Department of Correction
George M. Little, Commissioner

On September 8, 2005, Governor Bredesen appointed George M. Little as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction. Little, a veteran corrections administrator, had served as Director of the Shelby County Division of Corrections. Commissioner Little was recently elected to the Board of Governors of the American Correctional Association, the oldest and largest international correctional association in the world. He serves as co-chairman of the recently formed Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. The council is charged with examining issues related to recidivism and successful re-entry for offenders in Tennessee.

Commissioner Little has held various leadership positions in both Memphis and Nashville. Subsequent to serving as an Assistant to Governor Lamar Alexander in the Office of State Planning, Commissioner Little was named Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Correction, Warden of the DeBerry Special Needs Facility, Regional Director of the Department of Correction and Assistant to the Executive Director of the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole.

Commissioner Little's academic history includes a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economic and Business Administration from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia and graduate studies in Economics and Urban and Regional Development at the University of Texas, Austin.

Commissioner Little is a member of the TRICOR Board of Directors and a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He received the Charles Traughber Professional of the Year Award in 2007 from the Tennessee Correctional Association and was named Professional of the Year by the TCA in 2000.