During Phil Bredesen’s tenure as Nashville mayor from 1991 to 1999, Andrea helped launch a domestic violence response unit inside the city’s Metro Police Department. The unit served as a model for other police departments across the country and is credited with helping drastically reduce Nashville’s domestic murder rate.
In addition to her work on domestic violence, Andrea has been a long-time volunteer at Caldwell Early Childhood Center, a public school located in the inner city. Using the school as a base of operations, she and the parents played a key role in establishing a public-private partnership between local government and Dollar General Corp., which opened a retail store and job-training center in this community. The Dollar General Training Center has since been replicated in cities across the Southeast.
Andrea’s early career as a registered nurse included work in Boston and California. She later held management roles, serving as director of nursing management systems with the former Hospital Corporation of America and manager of nurse consultant services for the southeast region for the former accounting firm of Ernst & Whinney. Other work and experience included owning and operating Conte Philips, a retail shop and cooking school, and establishing the Rosalie Conte Foundation, which grants college scholarships to students pursuing higher education.
Andrea was born in Great Barrington, Mass., and attended public schools. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Washington at Seattle, and a master’s of business administration (MBA) from Tennessee State University in Nashville.