Attorney, developer, runner: Craig Greenberg wants 'big changes' if he is Louisville mayor

Ahead of Election Day, The Courier Journal profiled the Republican and Democratic candidates for Louisville mayor. Check out the profile of Bill Dieruf here.

Whether at Ballard High School or Harvard Law School, Craig Greenberg has kept Louisville and public service in his mind for much of his life.

The attorney and co-owner of Ohio Valley Wrestling, who worked on various downtown development projects and served as CEO of 21c Museum Hotels, is in the home stretch of his bid for Louisville mayor.

Greenberg, who developed a love of running after watching the 100th Boston Marathon in 1996, thought about pursuing a run for mayor before but believes now was the right time "for my family, for me personally and professionally, but also for the city."

In Greenberg's estimation, he has the background, knowledge, skills and energy to lead the city if elected Nov. 8.

"I believe that the experiences that I've had over the past 20 years are the right kinds of experience to unify our city, to invest in our city and to really move our city in a new direction," he said on a recent October morning while sitting in downtown's PNC Tower lobby by Heine Brothers Coffee.

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Greenberg, 49, has heard the "Fischer 2.0" critics and doubters who point to his background as a well-funded businessman and say he'd represent a continuation of the status quo after Mayor Greg Fischer, a fellow Democrat, leaves office following 12 years in charge.

"I am my own person," Greenberg replied. "I am focused on the future, on a new direction for the city and what I can do working with many other people who have very different experiences than me to accomplish big things in Louisville.

"I'm not interested in incremental change. I'm interested in making big changes to our city to help us move forward."

A 'proud product' of public schools

Greenberg was born in New York and grew up in the Green Spring community in eastern Jefferson County after he moved to Louisville in the second grade with his mother, father and sister.

He attended Dunn, Kammerer and Ballard for elementary, middle and high school, "so I'm a proud product of JCPS," Greenberg said with a smile. For college, it was off to the University of Michigan and then Harvard Law before returning to Louisville to begin his legal career at what is now Frost Brown Todd.

He didn't return home only with degrees. While out east, he met his wife Rachel, who was working toward her master's degree in Boston, on a blind date.

The couple today have two sons: Daniel, 19, and Benjamin, 17. Rachel started at Humana and then served as a public school teacher, leading English as a Second Language classes at Wheatley Elementary before substitute teaching once she became a mother.

Similarly, Greenberg's parents started their careers as public school teachers. His mom eventually earned a doctorate before teaching at Jefferson Community and Technical College and the University of Louisville, while his dad became vice president of Jewish Hospital and also served as chair of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education.

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In school, Greenberg was president of the senior class and editor of the student newspaper at Ballard before heading to Ann Arbor, where he was student government president at the University of Michigan.

At Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Greenberg discovered his passion for running. ("I was not the most athletic kid growing up," he admitted with a laugh.)

"It was the 100th running of the Boston Marathon, and my friends and I rode bikes to watch it," Greenberg recalled.

That historic running of the marathon allowed more competitors in, rather than other years in which the famed race is limited to the cream of the crop and those with fast-enough qualifying times.

"I thought, 'These people don't look any more athletic than me,'" Greenberg said. "So literally on my way home that day, I bought my first pair of running shoes, and that fall I ran the New York City Marathon..."

Years later, Greenberg's hobby figured prominently in his campaign against Republican candidate Bill Dieruf, from his #RunWithCraig slogan to his successful effort to run through all 623 voting precincts around Louisville.

With revitalization projects, 'many people thought we were crazy'

After starting his legal career, Greenberg said he "pretty quickly" met Steve Wilson and Laura Lee Brown, the couple who founded 21c Museum Hotels and grew the boutique hotel, restaurant and art museum combo to nine locations, including one in downtown Louisville.

"They told me about their vision for what became 21c," Greenberg said, "so I started helping them work on that and other projects, including Museum Plaza, which didn't happen, and 111 Whiskey Row, which I'm very proud of."

Though the downtown Museum Plaza project failed (a point some critics tried to ding him on as a candidate), the revitalization of Main Street's Whiskey Row into shops, distilleries, restaurants and apartments is proof, in Greenberg's mind, of his willingness to fight through the tough times and create visible improvements to a city.

He also pointed to how 21c turned into a "global brand" that has been named the best hotel in the U.S. and created over 1,200 jobs.

"We opened 21c in 2006. West Main Street was very different than it is today," Greenberg said. "Many people thought we were crazy, but we were proud to restore five historic buildings, create jobs, revitalize that part of the Central Business District, preserve and reenergize that history there."

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Greenberg said he is not and has not only focused on downtown areas. He pointed to his focus in law on "new markets tax credits," a federal program he said is meant to "encourage investments in low-income communities."

"I've helped facilitate hundreds of millions of dollars of investments in Louisville and other cities around the U.S.," Greenberg said, mentioning Cincinnati as one example and local projects like the Muhammad Ali Center and First Virginia Avenue Baptist Church. "So I've been involved in creating public-private partnerships really my whole career."

'Turning big ideas into reality'

Volunteering with local groups and initiatives like the March of Dimes’ March for Babies, Metro United Way and Louisville's Jewish Community Center has given Greenberg insight into the community's needs.

And his time on the University of Louisville board of trustees showed his belief in transparency and accountability, Greenberg said.

He was one of the few trustees who spoke up — and initially received ridicule — about unchecked, lavish spending by the University of Louisville Foundation and on administrators that led to President James Ramsey's ouster. He also noted he helped stop an "unnecessary tuition increase."

"Through that experience, I really learned that transparent organizations are stronger organizations," Greenberg said. "And that's something I think will be a critical lesson as I hopefully have the opportunity to be the next mayor."

His priorities would include public safety, affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization and education, which is "an area where I think the city government should be more involved."

His idea for a Louisville Department of Education would feature a "small office" focused on universal pre-K, workforce development and advocating for a strong public education system, Greenberg said, adding he also wants to support the city's smaller college and universities like Simmons, Spalding and Bellarmine.

"I've spent my whole career turning big ideas into reality, working (and) creating big teams of people to make things happen, and I think those are unique experiences that will be helpful," Greenberg said.

Surviving a shooting attempt, and turning to faith

Community members may have understood if Greenberg paused or stopped his campaign earlier this year.

In February, police said Quintez Brown, a former Courier Journal intern and University of Louisville student, walked into the campaign's Butchertown office and fired several shots at the candidate as he was with staff. The bullets didn't hit anyone, but one grazed Greenberg's sweater. (Brown's state and federal criminal cases remain pending.)

The night after the harrowing incident, Greenberg said he asked his wife, "Are you OK with continuing? If you and the family are not still supportive, we won't continue this (campaign)."

"She and the boys were 100% fully supportive, and really that experience has just given me an even stronger resolve to deal with the issue of gun violence. We have far too much senseless gun violence in our city," Greenberg said, citing the 130-plus homicides and roughly 350 additional non-fatal shootings in Louisville so far this year.

He has pledged to crack down on illegal guns, also mentioning the "thousands" of family members and loved ones of victims impacted by the violence.

His Jewish faith has kept him grounded as the campaign season rolled on, with weekends full of events. (Before the start of Rosh Hashanah in September, he bounced between several events on one afternoon alone, including Holy Family Church's annual Community Health and Safety Fair and a Metro Disability Coalition meeting.)

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"One of the learnings from my faith is 'Tikkun olam,' which translates to 'repair the world,'" Greenberg said, adding that his parents taught him that and he and Rachel try to instill it in their sons. "Every day, in ways small and large, personally and professionally, we should each try to make the world a better place.

"When I was thinking about what I want to do next after 21c, this concept of 'repair the world' kept coming back to me and continues to motivate me."

The other "powerful imprint of my faith that helps guide me," Greenberg said, comes from a section of the Book of Deuteronomy that was part of his bar mitzvah at age 13.

"Justice, justice shall you pursue," Greenberg said, recalling the verse.

He then talked about his grandparents fleeing Nazi Germany and a great-grandparent who was held in a concentration camp before it turned to an extermination area.

"The decisions I make on the campaign trail, and hopefully as a mayor, will certainly be made through the lens of justice for everyone," Greenberg concluded. "And I think that is very applicable to our city today and what we need as we move forward in a new direction."

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Craig Greenberg: Focused on 'new direction' if voted Louisville mayor