Taking in the Nashville skyline from the vantage point of his office 27 floors up, Bob Rolfe says, 鈥淚鈥檝e had a lot of W-2s and a lot of crummy jobs, but this may be the most fun I鈥檝e ever had.鈥�
鈥淭his鈥� is running the state . Former Gov. Bill Haslam asked Rolfe to take the commissioner鈥檚 post in early 2017, and he stayed on at current Gov. Bill Lee鈥檚 request.
Rolfe has scored big wins during his tenure, with companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and GM investing billions of dollars in Tennessee. ECD has also attracted major headquarters, including AllianceBernstein and Mitsubishi Motors North America, to the Volunteer State.
Rolfe鈥檚 resume spans ditch-digging to, most recently, turning around failing companies. In between was an 18-year career at J.C. Bradford as an investment banker. While there, the piqued his interest.
鈥淚t was the perfect opportunity. I didn鈥檛 have to interrupt my business career to earn an MBA,鈥� he says. 鈥淟ooking back, Owen is where I fell in love with learning. It was such a rich experience to be in the classroom.鈥�
Those lessons from Owen came into play as Rolfe steered small, struggling businesses back into profitability. He developed a different skill set when he stepped into the commissioner鈥檚 job.
鈥淚 took the reins of a successful department,鈥� he says, with a nod to predecessors Bill Hagerty and Randy Boyd [BA鈥�81, JD鈥�84]. 鈥淢y job is to be supportive and encourage my management teams to run their own railroads.鈥�
Like most leaders, Rolfe is uncertain about the business terrain post-COVID. 鈥淲hen the world resets, what will that look like?鈥� he asks. 鈥淭he trend toward remote workers is here to stay. So when we recruit a company headquarters, how many employees will actually return to the office?鈥�
Rolfe looks forward to the challenge. 鈥淲hen I first took this position, I thought I was committing to two years of public service,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hen I committed to help Gov. Lee with his transition. Now it鈥檚 been another two years and counting, and I鈥檓 still enjoying it.鈥�
鈥擩AN READ