Tennessee – Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced that Deputy Governor and Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Butch Eley, will step away from his role in the third quarter of 2025 after nearly seven years of leadership in Governor Lee’s cabinet and a distinguished tenure in state government. Eley has been instrumental in advancing statewide infrastructure, financial stewardship, and government modernization.
The governor said the announcement of a successor will be made at a later date. Meanwhile, Eley will remain fully engaged during the transition period to ensure continuity and maintain momentum across key initiatives.
“Since I decided to run for Governor, Deputy Governor Eley has served as one of my most trusted advisors,” Governor Lee said. “I turned to him to manage our state departments as chief operating officer after my first inauguration, and then to steward our state’s finances as finance and administration commissioner during the worst global economic decline since the Great Depression. In my second term, Butch stepped into a new role to prepare Tennessee’s infrastructure for generations to come, ensuring we continue to accommodate our state’s extraordinary economic growth. I’ve entrusted him with some of the most difficult challenges facing our state, and he has consistently overachieved. Butch has served the people of Tennessee with the highest level of excellence, and God has blessed Maria and me with a lifelong friend. I thank him for his unwavering leadership.”…