Anne B. Pope, Tennessee’s Commissioner of the Department of Commerce and Insurance, will deliver the spring commencement address at ETSU on May 5, with ceremonies beginning at 10 a.m. in Memorial Center.
Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist appointed Pope to her current post November 1, 1999, following her service as a member of the governor’s 1996 Commission on Practical Government, his 1997 Council on Excellence for Higher Education, and more recently as the executive director for the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission.
A Kingsport native, Pope earned degrees from Vanderbilt University and the Cumberland School of Law, Samford University.
Following law school, she clerked for U.S. District Judge James D. Todd in Jackson, Tenn. Pope is admitted to practice law in Tennessee and the District of Columbia.
Commissioner Pope’s career in the private sector included positions as president/CEO and vice president/CFO for the Parks-Belk Company, president of Proffitt’s of the Tri-Cities and associate attorney for the Washington, D.C., firm, Webster, Chamberlain & Bean.
An active member of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Pope is one of four zone chairmen and co-chairs the Functional Regulation working group.
She is a member of the board of directors for the Bank of Tennessee, and she is past-president of the Arts Council of Greater Kingsport and a former member of the board of directors for the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce. She also served as chariman of the 1997 Business Hall of Fame for Junior Achievement.
She is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Pope of Kingsport.

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