EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT TO THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS - 77839

Executive Service

Who we are and what we do:

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture is a Cabinet agency committed to ensuring agriculture and forestry remain the leading industries in Tennessee. The Department serves, supports, and promotes agriculture and forestry in all 95 counties through robust programming and responsible regulation. Department functions are wide-ranging, including animal health, food safety, weights and measures, licensure and permitting, forest management, pesticide certification, and the Pick Tennessee Products program, among others.

Job Overview:

The Executive Administrative Assistant provides high-level administrative and operational support to the Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs and helps coordinate workflow across the public affairs division. This position manages executive scheduling and logistics, supports internal reporting and communications processes, tracks priorities and deadlines, and serves as a key point of coordination among staff, agency leadership, and external partners. The ideal candidate is highly organized, detail-oriented, discreet, and able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide direct administrative support to the Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs, including calendar management, meeting coordination, scheduling, and routine correspondence support.

• Coordinate travel authorizations, travel logistics, and reimbursement documentation for the assistant commissioner and the three public affairs teams, ensuring timely submission and compliance with agency and state requirements.

• Prepare, compile, and distribute weekly reports, updates, briefing materials, and other recurring internal documents for executive leadership and team use.

• Support meeting preparation by developing agendas, gathering background materials, taking notes when needed, and tracking follow-up actions.

• Assist with the bilingual translation workflow for press releases and other external communications by coordinating with the translation vendor, routing content for review, and helping track deadlines and final versions.

• Provide administrative support for social media operations, which may include drafting posts for review, maintaining content calendars, organizing assets, coordinating approvals, tracking posting schedules, and compiling performance information.

• Organize and maintain files, records, contact lists, reports, templates, and other administrative documents for the public affairs office.

• Serve as a liaison with internal divisions, executive leadership staff, and external partners on scheduling, document routing, and administrative follow-up.

• Help coordinate logistics for events, press conferences, media opportunities, leadership meetings, and other public-facing or internal activities as assigned.

• Monitor shared inboxes, incoming requests, and routine administrative tasks, escalating urgent matters appropriately.

• Support purchasing, invoice processing, vendor coordination, and other administrative processes as needed and in accordance with agency procedures.

• Handle sensitive information with professionalism, sound judgment, and a high degree of confidentiality. Track CFG goals and progress.

• Perform other related duties as assigned in support of the assistant commissioner and public affairs division.

Pursuant to the State of Tennessee's Workplace Discrimination and Harassment policy, the State is firmly committed to the principle of fair and equal employment opportunities for its citizens and strives to protect the rights and opportunities of all people to seek, obtain, and hold employment without being subjected to illegal discrimination and harassment in the workplace. It is the State's policy to provide an environment free of discrimination and harassment of an individual because of that person's race, color, national origin, age (40 and over), sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, disability, veteran's status or any other category protected by state and/or federal civil rights laws.