NASHVILLE – Tennessee Lottery CEO Rebecca Paul today named Steve Adams and Sidney Chambers as the newest members of the Lottery’s management team.
Adams, who served as the State of Tennessee’s Treasurer, will be the Lottery Corporation’s chief administrative officer. He’ll handle day-to-day administrative functions for the Lottery, including facilities management and contract management for the thousands of retailers that will sell lottery tickets. In addition, Adams will be responsible for internal audits to monitor the Corporation’s sound financial accounting practices.
Adams was elected State Treasurer by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1987. Among other duties, he administered the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, a $24 billion pension fund that serves more than 197,000 state and local government employees and more than 80,000 retirees. It consistently ranks among the best-performing state funds in the country.
“Steve is a business-minded administrator who brings exceptional depth, talent and experience during this critical startup period and beyond,” Paul said. “He knows Tennessee and understands the operational issues facing a major business enterprise like the Lottery.”
Adams, 52, is a Marshall County native. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Austin Peay State University and is a certified public accountant. He is a past president of the National Association of State Treasurers and the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers.
Chambers, a 15-year lottery industry veteran, will be the Tennessee Lottery’s executive vice president for sales and marketing. Prior to joining the Tennessee Lottery, he was senior vice president of sales and marketing at the Georgia Lottery Corporation.
During his 10-year tenure in Georgia, from 1993 to 2003, Chambers expanded the Georgia Lottery’s critical retail network from approximately 4,500 outlets at startup to more than 7,500 outlets by this year. The Georgia Lottery is considered to have one of the strongest retail networks in the lottery industry.
“Building a strong statewide retail network for ticket sales will be key to our success,” Paul said. “Sidney is the best when it comes to understanding the needs of our retail customers, and understanding what it takes to successfully market a consumer product. He also has critical startup experience.”
Prior to joining the Georgia Lottery, Chambers served as a sales representative for the Wisconsin Lottery from 1988, the year that lottery started up, until 1993. Chambers, 41, is a Milwaukee native. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Marian College, Fond du Lac, Wisc.
The Tennessee Lottery expects to begin selling tickets in February of 2004 in order to fund college scholarships next fall.