Michael Cass

mcass@tennessean.com

Businesswoman Linda Rebrovick has officially entered the race to become Nashville’s next mayor, expanding the field to five candidates nearly a year before the election.

Rebrovick, CEO and president of Consensus Point, a consumer marketing research firm, appointed former HCA treasurer Michael A. Koban Jr. to be her mayoral campaign treasurer Tuesday, allowing her to start raising money for a mayoral bid she started exploring several months ago. Rebrovick submitted the appointment to the Davidson County Election Commission.

She also confirmed in a text message that she has hired Brenda Gadd to be her campaign manager. Gadd, a lobbyist at Frost Brown Todd, managed the successful campaign to retain three Tennessee Supreme Court justices in a statewide retain-or-replace election that drew national attention last month.

Rebrovick joins Metro Councilwoman Megan Barry, attorney and businessman Charles Robert Bone, businessman and former school board chairman David Fox and charter school founder Jeremy Kane in the race to succeed Mayor Karl Dean in August 2015. Other candidates could join the fray before the April qualifying deadline.

The Nashville native and 1973 Hillwood High School graduate has voted in several Republican primaries, which could hurt her in a mostly Democratic city, though the mayor’s office is officially nonpartisan. But Rebrovick’s business experience and connections could make her an appealing candidate for many voters.

Rebrovick has been an area vice president for Dell and chief marketing officer for BearingPoint, which she helped spin off from KPMG Consulting, where she was an executive vice president and national managing partner in charge of health care consulting.

“I’ve spent 32 years running businesses,” she said in June.

Either Rebrovick or Barry could be the first woman to hold the city’s highest office.

Reach Michael Cass at 615-259-8838 and on Twitter @tnmetro.