You don’t often think of Nashville as a haven for technology activity the way you do a Silicon Valley in California, the famed Route 128 high-tech corridor in Boston or Microsoft’s home in Redmond, Wash.

But the technology community here is coming on strong – leveraging its many traditions that include pioneering health-care leadership and, of course, music. In fact, Nashville was featured in 2011 on the popular ReadWriteWeb blog's “Never Mind the Valley” series focused on tech-strong cities outside of the Silicon Valley.

Middle Tennessee: The Right Demographics

“It’s sort of a secret area. You think of the East Coast and the West Coast as these high-tech areas. But there’s a little sleepy area in the middle of Tennessee that has all the right demographics. We have good schools and businesses. We’re in a state where a lot of people want to live,” says Andy Flatt, chief information officer of HealthSpring Inc. and outgoing chairman of the decade-old Nashville Technology Council.

Flatt and other Nashville technologists are working to raise Nashville’s high-tech pedigree, and their efforts are starting to materialize.

An Aug. 22, 2011, Wall Street Journal article listed Nashville as one of seven areas in the country emerging as “industry hubs drawing entrepreneurs and investors” despite the rocky national economy. Noting the region’s more than 250 health-care companies, led by Hospital Corporation of America, the world’s largest private operator of health-care facilities, the article pegs Nashville as a beacon for start-up activity in technology-driven areas such as medical devices and patient-care systems.

Chris Sloan, incoming chairman of the Nashville Technology Council, along with its new President and CEO Liza Lowery Massey, a CIO and leader of several large technology organizations, are intent on capitalizing on the area’s assets. Chief among those assets is a willingness among existing leaders in the industry to share their knowledge, Massey says.

"Countless hours are volunteered to initiatives such as tech workforce development at universities, high schools and even middle schools," Massey says. "Successful business professionals volunteer their time to mentor people starting up businesses, and numerous professionals volunteer their time to the NTC to better the region's tech community through education, professional development and facilitating important connections."

Developing the Technology Workforce

Sloan, a technology attorney at the Baker Donelson law firm, says key priorities for his two-year term that began in July 2011 are developing the technology workforce, expanding the organization’s membership, working with the city and state on economic development challenges, and expanding the more than 400-member professional nonprofit organization into a statewide group.

A Nashville Technology Council survey shows about 1,100 open technology positions in the region, particularly for programmer and analyst positions in the health-care field, Sloan says. Additionally, technology opportunities are on the front burners in the music industry, tourism, data warehousing and marketing.

“One of our big challenges is figuring out how we are going to find the people to fill those positions,” Sloan says.

Luring technologists to Nashville is not out of the question, he notes – such as Massey, who has lived and worked in 14 cities, including the Northern Virginia/D.C. area, Las Vegas, Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

"While I did not expect to find such a vibrant, growing tech community here in Middle Tennessee, it is a pleasure to be involved in it," Massey says. "Unlike other regions of the country, the tech community here is supportive, definitely close knit, and embodies the theory that rising tide lifts all boats. I literally see it every day."

Sloan says that getting that message out to like-minded professionals throughout the country is an important task for the NTC.  

“We’ve got to work more on going to the more saturated technology markets and letting people know that if you’re in Silicon Valley and you’re looking here for a job or a change of scenery or lifestyle, come to Nashville. We can put you to work right away,” Sloan says.

Massey adds that the NTC is working with the Governor's Office as well as economic development, higher education and chamber of commerce officials to align efforts behind a five-pillar strategy that will expand the region's pool of skilled tech workers to fill the open positions. Long-range, this will ensure the region's businesses can expand while attracting more tech companies and professionals to the region, she explains.

Tight-Knit Tech Community

And Nashville technologists promise you’ll find a tech community with plenty of opportunity, innovation and fellowship here. Self-professed “geek” Dave Delaney moved to Nashville to work in 2007 in social media and began helping to organize activities for young technologists. 

These events include annual conferences such as BarCamp and PodCamp, and social events like NashCocktail and Geek Breakfast. Other activities that have emerged in the region are FirstCamp Nashville, an event for high school students in the Middle Tennessee area who are interested in technology, and JumpStart Foundry, an incubation organization that matches technology investors with entrepreneurs.

“I think of family when I think of the Nashville technology community,” says Delaney, who worked for noted Nashville technology companies before lanching his own digital marketing consultancy in 2012. “This is an incredibly giving city, and everyone is too eager to help one another.”  

Recent Tech Expansions & Relocations
The area has several tech-sector headline makers of late with news of expansions and relocations. Griffin Technology, a consumer electronics and accessories company, moved into a larger headquarters facility in South Nashville and opened a distribution warehouse in La Vergne in summer 2011.

Other tech companies announcing more jobs for Nashville include Asurion, a technology protection services company, which is growing its Davidson County corporate headquarters and adding 500 jobs over the next five years; Avure Technologies, the world's leading technology company for high-tech pressurization in the food industry, which has moved its headquarters from Kent, Wash. to Franklin, Tenn. and expects to add 30 jobs; and BNY Mellon, a global leader in investment management and services, which is building a processing center as part of its Davidson County expansion, bolstering the company's infrastructure and creating dozens of new jobs.