Karyn Adams - 1st District
PO Box 9058
Knoxville, TN 37940
865-207-6944
[email protected]
Term ends: December 2029

Karyn Adams proudly serves as City Councilwoman for the City of Knoxville, representing District 1, South Knoxville and Fort Sanders. 

Karyn Adams is a mother, spouse, runner, cyclist, writer, business owner, neighborhood advocate, and connector-of-dots. She believes in the power of community and a great quality of life through smart, sustainable growth. 

Prior to City Council, Adams served on Knoxville-Knox County Planning Commission for nearly six years, working with City and County land use issues. During her tenure as a Planning Commissioner she was a strong supporter of Missing Middle Housing (MMH) and its annual assessment, the County’s comprehensive growth and transportation plan (Advance Knox), the development of the County’s UDO (Unified Development Ordinance), Hillside Protection, Transit-Oriented Development, neighborhood connectivity, and human-scale development. She looks forward to bringing this land use experience to City Council, especially in support of a new Comprehensive Plan for the City of Knoxville and initiatives that will drive corridor development and more attainable housing across the entire spectrum of affordability and housing types. 

Other priorities Adams brings to Council include working to support the City’s unhoused population and reducing the number of persons experiencing homelessness; to bring desired development to the City’s corridors, to steward the Down River Master Plan; to protect and grow greenspaces, improve bike and pedestrian safety and connectivity; and to increase communication and transparency across the City. 

Adams moved to Knoxville in the early nineties after attending Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA. She continued her studies at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville. After working in high tech and higher ed, she founded HA ThirtyOne in 2011, a higher ed strategy + marketing + communications company. She serves as the firm’s Principal and Creative Director. In addition to her work on Council and with HA ThirtyOne, Adams serves on the boards of Legacy Parks, Ijams Nature Center, SKY Youth Aviation, Bike Walk Knoxville Advisory Council, and is an active participant in South Knoxville Neighborhood and Business Coalition (SKNBC), South Waterfront Advisory and Advocacy Group (SWAAG), and in the Lindbergh Forest Neighborhood Association (LFNA). 

Adams enjoys living close to the University, Downtown, and to all the trails and neighborhoods lacing through the hills of SoKno. Her husband, Bruce Cole, is a professor of photography in the School of Art at the University of Tennessee and is a commercial architectural photographer. They are the proud parents of two sons, Auden and Crispin.

Karyn Adams was elected to represent the 1st District on Knoxville City Council on November 4, 2025.