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The 10-person list of applicants for the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation emerged from a group of 44 candidates. Remaining applicants are:› Tim Gobble: Currently serves on the Tennessee Board of Parole. In addition to being a former Bradley County sheriff, he once worked for the U.S. Secret Service. His public service career began with his election to the Cleveland City Council in 2002. Gobble was elected Bradley County sheriff in 2006, giving up the office in 2010 for an unsuccessful bid in the 3rd Congressional District’s GOP primary. He also has served as emergency management director for Bradley County, East Ridge city manager and interim deputy chief of the Hamilton County Jail.› David Jolley: Recently confirmed by the U.S. Senate as U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Jolley is a former TBI agent, as well as a former director of the Tennessee Valley Authority Police. He previously served as the U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Tennessee.› Jerry Kitchen: An assistant U.S. attorney in Memphis since 2002, he worked for 17 years as a state prosecutor. He was a TBI special agent from 1977-1985.› Jason Locke: In a 21-year career with the TBI, Locke rose through the ranks to his current position as deputy director. His law enforcement career began with the Watertown Police Department and the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office.› Genevieve “Genny” May: Currently the U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Louisiana. She previously served with the Louisiana State Police, rising to become deputy superintendent.› Richard Moore: Now serves as an assistant TBI director and supervises the bureau’s training division. Moore began his TBI career in 1999 as a special agen. His career in law enforcement began as a police officer in Winston Salem, N.C.› Marjorie Quin: Now an assistant professor at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tenn., Quin retired from the TBI as an assistant special agent in charge. Quin, whose career at the TBI began in 1998, was involved heavily in the agency’s entry into combating human trafficking. Prior to that, she supervised and managed the startup of the bureau’s Fusion Center.› David Rausch: A 25-year veteran of the Knoxville Police Department, Rausch has served for the last seven years as police chief. He spent four years in the U.S. Army military police and is a past president of the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police.› Edward Reinhold: Currently serving as deputy assistant director of the FBI, Reinhold heads the agency’s Critical Incident Response Group. He previously served as the FBI’s special agent in the Eastern District of Tennessee. During that time, he was involved in the investigation of the July 2016 attack by Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez on two military sites in Chattanooga that left five U.S. service members dead. Reinhold began his career with the FBI in 1987.› Daniel “Danny” R. Wright: Now an adjunct professor at Roane State Community College, Wright is a retired TBI special agent, serving in the Drug Investigation Division. He also is a former director of the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s Criminal Investigation Division, as well as former police chief in Rockwood, Tenn.
NASHVILLE – As a commission prepares this month to winnow down to three the number of recommended candidates to lead the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the man who will make the appointment, Gov. Bill Haslam, has a few qualities in mind he’d like to see in finalists’ résumés.
“My view is you have to pick a really strong leader because you want the TBI to be independent,” Haslam said of the agency that serves as state government’s independent criminal investigative arm. “Once the governor selects them, then in my view the governor should be hands off from the agency. So you need a really strong leader.”
Haslam, a Republican, has other boxes he wants to see checked, as well.
“I think you want somebody who has the respect of law enforcement officials from across the state because they’ll interface. And then they need to manage a big budget,” the governor said. “And it’s [an agency] they sort of manage by themselves because again the governor doesn’t provide them oversight.”