March 3rd Meeting: Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett

Please join us a the March 3rd meeting to hear Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett speak about his experiences and views working in government.

Tre Hargett

Tre Hargett was elected by the Tennessee General Assembly to serve as Tennessee’s 37th Secretary of State in 2009. A native of Ripley, Secretary Hargett now lives in Hendersonville with his wife, Dawn, and their two sons. He is a Southern Baptist and attends Bluegrass Baptist Church.

Secretary Hargett is the chief executive officer of the Department of State with oversight of approximately 400 employees. As Tennessee’s Secretary of State, Secretary Hargett serves on 16 boards and commissions some of which include:

· The State Funding Board

· State Building Commission

· Board of Trustees of the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System

· Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

Secretary Hargett also serves as the presiding member of the Tennessee Local Development Authority and of the Public Records Commission.

Since elected Secretary of State, he has made it his priority to increase transparency in state government by working with his colleagues in making the proceedings of numerous boards and commissions more assessable to the public. In his office he promotes a culture that places a premium on customer service, and leveraging technology to create efficiencies that cause savings for the taxpayers and those individuals and businesses who conduct business with the Department of State.

The Department of State has made measurable progress toward these goals since Secretary Hargett took office. In the Business Services Division, Secretary Hargett oversaw the implementation of an online annual report filing system for companies registered in Tennessee. Charities and solicitors may also now register online through the Division of Charitable Solicitations and Gaming.

The Department of State also seeks to offer more information than ever online. The Tennessee State Library and Archives provides an ever-growing wealth of resources online through the Tennessee Electronic Library (TEL). The Publications Division now offers access to the Tennessee Blue Book online in addition to the hard-bound copy that was extensively revised and updated in the most recent edition.

Secretary Hargett has also worked to ensure fair elections in the state of Tennessee. The Division of Elections has cleaned voter rolls across the state, trained forty new election administrators, and supported the passage of the MOVE Act to provide more accessible ballots for military and overseas voters.

In the Administrative Procedures Division, administrative law judges resolve over 2,500 disputes per year, in a quick and fair manner. Their work affects Tennesseans at all levels as the administrative law judges decide disputes not only between state agencies, but also for individuals seeking to retain TennCare benefits.

In 2010, Secretary Hargett was chosen as a Henry Toll Fellow, an honor given to 40 of the nation’s top state government officials. Additionally, he is a member of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) where he serves as Vice-President of the Southern Region. Additionally, Secretary Hargett recently received the Leadership in History Education Award given by the East Tennessee Historical Society for his support of National History Day throughout Tennessee.

Previously he served as chairman of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority. Prior to joining the Tennessee Regulatory Authority he was regional vice president for a publicly traded emergency services provider. It was in this role that he had oversight of more than 500 employees and $50 million in revenues.

Secretary Hargett has also served for 10 years in the Tennessee House of Representatives, during which time he was twice elected Republican leader by his colleagues. He represented District 97 (Bartlett, Berclair and Raleigh) in Shelby County. As a state Representative, Secretary Hargett served on several committees, including: Finance Ways and Means, Health and Human Resources, Government Operations, State and Local Government, Ethics, and The Tennessee Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations.

Secretary Hargett sponsored or co-sponsored numerous bills over the course of his service. He was a driving force behind several measures to increase transparency in government, including increased electronic disclosure of campaign contributions and increasing the requirements of officials’ public statements of interest. He also co-sponsored Senate Joint Resolution One, which allowed for a statewide constitutional amendment permitting local governments to initiate property tax relief for senior citizens.

Among his numerous other awards and recognitions he was named among the “Top 40 Under 40” by Business Tennessee and also by The Memphis Business Journal. In 1999 he was named Tennessee PTA Legislator of the Year. In 2004, he had the distinction of receiving the national Republican Legislative Campaign Committee Most Valuable Legislator Award.

Secretary Hargett earned a B.B.A. in Accounting with honors from Memphis State University and his M.B.A. from the University of Memphis where he was recently honored as Outstanding Young Alumnus.