Nicholas J. Tennyson (born September 29, 1950) was the Secretary of the

North Carolina Department of Transportation The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is responsible for building, repairing, and operating highways, bridges, and other modes of transportation, including ferries in the U.S. state of North Carolina. History The North Carolina ...

under former Governor Pat McCrory and former two-term mayor of

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

Mayor of Durham

Tennyson was mayor from 1997 to 2001. Elected in November, 1997, Tennyson was re-elected

in 1999 ''In 1999'' is a 1912 one-act comedic short play by William C. deMille, originally produced by Jesse L. Lasky, that was popular upon its release. Its gags are based on a future where gender roles are reversed. Production The piece debuted at th ...

with almost two-thirds of the vote but lost a second re-election bid to Bill Bell by fewer than 500 votes in 2001. Public service was a family tradition as his father had served as mayor of

Arkadelphia, Arkansas Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,714. The city is the county seat of Clark County. It is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderson ...

, in the early 1950s. He campaigned to reduce crime, redevelop of the urban core, and increase confidence in city administration. Tennyson was an active supporter of data-based public safety efforts and instituted quarterly reports to Council – replacing the past practice of an annual report. In the spring of 1999, before Tennyson's reelection to a second term, Durham experienced its largest drop in crime since 1971, when the city began keeping computerized statistics. The drop followed a national trend. Downtown Durham and public-private partnerships were a key focus for him. The redevelopment of the American Tobacco Campus was cited as a major reason to put a restricted fund in place using a 1 cent property tax set-aside for infrastructure improvements that helped American Tobacco and later used for Parrish Street projects.

Later career

Tennyson served as the Executive Vice President of the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange and Chatham Counties from 1995 until 2013, when he became a Chief Deputy Secretary of the

. He became acting Secretary in 2015 upon the resignation of

Tony Tata Anthony Jean Tata (born September 7, 1959) (), is an American retired United States Army officer, author, and government official. He is a retired brigadier general of the United States Army (1981–2009), and later served as a school district ad ...

. Governor

Pat McCrory Patrick Lloyd McCrory (born October 17, 1956) is an American businessman, politician and radio host who served as the 74th governor of North Carolina from 2013 to 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 53rd Mayor o ...

appointed Tennyson to the Secretary's post permanently on August 6, 2015.

Education, military service and family

He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

and Masters in Human Resources Management from

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and t ...

. A veteran of the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

, Tennyson served as a commissioned officer on active duty from 1972 - 1977. After leaving active duty, he continued his service as a member of

US Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Se ...

, ultimately retiring in 1996 as a Captain. Tennyson is married to Jennifer and together they have three children; two sons and a daughter, all of whom were educated in Durham Public Schools.

References

1950 births Living people Mayors of Durham, North Carolina State cabinet secretaries of North Carolina North Carolina Republicans {{NorthCarolina-mayor-stub