Page 157 - Cityview Jan-Feb 2017

of that can happen, then I think it can be a wonderful thing for Knoxville.Korda: Lets talk about downtown Knoxville. Years ago, it looked like little Beirut with shuttered stores everywhere. Things have changed. Is this similar to other cities in Tenneessee?Boyd: This is happening in other areas and needs to happen in more areas. My wife and I are very passionate about buying old buildings and xing them up. The way we got started was very serendipitous. We didn’t have a planto get into property development. We bought a building for her to have a place to do sessions with her band, but weended up being disappointed with the neighborhood. We bought wrought iron ower pots and benches, which we found out were illegal. Possibly we were the rst guilty of illegal owering in the city, but we did it anyway. We now own several buildings which we are re-developing with hopes of improving the city.Korda: What is a mistake that you have learned from the most?Boyd: My mistakes have helped me learn. During my career, Governor Haslam asked thatI meet with Shimon Perez, former president of Israel. At the start of our conversation he said, “My greatest success in life will be what I do tomorrow, my greatest failure that I didn’t dream big enough.” If I were to say I have had a failure it would be that I haven’t dreamed big enough. I hope to continue to come up with big ideas and make things better.Korda: What has been your proudest moment?Boyd: My proudest moments have been getting married to my wife and the birth of my two sons. I am very proud of my wife for celebrating the 5th anniversary of her new pub, but for me personally,it is seeing my business thrive without me. Creating something that is bigger and better than you and that cancontinue to do good things and thrive without you—that is very rewarding. From a public service perspective, it would be when the Governor announced Tennessee Promise and got a standing ovation. It is so rewarding when people come to me and thank me for helping make Tennessee Promise a reality.JANUARY FEBRUARY 2017 155