Tennessee – Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced that Deputy Governor and Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Butch Eley, will step away from his role in the third quarter of 2025 after nearly seven years of leadership in Governor Lee’s cabinet and a distinguished tenure in state government. Eley has been instrumental in advancing statewide infrastructure, financial stewardship, and government modernization.
The governor said the announcement of a successor will be made at a later date. Meanwhile, Eley will remain fully engaged during the transition period to ensure continuity and maintain momentum across key initiatives.
“Since I decided to run for Governor, Deputy Governor Eley has served as one of my most trusted advisors,” Governor Lee said. “I turned to him to manage our state departments as chief operating officer after my first inauguration, and then to steward our state’s finances as finance and administration commissioner during the worst global economic decline since the Great Depression. In my second term, Butch stepped into a new role to prepare Tennessee’s infrastructure for generations to come, ensuring we continue to accommodate our state’s extraordinary economic growth. I’ve entrusted him with some of the most difficult challenges facing our state, and he has consistently overachieved. Butch has served the people of Tennessee with the highest level of excellence, and God has blessed Maria and me with a lifelong friend. I thank him for his unwavering leadership.”
Eley described his decision not as a retirement, but as a deliberate and thoughtful transition at the right time to step away from government service and spend more time with his family.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve Governor Lee and the people of Tennessee,” Eley said. “From building long-term systems that better serve Tennesseans, to navigating some of our state’s toughest challenges, I’m deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished. This moment marks not an end, but a pause—a chance to ensure a smooth transition and reflect on how I can continue to make an impact in new ways.”
Eley began his service in the Lee administration as chief operating officer, overseeing 23 state departments and 35,000 employees. He led the implementation of Tennessee’s first four-year strategic planning process, providing state agencies with a durable framework to define goals, measure performance, and improve service delivery across government to better serve Tennesseans.