Knoxvillian Christi Branscom will head the Department of General Services for Gov. Bill Lee, who announced her appointment earlier today. Lee also named commissioners:
- Lisa Piercey, Department of Health
- Brad Turner, Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and
- Penny Schwinn, Department of Education.
Branscom is chief operating officer and general counsel at Partners Development, a family business. Previously, she was chief operating officer and deputy mayor for Mayor Madeline Rogero. She also served as senior director of public works and earlier founded Grace Construction, which specializes in custom home construction.
Piercey currently is executive vice president of West Tennessee Healthcare, overseeing rural hospitals in Bolivar, Camden, Milan, Dyersburg and Martin. Her clinical background is in pediatrics. She is on the faculty at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Turner is now director of client services at HealthStream Inc. He’s from Rutherford County, where he’s served as a county commissioner since 2010.
Schwinn has worked in education administration in both Texas and Delaware – most recently as chief deputy commissioner at the Texas Education Agency. She taught with Teach for America from 2004 to 2007 in Baltimore and Los Angeles.