Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett to Lead Association

National Association of Secretaries of State Selects New National Officers

The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), currently holding its annual summer conference in Anchorage, Alaska, today inducted its new slate of national officers for the 2013-2014 cycle. Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett will serve as president of the professional organization for state officials through July 2014, marking the first time in more than three decades that a Tennessee official has held this position.

“I look forward to continuing the strong leadership that my predecessors have provided to NASS for almost 110 years,” said Hargett of Tennessee. “Now more than ever, citizens are looking for collaborative bipartisan leadership from their state officials.  Citizens are counting on us to lead the way in developing and sharing best practices for running honest and efficient elections, for increasing voter turnout and civic awareness and for protecting our people and our businesses from unnecessary federal laws and regulations.”

Hargett added that under his leadership, NASS will continue to serve as a forum where members can learn from each other how best to provide the services their offices are charged with delivering to the public.

Hargett has served as Tennessee’s Secretary of State since 2009.  He was a member of the Tennessee General Assembly for 10 years and became chairman of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority after his career in the legislature ended.

As a member of NASS, Hargett has been involved in elections, civic education, state heritage and business services issues.  He was treasurer of NASS for the 2012-2013 cycle.

In 2011, Hargett helped to form the 20-member NASS Business Identity Theft Task Force, which produced a white paper and led to the creation of www.BusinessIDTheft.org, a website aimed at helping business owners protect their businesses against identify theft. Hargett has been active in Tennessee promoting identity theft prevention strategies among the business community.

As president of NASS, Hargett will lead a slate of executive officers and committee co-chairs who oversee the association’s activities for the coming year.

The NASS 2013-2014 Executive Board includes the following members:

President:  Hon. Tre Hargett, Tennessee Immediate Past President: Hon. Ross J. Miller, Nevada President-elect:  Hon. Kate Brown, Oregon Treasurer:  Hon. Jason Gant, South Dakota Secretary: Hon. Tom Schedler, Louisiana Eastern Region Vice-President:  Hon. Jim Condos, Vermont Southern Region Vice-President:  Hon. Natalie Tennant, West Virginia Midwestern Region Vice-President:  Hon. Connie Lawson, Indiana Western Region Vice-President:  Hon. Kim Wyman, Washington Member-at-Large (ACR Section):  Hon. Matt Dunlap, Maine Member-at-Large (NPA Section):  Hon. Mark Martin, Arkansas

The national officers were elected by full member vote at the NASS 2013 Summer Conference, held on July 18-21 in Anchorage, Alaska. They will serve a one-year term, ending in July 2014.

For more on NASS, please visit www.nass.org.