ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp named former state Rep. Kevin Tanner Wednesday to head Georgia’s mental health agency.
Tanner, a Republican from Dawsonville, will become commissioner of the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities on Dec. 16, succeeding the retired Judy Fitzgerald.
“Kevin Tanner is a capable and dedicated leader who has made significant contributions to both the state and his community over more than three decades of public service,” Kemp said.
“It is thanks to his forward-thinking approach as head of the Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission that Georgia is now implementing meaningful improvements in how we address mental health. The department will be in good hands under his leadership.”
After serving in local government as Dawson County manager, Tanner was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2012, where he served a two-year stint as chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
In 2019, he was named chairman of the Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission, which laid the groundwork for passage of legislation this year overhauling the delivery of mental-health services in Georgia.
Tanner left the General Assembly in 2020 in an unsuccessful bid for Congress. He then was appointed to the administrative post of Forsyth County manager early last year.
Monica Johnson, a division director at the mental health agency, will serve as interim commissioner until Tanner takes up the post.
Kemp also announced Wednesday that Robyn Crittenden, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Revenue, has accepted a position in the private sector effective Nov. 25.
“Over the past two decades, Robyn has ably led three state agencies and served as the 28th secretary of state,” the governor said. “As the first African-American woman to serve as a statewide constitutional officer in Georgia – along with her many other achievements – Robyn has both made history and made our state better.”
Frank O’Connell, the revenue agency’s general counsel, will serve as interim commissioner until a new head is appointed.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.