Edward Henley III

Biography: Edward Henley is the Founder & Principal of Pillars Development, a land use planning, project management, and development firm based in Nashville. With Pillars, he has worked on large-scale civic developments such as Music City Center, the New Tennessee State Museum, and the National Museum of African American Music, as well as planning projects like the South of Broadway Master Plan, Plan to Play (Metro Parks Master Plan) and Imagine East Bank. In the realm of private development, Edward leads the firms strategic acquisitions and urban infill development efforts than focus on housing and hospitality development and preservation, as well as creative mixed use and place-making / place-keeping projects. Edward is also a member of the Urban Land Institute’s Public Development and Infrastructure Council and supports the Advisory Services Program. With the Council and Advisory Services, he reviews projects, case studies, and undertakes challenges and opportunities from across the nation to analyze best practices, current examples and potential solutions in funding, initiatives, policies, programs and projects— as well as reviewing and assessing the sustainability of models that are in place or planned. His personal focus is on how development can be done thoughtfully to create innovative and equitable benefits for the individuals, businesses, organizations and shared infrastructure within communities during multiple stages: seemingly stagnant, transitioning, and those dealing with or contemplating rapid growth. As much as importance is placed on development of projects, the desire to open and improve the process of development is paramount in his work.