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Chairman and President<br />

—<br />

Tommy Joe Alexander was named Chairman and President of the Birmingham Water<br />

Works Board on January 18, 2018. Alexander comes from many different professional<br />

backgrounds and plans to channel his past into this position.<br />

Alexander was born during World War II and was raised in Irondale by his mother and<br />

grandparents, while his father served in the military. In an interview with The Tap,<br />

Alexander stated that his grandparents were very good people and helped raise him. “His<br />

grandmother was probably one of the best people I knew on this earth and she would<br />

help anybody and do anything to help.” That is where he learned his servanthood from,<br />

he wanted to be like her and help anyone possible.<br />

Alexander graduated from Leeds High School and went to study geology at Jacksonville<br />

State University. After his father returned from duty, he started a construction business in<br />

Huntsville, which Alexander left school to work for. They had more business and potential<br />

opportunities there than in Birmingham. Eventually, the construction market in Huntsville<br />

took a downturn, and Alexander made a career change. He took the opportunity to leave<br />

this sector and move into law enforcement with the Huntsville Police Department. “I’d<br />

never been a policeman but I needed a job, and I liked it,” he said.<br />

Alexander continued his career in law enforcement in Birmingham as a motor scout,<br />

which he described as “probably the most enjoyable job” of his life and eventually joined<br />

the department’s tactical unit. After training at Redstone Arsenal, he became a member<br />

of the first bomb squad in the state, he disarmed six bombs. He trained in his time with<br />

the department, he attended the SWAT school at the FBI Academy in Quantico, and<br />

learned how to combat street crime from the New York Police Department.<br />

After retiring from the Birmingham Police Department as a Sergeant, Alexander sought<br />

a new profession. He continued his pursuit of a geology degree at the University of<br />

Alabama at Birmingham, but instead accepted an offer from Sloss Industries to work on<br />

the Jefferson Warrior Railroad. After ten years, he was promoted to a management<br />

position, where he worked for another ten years before retiring again.<br />

He wasn’t done yet. In 2004, Alexander ran for Mayor of the City of Irondale, his<br />

childhood home. During his three terms, he counts the recruitment of the Auto Mall,<br />

the economic centerpiece of the city, among his top achievements. In addition,<br />

he was instrumental in convincing The University of Alabama Football Coach Nick<br />

Saban to bring his Mercedes-Benz dealership to the corner of Grants Mill Road and<br />

1-459.<br />

Alexander retired from his Mayoral position in 2014, but accepted an appointment<br />

to the Birmingham Water Works Board last year. He was appointed to the Board by<br />

the Jefferson County Mayors Association of 35 local municipalities, including the<br />

City of Birmingham and Irondale. Over the past year, he has gained an appreciation<br />

for the leadership of the board and the challenge of bringing various viewpoints to<br />

a cohesive vision.<br />

His tenure as mayor has given Alexander experience managing both a local<br />

municipality of approximately 13,000 residents and a water system with about<br />

3,000 customers. As with his mayorship, Alexander views his Chairman role not only<br />

as a leader but also as a servant.<br />

“You’re the leader. You have to go from one of the board members to the leader of<br />

the board, and sometimes that’s difficult, but I have had plenty of experience in<br />

leading,” he said. “When you’re serving water to 600,000 people, it’s also a servant<br />

role, and I’ll help our customers anyway I can. When I was the Mayor of Irondale,<br />

my office was open and people could come and talk to me, no matter if they were<br />

the richest or the poorest. I will help any of them, and that’s what I intend to do.”<br />

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