Vivian’s Genesis
Vivian started her professional career in 1987 as a Real Estate Appraiser at the Tennessee Public Service Commission (“Commission”) now known as the Tennessee Public Utilities Commission. While at the Commission, Vivian was responsible for the appraisal of public utility properties for ad valorem tax purposes. In 1994, she was promoted to the position of Assistant Director and later to Chief of the Consumer Services Division where she oversaw Tennessee’s regulatory initiatives, policy development, and complaints about regulated utility companies. She concluded her State of Tennessee career as the Commission’s statewide representative for Consumer Education & Outreach, a role in which she traveled the state empowering consumers to make informed decisions about their gas, water, electric, and telephone services.
Vivian’s Public Service
Vivian began working in her public service purpose in 1981 as an involved student of the Student Government Association at her beloved alma mater, The Tennessee State University. In 2003, she ran and was elected to serve as Representative of District 29 on the Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Council (“Metro Council”). In 2007, she was re-elected by 72% of the votes which was the largest percentage of anyone running for local public office in that election year. While serving on the Metro Council, Vivian formed the inaugural Metro Council Women’s Caucus, which exists to this day, and was selected as Vice-President of the Information, Technology and Communications Committee of the National League of Cities which played a major role in the implementation of the Broadband Plan and Digital Transition for the city of Nashville.
Vivian The Assessor of Property
After serving eight (8) years on the Metro Council, Vivian remained active in the community and political arena. Seeing an opportunity to effect change and empower the masses, she again entered the political arena and successfully ran for the Office of the Assessor of Property for Davidson County. On August 31, 2016, she took the oath for a four-year term, becoming the first African American to hold the Office of Assessor of Property in the history of Davidson County, and the third African American elected statewide. As the Assessor, Vivian, and her amazing staff are responsible for the valuation of more than 276, 851 taxable residential and commercial properties, in addition to, 33,098 personal property accounts. The resulting work of the Office of Assessor constitutes approximately 52% of the budget of Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County.
Since being sworn in as the Assessor of Property in 2016, Vivian and her amazing staff, successfully completed the 2017 and again in 2021 Reappraisals. In 2017, the Reappraisal resulted in a $29.7 billion total assessed value for all classifications of properties in Davidson County (15.1 billion and 14.1 billion respectively for commercial and residential properties). This was the largest valuation increase in the history of Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County. In 2019, Vivian and her staff were awarded the prestigious Certificate of Excellence in Assessment Administration from the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO), a national and international organization that is made up of approximately 8,000 members in the assessment profession and seeks to maintain the highest standards of professionalism in property valuation. Vivian compliments her staff on the stellar work on the 2021 Reappraisal which, once again, resulted in historical results, despite the unfortunate pandemic and the challenges that it presented both then and now.
Under Assessor Vivian Wilhoite, the office has held more than 250 community meetings across Davidson County during the reappraisal and non-reappraisal years to explain the reappraisal process to property owners and to answer questions about fair and equitable property valuation, appeal rights and exemptions; updated the office with a new Computer-Assisted Mass Appraisal System giving access to property owners for sales, valuation and other critical data; implemented an employee professional development policy to obtain designations which increased the number of professional & credentialed deputy-appraisers; implemented a first-ever professional dress standard for field appraisers to keep staff and the property owners safe; increased diversity for women and people of color; and established competitive pay for all staffers, especially entry-level.
Vivian’s leadership and her staff have been recognized with many other honors: Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers Three-Star Certification 2021-2023, Nashville Business Journal 2022 Best in Business Award Honoree, Donelson Hermitage Chamber Legacy Honoree 2022, Les Gemmes Nominee for Political Leadership, and The Senator Thelma Harper Award of The One Million Dreams Foundation for Black Women & Girls, Inc.-2023.
Vivian was successfully re-elected in the primary on March 3, 2020, and in the general election on August 6, 2020, with the most votes of all county-wide candidates.
Vivian’s Professionalism & Community Service
Vivian is exceptionally proud of the knowledge she gained by completing the Certification of Public Administrators and The Local Government Leadership Program from the Naifeh Center of Leadership. Vivian is a member of both the International Association of Assessing Officers (state-wide representative) and the Tennessee Chapter; Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated & Social Action Chair; Les Gemmes, Incorporated; The Nashville Women Breakfast Club; The Women Collaborative Caucus; The Davidson County Democratic Women; Nashboro Village Homeowners Association-president; graduate of the Citizens Academy of the Office of Sheriff Daron Hall, the Citizens Academy of the Metro Police Department and the Citizens Academy of the Metro Water Department, and numerous other boards and organizations.
Vivian’s Family & Passion
She and her family are active members of Mt. Zion Baptist Church. Vivian is married to Larry Wilhoite and they are the proud parents of two sons, Pherius and Lelan, and their beloved Shih Tzu, Bella. Vivian life is directed by the adage:
“Do all the good you can, in every way you can, for all the people you can, while you can.”
