Ashe Victor

Victor ASHE was the United States Ambassador to Poland from June 2004 to October 2009. His history of public service includes serving 31 years in Tennessee state and city elective offices. Amb. Ashe was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1968, at age 23. In 1975, he was elected to the State Senate, where he served for nine years. From 1967 to 1973, Amb. Ashe served as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Reserves. From 1985 to 1987, under President Reagan, he served as the Executive Director of the Americans Outdoors Commission chaired by then-Governor Lamar Alexander. Amb. Ashe was elected Knoxville's mayor in November 1987 and in December 2003 he completed an unprecedented 16 years as Mayor of Knoxville, the longest mayoral tenure in the city's 215-year history. During his time in office, he was the President to the U.S. Conference of Mayors from 1994 to 1995 and received their Distinguished Service Award for Leadership in 2003. He is the first former Ambassador and local elected official to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, where he served from June 30th, 2010 through August 1st, 2013.