BREDESEN NAMES GOETZ
FINANCE COMMISSIONER

CHAMBER PRESIDENT BRINGS ‘UNQUESTIONABLE INTEGRITY’

January 6, 2003

Nashville, TN — Governor-elect Phil Bredesen today named Dave Goetz as the next commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration.

For the past three years, Goetz has served as president of the 1,400-member Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry, formerly the Tennessee Association of Business. In that role, he oversees day-to-day management of the statewide organization and serves as a chief representative for the business community to the General Assembly. As chamber president, he has taken an active role pushing for statewide improvements in areas such as economic development, education and workers’ compensation reform.

“Dave’s unquestionable integrity and experience dealing with business and government make him the right person to tackle this important job,” Bredesen said. “He has a firm grasp on the budget process in Tennessee and he has a strong understanding of the serious management issues facing state government.”

The Department of Finance and Administration serves as the chief business and administrative office for state government and has a wide range of responsibilities, including developing the governor’s annual budget and managing the state’s day-to-day finances. Among other functions, the department handles centralized accounting of the state’s financial activity and provides essential support throughout state government in areas such as information resources and capital-project management. The commissioner is, in effect, the governor’s chief financial officer.

Goetz said he is honored to serve as finance commissioner and prepared to get to work. “There are major challenges on the horizon for state government,” Goetz said. “We’ve got to do a better job of managing every part of the government, from top to bottom, and we’ve got to present a realistic budget that takes into account the limits of our resources.”

Lynn Johnson, chairman of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said Goetz is well suited for the position. “Governor-elect Bredesen is picking quality people for his cabinet and Dave Goetz certainly is among the best and brightest,” Johnson said. “We don’t want to lose him, but it’s a worthy sacrifice. He’ll do a great job for the State of Tennessee.”

Metro Nashville Finance Director David Manning, who served as state finance commissioner from 1987 to 1995, said he has known Dave Goetz for many years. “Dave’s experience in both the business community and state government will serve him well in this challenging role,” Manning said. “He is a highly capable individual who will manage the Department of Finance and Administration with integrity.”

Before serving as chamber president, Goetz worked for three years—from 1996 to 1999—as the group’s executive vice president heading up government relations. From 1990 to 1996, he served as executive director of the Tennessee Business Roundtable, a Nashville-based association of business executives from around the state, and from 1988 to 1990 he was director of government affairs for the Tennessee Association of Business. Before that, he was the chief political reporter for WTVF-TV in Nashville.

Goetz, 50, is a Nashville native. He is a member of the state Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council, sits on the board of the Tennessee Hospital Association and serves as chairman of Metro Nashville government’s Public Education and Government Access Oversight Committee. He holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.