People

Benji Davis has been selected as the new gas director for the city of Springfield. He has been in the utility sector since 1996 and worked with Piedmont Natural Gas in Charlotte, N.C. beginning 2001 before moving to Nashville to oversee construction of Piedmont’s new offices there. He holds a degree...

Ray Smith, former mayor of Camden, died Sept. 7, 2024, at the age of 95 at his home in Huntingdon. Smith served as mayor of Camden from 1967 to 1979. A well-known local car dealer, Smith served as president of the Tennessee Automobile Association, chairman of the Huntingdon Bankcorp, chairman of the...

Charles "Eddy” Patterson, former mayor and judge for the city of Hendersonville, died Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024 at the age of 81. Patterson served 24 years as mayor of Hendersonville from 1984 to 2008 as well as 12 years as Hendersonville’s city judge. He also served ten years as a county commissioner...

Ron Shultis, former policy and researcher director for the Beacon Center of Tennessee, has been selected as the new chief of staff for Jackson Mayor Scott Conger. Prior to spending seven years with the Beacon Center, Shultis worked for several years as a corporate immigration paralegal for Zulkie...

Tracey Thurman has been selected as the first director of the waste services department for the city of Nashville. The new department will oversee the city’s trash and recycling operations. Thurman comes to Nashville from more than a decade as the director of solid waste for Lexington, Ky.  Thurman...

John Chambers has been selected as the chief of police for the city of Chattanooga. Chambers most recently served as the assistant chief of the department. Chambers has been with the Chattanooga Police Department since May 1999 where he has served as a lieutenant, captain, and major. He began his...

Emily Wood has been selected as the new assistant city administrator for Morristown. Wood has more than 10 years’ experience in municipal government, most recently serving as the town administrator for Mount Carmel. Prior to that she served as a transit planner, city recorder, and certified...

Scotty Smith has been selected to fill the unexpired Camden alderman term left vacant by the death of Travis Pierce in July of this year. Smith will serve the remainder of the term, which expires in November 2026. He is the owner of J & J Equipment in Camden and is a member of the Benton County Fair...

Chris Cummins has been selected as the new fire chief for Columbia Fire and Rescue. Cummings has been serving as the interim chief of the department since March. He has more than three decades of experience with the fire service in Columbia, joining the department as a firefighter in 1990. He served...

Samantha Burnett has been hired as the first full-time city attorney for Mt. Juliet. She comes to the city from serving as an associate at the Howell & Fisher, PLLC law firm for the past five years and will replace the previously contracted legal services for the city. Burnett served as a public...

John Drake, chief of the Metro Nashville Police Department, has been elected president of the board of directors for the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), the nation’s preeminent independent research organization that focuses on critical issues in policing. Drake began his career in law...

Mark Gwyn, former director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), died at the age of 61 at his home in Nashville from natural causes. Gwyn served as director of TBI from 2004 until his retirement in 2018. A native of McMinnville and a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, he began...