Municipal Government

I grew up in the Washington DC. area.  After high school I enlisted in the Air Force and served 21 years, living overseas in the Philippines and Germany.  After the Air Force I went to work for the City of McKenzie, Tennessee as their City recorder and Finance Director.  Before joining the IPS staff in 2010, I served the City of Clifton, Tennessee as their City Manager.

John is the Human Resource Management Consultant for cities and towns in the Middle TN grand division.  He holds a bachelor’s in management from Trevecca Nazarene University and a master’s in human resource management from the University of Connecticut, as well as senior level certifications from IPMA-HR, SHRM and HRCI. 

John has over 30 years of experience in management and human resources, with over a decade in local government in Tennessee.  He has also worked in the transportation, automotive manufacturing, defense manufacturing, and consulting industries.  Prior to joining MTAS, John served as the Human Resources Director for Portland, TN and White House, TN.

David Moore serves as a Police Management Consultant with the University of Tennessee Municipal Technical Assistance Service (MTAS), an agency within UT’s Institute for Public Service.  In this role, David provides assistance to municipalities across the State of Tennessee on all issues involving policing.  He has served with UT MTAS since 2019.

Prior to joining UT MTAS, David spent a career with the City of Martin Tennessee Police Department beginning as a dispatcher in 1989 while attending the University of Tennessee Martin and ultimately retiring as the City of Martin’s Chief of Police in 2015.

In 2015, David transition from a consulting role with Savant Learning Systems to the full time role as Vice President of the Law Enforcement Training Division known as Virtual Academy.  In this role, David was responsible for product design and implementation, marketing and sales, and identifying subject matter experts and development of training to meet the needs of law enforcement across the nation. 

In 2017, David joined the faculty at UT Martin as a lecturer of Criminal Justice in the Department of Behavioral Sciences.  He served in this role until beginning his current role with UT MTAS in January of 2019.

David holds a Bachelor Degree from the University of Tennessee at Martin, a Master of Science Degree from Bethel University, and is a graduate of the 195^th Session of the FBI National Academy in Quantico Virginia.  David served on the Executive Board of the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police (TACP) for a decade and is a Past President of the TACP.

David lives in Martin with his wife Lisa.  David has two children, two son’s-in-law, and two grandchildren all living in Martin.

Margaret Norris is the Executive Director for the Municipal Technical Advisory Service, housed in the Institute for Public Service at the University of Tennessee.  She has been with MTAS since 2001. She served as a municipal management consultant for 16 years before becoming the executive director in 2017.

Prior to joining MTAS, Margaret once worked for the agency as a graduate intern.  Her other experience includes work in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri; South Pittsburg Tennessee; and Lumberton, North Carolina.  Titles she has held include records manager, post graduate intern, finance director and city manager.

Margaret graduated Magna Cum Laude from UTK with dual degrees in Psychology and Spanish and she earned a master of public administration from UTC.  She served as the Executive Director of the Tennessee City Management Association from 2004-2008.  She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Tennessee City Management Association, the National Association of Parliamentarians, and the International City/County Management Association. 

Honna Rogers grew up in Northeast Georgia.  She graduated from Piedmont College in Demorest, GA with a Bachelors of History degree and from the University of Tennessee with a Masters in Public Administration.  She previously worked for the City of Sevierville and as a Post Graduate Management Fellow with UT-MTAS.  While at MTAS she worked with the cities of Cleveland, Athens, East Ridge, and Signal Mountain and the SE TN Development District and the Athens Utility Board.  Honna spent five years as the Town Manager of Signal Mountain, TN before returning to UT-MTAS.  Honna and her husband, Joshua, reside in Signal Mountain with their two children.

Kay graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting. She has been licensed as a certified public accountant since 1993 and a certified government financial manager since 1996.  Kay earned her Master of Business Administration in 2010 from the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Kay has over 30 years of experience in the government accounting, auditing, and financial reporting industry.  She has worked at the Comptroller’s Office of State Audit, Metro Nashville/Davidson Co. Internal Audit, Alexander Thompson Arnold PLLC public accounting firm and currently is consulting municipal finance officials for MTAS.

Kay has been married to Richard for over 30 years and they have two daughters, Rachel and Alyssa.  Rachel graduated from UT Martin’s vet tech program with a Bachelor of Science degree and is a Licensed Veterinary Technologist.  Alyssa graduated from UT Martin with a degree in health and human performance.  Alyssa is pursuing a career as a physical therapy assistant.