Today, Tennessee Governor-elect Bill Lee announced two appointments to his cabinet - Maj. Gen. Jeff Holmes, Department of Military and Ret. Lt. Col. Courtney Rogers, Department of Veterans Services.
“We are pleased to add two experienced military leaders to our cabinet today,” said Governor-elect Lee. “Our veterans and active duty personnel will be in good hands with these appointments and I look forward to working with them.”
Maj. Gen. Jeff Holmes, of Carroll County, currently serves as the Deputy Commanding General of First Army which provides training and readiness oversight to reserve component units deploying worldwide.
He has previously served as the Deputy Adjutant General of the Tennessee National Guard. He has commanded Tennessee National Guard units at all levels and has served in multiple combat deployments. His experience in command at the brigade level includes commanding the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, headquartered in Knoxville, and the 194th Engineer Brigade, headquartered in Jackson. He has also served in several national level positions serving as Deputy Chief of Engineers at the Pentagon. Maj. Gen. Holmes is a registered architect and currently resides in Rutherford County.
Ret. Lt. Col. Courtney Rogers, of Sumner County, currently serves as the director of Recruiting and Retention for the Tennessee State Guard, the all-volunteer arm of the Tennessee Military Department. In addition to her 28 years of military service with the Air Force and the Tennessee Air National Guard, she also served three terms as a State Representative for the 45th district in the Tennessee General Assembly. In her time in the legislature, Ret. Lt. Col. Rogers, who was a member of the Tennessee Legislative Veterans Caucus, developed a record of support for Tennessee’s veterans, including work on tax breaks for veterans who were 100 percent disabled.
On Nov. 7, the transition unveiled a new website - transition.billlee.com. The site includes detailed information about the Governor-elect’s policy priorities, a section where Tennesseans can submit their resumes to potentially join his team, and a section where Tennesseans can share their ideas with the Governor-elect and his team.
Since launching the site, officials said the Lee Transition Team has received information from over 1,400 applicants who are interested in serving in the administration and more than 2,300 ideas for bettering state government.