxvillians. Haslam is the principal owner and Chairman of Pilot Corporation, a privately held petroleum, grocery, fast food and travel center conglomerate with annual gross revenues in excess of $4 billion. At 72, he is the patriarch of a family whose name has become synonymous with wealth, influence and philanthropy in East Tennessee. In fact, he has presided over so many boards, has raised and donated so much money for so many causes, and has had a major hand in shaping so many civic decisions that he's sometimes referred to as the city's patriarch.

A long-time Trustee of the University of Tennessee (whence he graduated and was a star player on the 1951 national championship football team), Haslam is widely believed to be the board's most influential member. Recently, he, along with Mayor Victor Ashe, was the driving force behind the development of the city's $160 million downtown convention center.

Throughout his business career, which has seen Pilot grow to 250 locations in 39 states, Haslam has been an active behind-the-scenes player in local, state and even national politics. He is consistently among the nation's largest contributors to Republican causes and candidates. He helped found the Public Building Authority in 1971 and served as its only chair for nearly three decades before being ousted by County Commission. Along with UT's other Trustees, Haslam has recently come under fire for his role in the selection of the University's last two presidents, both of whom resigned amidst scandalous allegations. Still, his legacy and tremendous influence endure as is evidenced by the fact that his youngest son, Bill Haslam, was recently elected mayor of Knoxville.

2. Mike Ragsdale
County Mayor
(7 out of 8 votes)

County Mayor Mike Ragsdale has held office for less than a year-and-a-half but has already chalked up several political victories that have increased his popularity within a county that did not even field a viable opposition candidate to him during the election. Running his campaign primarily on a platform of economic development, Ragsdale has pledged to create more and better jobs, improve our public schools, and to resolve disputes between various government entities, such as the lawsuit between County Commission and the School Board.

Perhaps his greatest accomplishment to date has been combining the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership and the Development Corporation of Knox County, both now headed by Mike Edwards. Among his other accomplishments have been his adept handling of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in west Knox County, bringing prompt closure to the maligned Universe Knoxville project, and the hiring of new library director, Larry Frank. Recently, Ragsdale (with Judge James Jarvis' club hanging over everyone's head) also played a significant role in getting all arms of law enforcement in Knox County to cooperate in resolving the controversial and long debated problem of jail overcrowding.

As for the future, Ragsdale has talked of his desire to construct a new downtown library and children's discovery museum as part of a bold, downtown-centric capital spending plan to be unveiled in 2004.

3. Bill Haslam
Mayor elect and member of the Inner Circle
(seven out of eight votes)

Bill Haslam was elected mayor of Knoxville on Sept. 30 when he received just over 53 percent of the popular vote. By deciding to run for public office, the son of (Big) Jim Haslam II plunged further into politics than his father ever did. A political novice, Bill Haslam was only partially successful in convincing the electorate that he would be a mayor who served the interests of all Knoxvillians and not just the city's business and cultural elite. (The fact that nearly 47 percent of voters cast their ballots for Haslam's under-funded opponent and mayoral race underdog Madeline Rogero, belies the suspicion of those who would hold the perceived sins of the father against the son).

Bill Haslam's business and civic careers, though not unimpressive, had been less than auspicious before his decision to run for mayor. After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, Haslam worked for the family business and was its president in 1999 when he was persuaded by Saks' CEO, Brad Martin, to head up the company's e-commerce division. After a short stint with Saks, Haslam returned to Pilot and, along with a group of minor investors, purchased the Tennessee Smokies AA professional baseball franchise. Haslam's civic resume includes fundraising for organizations as diverse as the Emerald Avenue Youth Foundation, the Foothills Land Conservancy and the Salvation Army. He has served as Chairman of the United Way of Greater Knoxville and of Project Grad.

Haslam, who will take office on Dec. 20, attributes his decision to run for mayor to conversations he had with Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker. "He started explaining his view of what a mayor could do in a city, and I just got more and more interested in it to where I decided to come home and at least spend time talking to people about what do you think Knoxville needs right now. What are the big issues?" How well Haslam listens to the answers to those questions may well determine whether he will be an effective mayor. Should he be perceived to stumble, the closeness of the election could result in city council members distancing themselves from his agenda.

4. Jim Clayton
Member of the Inner Circle
(six out of eight votes)

If the adage is true that wealth equates to power, then Jim Clayton is one powerful man. Founder of Clayton Homes, a multi-billion dollar mobile home business recently purchased by legendary investor Warren Buffet's Berkshire-Hathaway, Clayton is a West Tennessee sharecropper's son who grew up without electricity or running water. Today, he is a perennial member of the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans (with an estimated net worth of $620 million) and has been a behind-the-scenes player in local and state politics for the last 35 years.

Clayton's rise to the top was not without its bumps in the road, however. In 1961, along with his brother Joe, Clayton was forced into bankruptcy when the Hamilton National Bank foreclosed on their car dealership, Clayton Autoland. According to Jim Clayton's recently published autobiography, First A Dream, this led to his being twice blackballed (in 1984 and 1986) by Cherokee Country Club despite being—at the time—the CEO of Knoxville's only publicly-owned company and having already established a record of philanthropy in the community.

Clayton, once an aspiring country musician, began advertising his cars and mobile homes by producing local TV variety shows in the early '60s on which he and a young Dolly Parton often performed. Among Clayton's philanthropic contributions are the $3.2 million donated to help construct the Clayton Building that houses the Knoxville Museum of Art, $1 million for the Clayton Homes Chair of Excellence at the University of Tennessee Law School, $1 million for the Clayton Center for Entrepreneurial Law at the University of Tennessee College of Law and $1 million for the Clayton Birthing Center at Baptist Hospital. Most recently, Clayton endowed The Clayton Family Foundation with $120 million, making it Knoxville's largest foundation.

5. Raja Jubran
Member of the Inner Circle
(six out of eight votes)

Lebanese born, of Palestinian extraction, Jubran came to the United States in 1977 to study engineering at UT. After graduation, he stayed in Knoxville in part because his father had recently died of a heart attack and in part because full-scale civil war had broken out in Lebanon. Today, Jubran heads Denark Construction, a general contracting juggernaut that has landed more high profile, high dollar jobs than any other local construction firm in recent years. Jubran's father, Jubran A. Jubran, once owned one of the Middle East's largest engineering and construction companies, and it would seem that Raja's ambitions are just as prodigious.

In 2003, the Associated Builders and Contractors and Associated General Contractors presented Denark with its Excellence in Construction Award in its mega-project category for its construction of the $160 million Knoxville Convention Center. Denark was also the recent recipient of a prestigious national award for safety in the construction industry.

Often beginning his workday at 4 a.m., Jubran's work ethic is fast approaching legendary status. He puts in a full day's construction work before noon and focuses the rest of his day on community and charitable endeavors. He is a past Chairman of both the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership and Knoxville's Community Development Corporation. Very close with the Haslams and many others on this list, Jubran has perhaps climbed further and faster on Knoxville's business and cultural ladders than anyone else in the past decade.

6. Bill Baxter
Member of the Inner Circle
(six out of eight votes)

TVA director Bill Baxter keeps a desk in his office but no chair, lest he succumb to laziness. Energetic, confident and aggressive, Baxter has assumed a role with the federal agency usually reserved for the chairman. A graduate of Duke University and the University of Tennessee Law School, Baxter ran Holston Gases before serving three years as commissioner of the state Department of Economic Development under former Gov. Don Sundquist.

Establishing himself as the board's most out-front personage in addressing policy matters, Baxter has been a tireless advocate of TVA initiatives since taking office two years ago. TVA sources say that he idolizes former TVA chair (Carvin') Marvin Runyon, or at least aspires to the sort of role Runyon played. Baxter is known to have close ties to other members on this list including both Haslams and Mayor Ashe. He has served as Chairman of the United Way of Greater Knoxville. Currently, he advocates leasing one of the TVA twin towers on Summit Hill Avenue. Claiming that the current need for TVA office space can be accommodated in one of the buildings, he states that he has no intention of luring businesses from other downtown properties, but that his goal is to entice new businesses to downtown.

7. Victor Ashe
Current Mayor of Knoxville
(six out of eight votes)

Victor Ashe has been mayor of Knoxville since 1987. In 1995, a Metro Pulse cover story bore the headline, Victor The Grate, in reference to what his critics claim is his perturbing style of running city government. Somewhat more officially nicknamed "The Bulldog" since the late '60s when he began his tenacious days as a State Representative and State Senator, Ashe took the helm of city government at a time of great fiscal crisis and has been largely successful in righting the city's economic ship. Other accomplishments include improving the city's public parks and greenways system, developing Volunteer Landing and, albeit belatedly, championing downtown revitalization—mainly through leading the charge on historic preservation.

Though he is set to leave office in December, it is difficult to imagine Knoxville as a city upon which Victor Ashe will no longer strive to make his impression. If recent rumors of an impending ambassadorship prove true, however, Ashe's influence on Knoxville may go on hiatus. Even so, we have the sneaking suspicion that we've not heard the last of Victor.

8. Rodney Lawler/Pat Wood
Members of the Inner Circle
(five out of eight votes)

OK. We cheated a bit. But like Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd before them, many people believe that Lawler Wood is one person. In reality, they are two people (which we suppose makes Marshall Tucker the better analogy), but they wield their considerable influence like the proverbial two-headed beast.

Their company, the Lawler/Wood Group is Knoxville's largest and most influential commercial real estate development firm. The partnership was formed in the mid-'70s, when Rodney Lawler (a former government employee with a background in affordable housing) approached Pat Wood about opportunities in the federally-funded low-income housing market. (As the fable goes, some 13 months after its formation, the partnership was awash in $20 million of net profits gleaned from these projects).

Irrespective of any initial windfall they may have received from these developments, Lawler/Wood has proven to have tremendous staying power. Both are philanthropists, and the fact that Lawler is a Republican and Wood a Democrat helps to insure that they are never completely out of favor in any political environment. Year after year, they continue to land multi-million dollar projects while managing to retain a relatively low profile (as is evidenced by the fact that they are the only members on our list for whom we could not find photographs), and we believe that this qualifies them as our quintessential behind-the-scenes powerbrokers.

9. Sharon Miller
Member of the Inner Circle
(five out of eight votes)

If Jim Haslam II is the patriarch of a Knoxville business oligarchy, then Sharon Miller is its matriarch. An investment banker by trade, Miller's Trust Company manages hundreds of millions in local assets. She also presided over the oligarchy's singular accomplishment of recent years: creation of the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership.

It took a great deal of exertion on the part of the shakers and movers to get the several economic booster organizations involved to confederate in the new entity. Once it was formed in 1998, Miller became its chairman, but the confederation was a loose one, and she had her hands full to keep it from unraveling.

At meetings on the back porch of her home on Kingston Pike, she tried to harmonize relations between the chamber's president, Tom Ingram, and the executive director of the Knox County Development Corp., Melissa Ziegler. It helped that Miller was also a director of the Development Corp., but the frictions never completely subsided until both Ingram and Ziegler departed, and Mike Edwards was named president of both entities.

Since completion of her term as chairman of the chamber in 2001, Miller has continued to serve on a number of boards including the Development Corp., the UT Foundation, and KUB. She's also the chair of this year's United Way campaign.

10. Tim Hutchison
Sheriff of Knox County
(four out of eight votes)

Before recent judicial setbacks and a narrow victory in his last election, Sheriff Tim Hutchison would have certainly rated higher on our list. A polarizing figure, Hutchison's supporters swear that he is one of the best sheriffs this county has ever seen and that he's grown his department into a world-class law enforcement agency. But there are also a large number of people who have aligned themselves against the sheriff. Among them are defense attorneys troubled by lack of access given to their clients and treatment of jail prisoners, and many journalists exasperated by the sheriff's unwillingness to disclose public information and his sporadic deceptions. In a 2002 Metro Pulse cover story on the Sheriff, staff writer Joe Tarr even claimed that the "'12-white men' Republican oligarchy of Knoxville" are lined up in near constant opposition to the sheriff. Ironic that he now makes our list of the 12 most powerful/influential Knoxvillians.

Despite his recent close call at the polls and public scoldings from Chancery Court judges, Hutchison continues to be a very powerful figure within Knox County politics. Currently in his fourth term, he has been keeping a lower profile of late; there is even word of some reconciliation between the sheriff and other powers on our list. But for proof of his influence, one need look no further than how Hutchison foiled the plans to consolidate city and county governments by mobilizing his grass roots supporters.

11. Sam Furrow
Member of the Inner Circle
(four out of eight votes)

As previously mentioned, Furrow is one of the names that comes to mind whenever the "12 White Guy" label is debated. Born in Loudon, Furrow grew up along Watts Bar Lake in Roane County before moving to Knoxville in sixth grade. A graduate of East High School and the University of Tennessee—where he was the founder and first president of the UT chapter of Phi Delta Theta fraternity—Furrow got his start by auctioning off used textbooks. After graduating from UT law school, Furrow began auctioning full time and has auctioned off everything from millions of dollars worth of heavy machinery to "a barnful of manure." In 1984, he bought out his partners in Knoxville Motor Co. and now holds the Mercedes franchise, plus Land Rover dealerships here and in Chattanooga.

Although he claims that "auctioning is what I do best," Furrow's business and philanthropic interests are myriad. Among his real estate holdings are the former Dean Planters Warehouses in East Knoxville, a 25-acre parcel on Lexington Drive in West Knoxville, a 50-acre industrial park on Cherry Street, and the 300,000 square foot former Levi Strauss plant, also on Cherry Street. Recently, Furrow purchased and renovated the downtown post office building (with the help of a $500,000 historical preservation grant from the City of Knoxville) and was successful in landing Union Planters Bank as its anchor tenant.

At the behest of Jim Haslam II, Furrow served as chairman of the United Way of Greater Knoxville in 1990. He has also served as chairman of the commission that wrote and advanced the failed 1996 Knoxville/Knox County unification charter, Leadership Knoxville and the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership. He is currently on the board of the Public Building Authority.

12. Gloria Ray
President of KTSC
(four out of eight votes)

Gloria Ray was UT's first women's athletic director until she helped form the Knoxville Sports Corporation in 1991. Under her direction, the Sports Corporation sold Knoxville as host to a number of high profile athletic events, including the national championships and junior national championships of the USA Track and Field Federation, and the AAU Junior Olympics, which "pumped $24 million into the city economy in one week."

Today, Ray is president of the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation, the entity charged with bringing world class conventions to Knoxville's new convention center. While the jury is still out on Ray with regard to her latest venture, she has more than proven herself as an extremely effective promoter of Knoxville. Her detractors claim that she can be intransigent, but it is precisely this single-minded drive toward attaining whatever goal she sets for herself or her organizations that has earned her a spot on our list of top 12 local powerbrokers.