Leaders Learn Here: David Lillard Jr., Tennessee State Treasurer

As an undergraduate at the University of Memphis, David Lillard Jr. got involved in student government and began to envision a career in politics and government service.

“My major was political science and I was involved in the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature; I ultimately became governor,” he said. “The University of Memphis gave me a lot of great life experiences that I wouldn’t have traded for the world.”

In particular, Lillard pointed to the opportunity he received as a 20-year-old to work as an assistant to several state legislators in Nashville, as well as several clerking opportunities, including for the Army Corps of Engineers, in law school.

After 28 years in private practice as a tax attorney at Burch, Porter & Johnson in Memphis, Lillard was elected by the Tennessee Legislature to serve as Treasurer in 2009. He is responsible for the management and investment of approximately $120 billion, supervises 300 employees and runs programs from risk management to the TNStars 529 program for college savings.

“We’re helping to send students to the University of Memphis (with that program),” Lillard said. “We also run the retirement system for the state, which employees at the University of Memphis are in.”

His connections at UofM are strong and ongoing.

“I work closely with President Hardgrave, trying to enhance the University’s effectiveness and reach,” he said. “I was also very involved when the University acquired the Lambuth property up in Jackson.”

Lillard is proud of the University’s growing recognition across the country for excellence in research.

“What’s important, too,” he adds, “is that the UofM supplies a really good, solid education for its students, whatever field their dreams happen to be in.”