Mick Cornett served four terms as Oklahoma City's longest-serving Mayor from 2004 to 2018. Midway through his time in office, Newsweek called him one of the five most innovative mayors in the country, and at the end of his Mayoralty he was named #25 on Fortune Magazine's "World's Greatest Leaders" list. London-based World Mayors listed him as the #2 mayor in the world, and Governing magazine named him the Public Official of the Year in 2010. Best known for helping Oklahoma City attract the NBA's Thunder franchise and putting Oklahoma City "on a diet" to lose a collective million pounds, Cornett also led the charge to pass MAPS 3, an innovative $800 million civic infrastructure investment in parks, urban transit, wellness centers, and downtown amenities that have dramatically reshaped Oklahoma City.
Cornett's books, "The Next American City: The Big Promise of Our Midsize Metros," is a hopeful and illuminating look at the dynamic and inventive urban centers that will lead the United States in coming years.
