Mayor’s staff grows with new appointments

Mayor Karl Dean continues to build his staff, announcing today that three key appointments have been made in his office.

Rita Roberts-Turner was named chief of staff, while Hersell Warren will be senior advisor to Dean. Brady Banks will serve as director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods.

“Each of these staff members brings a unique set of skills to the office that will help continue to move us forward on our focus on improving schools, making neighborhoods safer and bringing more and better jobs to Nashville,” the mayor said. “They also share my desire to make this office accessible and efficient. I am excited to work with them.”

Roberts-Turner joins the Mayor’s Office from the Law Department, where she has served as an attorney since 1999, practicing in areas of civil rights, employment, personal injury and contracts.

As a Metro attorney, she has represented the Police Department, Davidson County’s Sheriff’s Office, Juvenile Court and the Hospital Authority, among other Metro departments and agencies.

Prior to receiving her law degree, Roberts-Turner worked as a general assignment reporter for the Nashville Banner.

Warren currently serves as the director of public policy and governmental affairs for Meharry Medical College, where he has worked since 1982. He is a past president of the Tennessee Association of Community Health Centers and former advisory board member and chair of the Nashville Prevention Partnership.

Banks is a former candidate for council at-large and worked for the Dean for Mayor campaign as field director during the runoff election. Most recently, he has served as the hearings and appeals officer at the Tennessee Housing Development Agency.