Speaker Details

Hodgen Mainda served as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. Appointed by Governor Bill Lee, Hodgen assumed leadership of the department effective October 1, 2019 through November 13, 2020. Before his appointment to Governor Lee’s cabinet, Hodgen was Vice-President of Community Development at the Electric Power Board (EPB) in Chattanooga, Tennessee – one of the nation’s largest publicly- owned power providers at the first public provider of gigabit internet in the country.
A native of Nairobi, Kenya, Hodgen moved to Tennessee in 1997 to pursue his higher education at Middle Tennessee State University (degree in Political Science and International Relations) and graduated from the University of East Africa.
A dedicated community leader, Hodgen serves on the Leadership Tennessee Advisory Council, the Nashville St. Jude’s Leadership Council and the Hamilton County School Foundation. Hodgen is a former member of Rotary Club of Chattanooga and Nashville.
Hodgen participated in Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program, class of June 2018, where leaders from across the country gathered to study and explore community collaborations. Hodgen is a graduate of both Leadership Chattanooga and Leadership Tennessee’s class VI, a program that encourages cross sector collaboration to address critical challenges and opportunities that affect the state of Tennessee.
Hodgen was recently named by the Chattanooga Times Free Press as a 2019 influencer - one of the 10 leaders who are positively impacting the community and state. In 2014, Hodgen was co-recipient of Young Professional Association of Chattanooga’s Young Professional of the Year Award and was recognized by Chatter Magazine as one of the 20 Under 40 individuals who are making a mark in the community.
Hodgen is married to Amber and they have a 6-year-old daughter, Adelyn (Addy) and a 4-year-old son, Ellis.