06/02/2017
Tennessee Board of Regents Vice Chair Emily Reynolds was one of the three honorees of the Women in Numbers’ 2017 silver anniversary spring membership reception last week at Nashville’s Skyway Studios.
The nonpartisan WIN Tennessee honored Reynolds, Nashville Mayor Megan Berry and state Sen. Thelma Harper as “trailblazers in political circles from both sides of the aisle.” Reynolds, who has been a member of the Board of Regents since 2010, was introduced by Gov. Bill Haslam.
The governor chairs the Board of Regents and the vice chair presides in his absence. “The vice chair does all the work, and she has played that role through an eventful time for the Tennessee Board of Regents,” Gov. Haslam said, including the retirement of the TBR system’s chancellor, the appointment of an interim, the search for and selection of a new chancellor, and the major restructuring of the system under the FOCUS Act.
“Throughout all of that, Emily was the very picture of steadiness and wisdom. To show you how strong she is in that role, I think about half of the Tennessee Board of Regents is here to support her because they have seen what I have -- that she is a strong leader who does it in her own way but very thoroughly,” the governor said. “It shows the wisdom and steadiness that she’s had in really chairing that board for the last several years and I’ll be grateful and higher education in Tennessee will always be different because Emily has played that role.”
Gov. Haslam also cited Reynolds' work in helping him raise $40 million in private contributions to help fund the new $160 million Tennessee State Museum, under construction at the Tennessee Bicentennial Capitol Mall.
“You really get to know someone when you raise money with them. You get to know a lot about their style and insight and wisdom but mostly what you see is the depth of their relationships. The depth of her relationships speaks volumes,” the governor said. “I believe that if you get the relationships right, most everything else works out from there. And Emily is someone who gets the relationships right.
“This is the kind of woman I would always want to have on my team no matter what I’m doing because she’s going to bring integrity, she’s going to bring insight and competence and most of all she’s going to bring this: whether you’re electing or hiring males or females, to whatever position it is, I hope you will always bring somebody on your team who is like Emily -- someone who realizes the world doesn’t revolve around them, that we serve a bigger cause and because of that, everyone around that person gets better,” Gov. Haslam concluded.
Women in Numbers, established in 1992, is a nonpartisan organization established to engage, encourage and endorse qualified women to be elected to public office. WIN also hosts educational forums to give women the guidance and tools they need to engage in the political process and run a viable campaign. In 2012, the organization launched the WIN Salon Series to engage the community and foster conversation among civic-minded individuals.
Reynolds was formerly the senior vice president of government relations for the Tennessee Valley Authority. She has an extensive career in public service, including as the 31st secretary of the U.S. Senate from 2003 to 2007, when she managed the legislative, financial and administrative operations of the upper chamber of Congress.
She began her career as special assistant to the late U.S. Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker Jr., and subsequently worked in several U.S. Senate and gubernatorial campaigns.
In 1995, Gov. Don Sundquist appointed her to serve as the vice chair and executive director of the Governor’s TennCare Roundtable. Later that year, she was named state director for U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, managed the senator's six offices across Tennessee.
She became the senator’s chief of staff in Washington in 2001. In that role, she supervised the senator’s Washington and Tennessee offices, with responsibility for the management and coordination of staffing, legislative activity, communications, constituent relations and scheduling.
A native of Nashville, Reynolds is a graduate of Stephens College in Columbia, Mo.
