Politics
Blackburn Keeps Tourism and Agriculture Chiefs, Taps Williamson County's Todd Kaestner for Finance
Governor-elect Marsha Blackburn will retain Mark Ezell and Andy Holt as commissioners while bringing on former Brookdale Senior Living executive Todd Kaestner to run the Department of Finance and Administration. She also named Russell Thomas as chief legal counsel and Ben Blackmon as policy counsel.
NASHVILLE â Governor-elect Marsha Blackburn announced a round of transition personnel decisions Thursday, retaining two department heads from the Lee administration while installing a Williamson County business executive at the helm of the state's budget office.
Mark Ezell will continue as commissioner of the Department of Tourist Development, a post he has held since Gov. Bill Lee appointed him in 2019. Andy Holt will stay on as agriculture commissioner; Lee named him to that role in 2025 after Holt served as deputy commissioner and assistant commissioner in the department's Business Development Division and previously represented part of West Tennessee in the state House.
Both commissioners said in statements that they considered it an honor to keep serving in their roles.
Blackburn tapped Todd Kaestner as commissioner of the Department of Finance and Administration, the agency that builds and manages the state budget. Kaestner is a former Williamson County commissioner who briefly ran for Williamson County mayor in 2026 and currently sits on the Tennessee Board of Regents, with a term set to expire in June 2028. He previously served as chief financial officer and executive vice president of corporate development for Brookdale Senior Living, one of the nation's largest senior-living operators.
The incoming governor also named her legal team. Russell Thomas, most recently executive director of the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission, will serve as chief legal counsel. Tabatha Blackwell, who had been assistant director at the ABC, moves up to interim director of the agency.
Ben Blackmon will serve as policy counsel. Blackmon currently is chief counsel to Blackburn in her U.S. Senate office and has been chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, which Blackburn chairs. He also previously worked as counsel for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Blackburn, the first woman elected governor of Tennessee, also unveiled the leadership team for her January 2027 inauguration. Ward Baker, founder of the political consulting firm Baker Group Strategies, which ran her campaign, will chair the effort. Amy Pass will serve as executive director, with Melina Settles as director of donor relations, Anna Katherine White as director of communications and Mary Morgan Ketchel, Blackburn's daughter, as strategic adviser.
Inaugural co-chairs include Daphne and Scott Andrew of the Tri-Cities, Anita and Tom Decosimo of Chattanooga, Stephanie and John Ingram of Nashville, and Anne and Mike Keeney of Memphis. Jim Haslam will serve as honorary co-chair.
The appointments come as Blackburn builds out an administration ahead of taking office in January, balancing continuity at agencies that promote two of the state's signature industries â tourism and farming â with new leadership at the department that will shape spending decisions under a governor who has promised her own legislative agenda for 2027.