Cornett spent 20 years as a television sportscaster/news anchor/sports play-by-play broadcaster. Following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 he diverted his attention to public service and served as a full-time college professor before winning a seat on the Oklahoma City Council in 2001.

In 2004 he won the city-wide election for Mayor and thus began a series of record-setting political victories. His re-election percentage of 87% in 2006 is the highest in city history. During his tenure, Oklahoma City experienced an economic renaissance that is still in progress. He based his philosophies on ‘creating a city where highly educated young people will choose to live.’

In January of 2012 he was Michele Obama’s personal guest at the State of the Union Address in Washington D.C.

Cornett is best known for helping to bring an NBA franchise to Oklahoma City and for addressing the community’s shortcomings in areas of health and wellness. His leadership to pass the transformational MAPS 3 initiative has spurred an enormous amount of private investment into the city. Over 80,000 new jobs were created in the city while he was Mayor.

Newsweek called him one of The 5 Most Innovative Mayors in America. The European based World Mayor Organization named him the second-best Mayor in the World. And Governing Magazine proclaimed him a Public Official of the Year. He was the President of the United States Conference of Mayors in 2016-17.

In 2018, he chose not to run for a fifth term as Mayor.

He has a Journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA from New York University. Read Less ^