The Comptroller of the Treasury is a constitutional officer elected by a joint vote of both Houses of the General Assembly for a two-year term. State law prescribes the Comptroller’s duties, which include the audit of state and local governmental entities and participation in the general financial and administrative management and oversight of state government. The Comptroller also is a member of various committees, boards and authorities:

History of the Comptroller’s Office

As the state prospered and thousands of settlers moved into Tennessee in the early 1800s, the need grew for law and order
and government. Taxes were not always levied – or collected – equitably by appointed or elected state and local officials.
To ensure state and local financial integrity, as well as bring a sense of order to the state’s finances, the General Assembly
approved legislation¹ in January 1836 to create the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury.

Although legislation created the office and spelled out the Comptroller’s duties, it would be 34 years before the Comptroller of the Treasury would become a constitutionally required position. In 1870, the Tennessee Constitution² added the Comptroller as a constitutional officer appointed for the state, by the joint vote of both Houses of the General Assembly.

The constitution states the Comptroller shall hold office for two years. The General Assembly elected Maj. Daniel Graham
of Rutherford County as the state’s first Comptroller in 1836. He served until 1843. Vanderbilt University political science
lecturer Jeanne S. Bodfish served as Tennessee’s first – and only – female Comptroller of the Treasury from 1953 to 1955. She
established the first set of policies and procedures for auditing county governments. Bodfish was instrumental in bringing William
R. Snodgrass on as budget director. He then became Tennessee’s longest serving Comptroller from 1955 to 1999 and established a
reputation for accuracy and accountability. Serving through seven gubernatorial administrations, Snodgrass was Comptroller for 44
years and served as Comptroller Emeritus for nine years. In January 1999, John G. Morgan became Tennessee’s 33rd Comptroller,
serving five consecutive two-year terms. On January 15, 2009, Justin P. Wilson was elected as the 34th Comptroller.

Tennessee’s Comptroller is fourth in order of succession to the governor’s office, behind the lieutenant governor, the speaker of
the house of representatives and the secretary of state.

¹ Chapter 12, Public Acts of the 1835-36 Tennessee General Assembly
² 1870 Tennessee Constitution, Article VII, Section 3

Comptroller Wilson

Prior to his election in 2009, Mr. Wilson was a partner in the law firm of Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis. He served as commissioner of the Department of Environment and Conservation and as deputy to the governor for policy under former Governor Don Sundquist. He is a graduate of Stanford University, Vanderbilt University School of Law, and New York University. He is an adjunct professor of law at Vanderbilt Law School.

He is married with four children.

Organizational Chart