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Former four-term Mayor of Indianapolis and Congressman, author, public speaker, TV commentator, think tank fellow, elected official, and clergyman, Bill Hudnut currently occupies the Urban Land Institute/Joseph C. Canizaro Chair for Public Policy at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, DC, a non-profit Washington-based organization dedicated to promoting quality land use and influencing public policy through research and education. Hudnut is probably best known for his sixteen-year tenure as Mayor of Indianapolis, 1976-1991, during which he advanced the city’s new “Unigov” form of merged governance with Marion County. His stated goal was to build a “cooperative, compassionate and competitive” city. He established “a national reputation for revitalizing his Midwestern city,” (The Washington Post) and came to be regarded as “an entrepreneurial leader willing to take prudent risks” (The Toledo Blade). He spearheaded the formation of a public-private sector partnership that led to Indianapolis’ emergence during the 1980s as a major American city. A past president of the National League of Cities, Hudnut helped Indianapolis record spectacular growth during his sixteen years in office Hudnut has recently served as Vice-Mayor of Chevy Chase, Maryland, and a member of the board of the National League of Cities. He was a member of the Millennial Housing Commission appointed by Congress during 2001-2002. Prior to his entry into public life, as a clergyman he served churches in Buffalo, N.Y., Annapolis, Md., and Indianapolis, Ind. After stepping down as Mayor, Hudnut held posts at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, the Hudson Institute in Indianapolis, and the Civic Federation in Chicago, before assuming his current position with ULI in 1996. A much sought-after speaker, “spirited…with high energy eloquence,” (The Toledo Blade) Hudnut “gives life to the word charismatic” (The Cincinnati Enquirer). He is the author of Minister Mayor (1987), a book reflecting on his experience in politics and religion; The Hudnut Years in Indianapolis, 1976-1991 (1995), a case study in urban management and leadership; Cities on the Rebound (1998), an analysis of clues to the successful city of the future; and Halfway to Everywhere (2003), a portrait of America=s first tier suburbs. His list of awards includes Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service in 1986, City and State magazine’s Outstanding Mayor of 1988, and he Rosa Parks Award from the American Association for Affirmative Action in 1992. Speech Topics
Last updated Oct. 24, 2007 |