Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam announces David Purkey as Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) Director

Purkey to continue serving as Governor’s Homeland Security advisor

Nashville, TN – Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam today announced the appointment of David W. Purkey as a deputy commissioner of the Military Department where he will direct the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA).

Purkey has served as interim director of TEMA since the April retirement of Jim Bassham. He will also continue to serve as the governor’s Homeland Security advisor and assistant commissioner for the Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

“David has extensive experience in emergency management and safety, and he knows how critical it is for state and local governments to cooperate during emergencies,” Haslam said. “I appreciate his continued dedication and willingness to serve his fellow Tennesseans.”

Purkey is a native of Hamblen County and graduated from East Tennessee State University in 1981 with a bachelor’s in Public Health. He earned a master’s in Public Health in 1987 from the University of Tennessee.

“Governor Haslam, Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons, and Major General Max Haston have placed a great amount of trust and confidence in my abilities to lead public safety operations across our state,” Purkey said. “The Military Department as well as the Department of Safety and Homeland Security have accepted me as a member of their teams, and I promise my colleagues and local governments that I will not forget where I came from.”

In 1995, Purkey was appointed to the vacancy of Hamblen County mayor and was elected four times before voluntarily retiring in 2010.

He first entered government as a judicial assistant to his mentor, Judge James K. Miller. He has served as a 9-1-1 dispatcher; Morristown – Hamblen County Emergency Management director; Tennessee state trooper assigned to the Nashville and Fall Branch districts; Tennessee Bureau of Investigation special agent assigned to the Chattanooga region; and police accreditation manager for the City of Morristown.

He served in the Tennessee Army National Guard and United States Army Reserves for eight years, and he has been a licensed emergency medical technician for the past 35 years.

Haslam recently reappointed Purkey to the Tennessee Medical Examiner Advisory Council.