Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has named former Republican congressman Kevin Tanner, who led the Mental Health Reform Task Force, to lead the state’s mental health agency.
Tanner was selected Tuesday to run the Behavioral Health Developmental Disabilities Division beginning Dec. 16. Commissioner Judy Fitzgerald will retire after six years in the role, and Monica Johnson will head the agency on an interim basis until Tanner takes over.
Tanner lost the 2020 congressional primary after serving four terms in the House of Representatives, representing parts of Lumpkin, Dawson and Forsyth counties.
Tanner, now the Forsyth County Manager, was previously the Dawson County Manager. Kemp was named chairman of the Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Board launched in 2019. Earlier this year, the commission spearheaded a new law requiring private insurers to pay for mental health care and overhauling how states provide some services.
Kemp also announced that Ways Commissioner Robin Crittenden will be leaving the private sector on November 25. Crittenden, formerly Social Services Secretary, served briefly as secretary of state after Kemp stepped down as secretary of state in his 2018. She was also the Chief Operating Officer. She is a board member of the Georgia Student Finance Committee, which oversees the spending of lottery proceeds.
Deputy Commissioner Frank O’Connell will head the tax collection agency for now.
