J. Wayne Cropp is a member of the Business Department at Baker Donelson, with a focus on public policy, economic development and environmental law. He is a recognized author and lecturer on air quality, climate change, Superfund and brownfield redevelopment. Mr. Cropp also brings unique legal experience on emerging manufacturing technologies and companies.
Mr. Cropp has consistently provided strategic leadership and execution for projects that have received national acclaim. From 2006 to 2014 he served as president and CEO of The Enterprise Center, Chattanooga's high-tech economic development agency, working with entities of the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of Defense on projects throughout the Tennessee Valley Technology Corridor encompassing Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Huntsville, Alabama. He also was involved in developing strategy and planning for high speed rail projects and Chattanooga's Gig City broadband positioning strategy. Mr. Cropp served as president of the U.S. Maglev Coalition for 2013-2014.
Mr. Cropp has a long history dealing with environmental matters. He was legal counsel in the 1990s to Chattanooga's lead redevelopment agency. He led initial brownfield redevelopment planning for Chattanooga's world-class riverfront development, as well as the development of The Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant site, which ultimately became the Volkswagen Industrial Complex in Chattanooga.
During his tenure as executive director of The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Air Pollution Control Bureau (1979-1990) he developed the implementation strategies that brought worldwide recognition to Chattanooga's environmental initiatives. Mr. Cropp has also served as president and CEO of an environmental remediation company and president of an environmental engineering company (2000-2005).
Included among his many activities are service on the national level as president of the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials (ALAPCO), now known as the National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA), and participation in the development of the National Air Toxics Strategy, as codified in the 1990 Clean Air Act, through his tenure as chairman of ALAPCO's Air Toxics Committee. Mr. Cropp is the former chairman of the Environment Committee for the Chattanooga Regional Manufacturers Association, a position he held for 15 years.
As a member of the Tennessee Republican Party, Mr. Cropp was the campaign chairman for U.S. Congressman Zach Wamp in1996 and 1998, served as Hamilton County GOP Party chairman from 2003 to 2005, and has been a delegate or alternate delegate for Republican presidential candidates to several of the national conventions (2000, 2004, 2012).
