Governor Tom Corbett
Tom Wolf Preceded by Office established | Name Gary Tennis | |
Alma mater University of Tulsa
University of Pennsylvania Law School Education University of Tulsa, University of Pennsylvania Law School | ||
Gary Tennis is an American politician who was Pennsylvania’s first Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs from 2012 to 2017. He was appointed by Governor Tom Corbett, re-appointed by Governor Tom Wolf in 2015 and was dismissed by Wolf in 2017.
Biography
Tennis graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1980. Prior to that, he taught junior highschool in Pittsburgh, PA from 1975 to 1977. He was a Rhodes Scholar Nominee for the University of Tulsa, where he graduated in 1975.
Tennis worked in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office from 1980 until 2006. As the Chief of the Legislation Unit from 1986-2006, he served as the legislative liaison for the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association, working primarily with the Pennsylvania General Assembly. In his position, Tennis emphasized the importance of legislation that strengthened access to and resources for drug and alcohol addiction treatment within and outside of the criminal justice system.
As Chairman of the District Attorney’s Hiring Committee from 1986 to 1993, Tennis founded the Minority Hiring Committee, that worked successfully to recruit African-American, Latino-American, and Asian-Pacific American law students and lawyers to become prosecutors.
In 1992-3, Tennis served under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton as Executive Director of the President’s Commission on Model State Drug Laws, a bipartisan group of state Attorneys General, District Attorneys, Judges, Mayors, Police Chiefs, treatment and prevention experts, and legislators. After five public hearings across the nation addressing the issues of Economic Remedies, Community Mobilization, Treatment, Drug Free Families, Schools & Workplace, and Crimes Code, the Commission published a five-volume report with 44 model laws in those areas, enhanced by policy statements and section-by-section commentary for each law.
After completion of the work of the President’s Commission, the group formed the National Alliance on Model State Drug Laws (NAMSDL), a congressionally-mandated and funded nonprofit organization. NAMSDL supports states in the adoption of the Model Laws and other effective, cost-beneficial, proven legislation and policies to reduce drug and alcohol abuse. Secretary Tennis serves as NAMSDL’s Chairman.
Tennis currently serves as Treasurer on the Board of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Authority Directors, and on the Board of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.
In 2016, Tennis received the Philadelphia Psychiatric Society’s Benjamin Rush Award. In 2015, Tennis received the national Ramstad-Kennedy Award, as well as the Pennsylvania Rural Health Leader of the Year. In 2014, he was honored to receive the NASADAD Award for Exceptional Leadership and Support of Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment. That year, he also received the Rehabilitation & Community Providers Association Administrative Leadership Award, the first ever government official to receive the award from that group.
In January 2017, the Reading Eagle reported that Tennis had involved lobbyists in the hiring process at the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs. He was dismissed shortly thereafter by Governor Tom Wolf for undisclosed reasons.