“We are so pleased to welcome Joey Smith back to the NACCHO Board of Directors,” said NACCHO Chief Executive Officer Lori Tremmel Freeman.
Washington, DC, September 3, 2020—The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) announced the appointment of Mr. Joey Smith, Public Health Director of Tennessee’s Montgomery County Health Department, to its Board of Directors. NACCHO is the voice of the nation’s nearly 3,000 local health departments.
Mr. Smith began his term on July 1, 2020. This marks the second time he has been on NACCHO’s Board. As NACCHO’s Region 4 board representative, he will provide input from an eight-state region, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee local health departments.
“We are so pleased to welcome Joey Smith back to the NACCHO Board of Directors. He has always been a highly active and engaged public health official in his own jurisdiction in Tennessee and brings that same energy and commitment to the NACCHO leadership,” said NACCHO Chief Executive Officer Lori Tremmel Freeman.
“We have eight great states in Region 4 and I plan to reach out and connect with all of them during my term,” said Mr. Smith. “I am passionate about improving the health and life expectancy of our communities. While many in our country are in the deadly grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, we should remember that local health departments must still provide the services we take for granted. Local health departments are often forced to shift resources from other pressing public health activities – such as immunization, HIV, STI and hepatitis programs, food safety, overdose prevention and response, and vector control – to adapt to the demands of emergencies like Covid-19. I am looking forward to connecting with all the states within my region and serve as a forceful advocate for their needs.”
About Mr. Smith
Mr. Smith is the Public Health County Director for the Montgomery County Health Department in Clarksville, Tennessee. He has over 17 years of experience working for the Tennessee Department of Health, is a veteran of the United States Navy, and a graduate of Austin Peay State University. He has course work in Behavioral Economics and earned certificates in Risk Communication from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Leading Change from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business.
In 2014, Mr. Smith was named Public Health Worker of the Year by the Tennessee Public Health Association. In 2015, he was one of the 12 public health officials in the nation to be named to the Emerging Leaders in Public Health by the Kresge foundation. In that same year for his efforts in the fight against Breast Cancer, he was named to the 2015 Class of Pink Tie Guys by Susan G. Komen Central Tennessee. In August 2016, for years of demonstrating transformational leadership and his ability to take data and turn it into stories, Mr. Smith was one of 22 out of nearly 40,000 state employees selected to the inaugural class of Governor’s Excellence in Service by Governor Bill Haslam. He was previously elected by his peers to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Association for City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) from 2017-2019.
About NACCHO’s Board of Directors
NACCHO is governed by a 22-member board comprising local and tribal health officials who are elected by their peers. The Board also includes ex-officio members representing the National Association of Counties and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
As the governing body, NACCHO’s Board of Directors establishes the association’s strategic direction and initiatives, sets the annual legislative agenda, approves official policy statements, ensures that annual goals are met, and provides financial oversight. The Board is NACCHO’s public face and represents members in matters of policy, public health practice, and collaboration with health partners in the public and private sectors.
NACCHO’s Board is led by four executive officers. They are:
- President, Jennifer C. Kertanis, Director of Health, Farmington Valley Health District, CT
- President-Elect, Sandra Elizabeth Ford, MD, MBA, District Health Director of DeKalb County Health Department, GA
- Vice President, Lisa Macon Harrison, MPH, Local Health Director of Granville Vance Public Health, NC
- Past President, George T. Roberts, Jr., MHA, FACHE, Chief Executive Officer of the Northeast Texas Public Health District
NACCHO’s full Board membership for the 2020-2021 term can be found here.
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About NACCHO
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the nation’s nearly 3,000 local health departments. These city, county, metropolitan, district, and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities. For more information about NACCHO, please visit www.naccho.org
