One Big Thing: Clarence Carter leads the Tennessee Department of Human Services — the state’s second-largest agency — overseeing a $3 billion budget, nearly 4,000 employees, and services reaching close to two million Tennesseans annually across all 95 counties. He brings to Nashville one of the most extensive careers in public human services in the country.

• Carter is a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow, a frequent Congressional witness on human services policy, and a member of Sagamore’s Secretaries Innovation Group — a national network of current and former state human services commissioners advancing best practices across the country.
• Carter’s 30-year career spans every level of government — serving two presidents, four governors, and a mayor. He directed the Arizona Department of Economic Security, served as Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services, and managed the $16.5 billion TANF program at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under both the Bush and Trump administrations.
• At TDHS, Carter oversees 17 programs spanning nutrition assistance, employment, vocational training, and child protective services — and chairs the state’s Families First Community Advisory Board and Child Care Task Force, focused on collaborative innovation in human services delivery.

• Learn about the Tennessee Department of Human Services
• Explore the Secretaries Innovation Group
• Read Commissioner Carter’s full biography