His big catch was appointment as Tennessee Senator Bob Corker’s Chief of Staff. Unlike most, however, the born-and-raised Chattanoogan who commutes weekly to Washington, D.C., doesn’t hold his secrets too close to his vest. “If you commit things to prayer, work hard and you love what you’re doing, things generally work out,” he says.
If that creed sounds trite, consider that Todd wasn’t initially looking for a job in politics. In fact, he had just stepped into a new position in the private sector. In early 2001, having transferred from Erlanger to Unum Provident only months before, Todd made a casual inquiry to a friend about how mayor-elect Corker might staff his communications shop. The friend’s reply,” I think you’d be the perfect fit for that,” wasn’t what Todd had in mind. Regardless, the friend passed Todd’s resume along to Corker, and a request for an interview ensued. As Todd says, “When they call, you go.” Seven years later, through Corker’s years as Mayor and a grueling senatorial campaign, Todd summarizes his experience simply, “He (Corker) has caused me to stretch myself in ways I would never have considered before. I’m so grateful to him for the opportunities he’s allowed me to have.”
For a former English and communications major in The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s honors program, the Chief of Staff responsibilities seem a natural fit for Todd’s calm, can-do approach. “My job is to make sure that Senator Corker is free to be a great senator, so he’s not worrying about the operational aspects or budget aspects of our office,” he says. “In essence, I’m the CEO (chief executive officer) of operations so he can be the Senator.” This includes staffing, organizing, and overseeing not only the Washington, D.C., office, but an additional six field offices across the state - 40 employees in total.
Todd takes a “quality rather than quantity” approach to management. He prefers his workers to be driven and service oriented, focused on the big picture of enabling Corker, and serving the constituency rather than their own careers. All in all, Todd says the challenges of running the office on a daily basis pale in comparison to the election years. Running an office is “actually a vacation compared to (running) a campaign,” he says.
Even so, Todd invests in healthy coping mechanisms to handle the stresses that come with his unique position. Once or twice a month he gathers with other senatorial Chiefs of Staff—a bipartisan group of about 50 or 60—to eat, enjoy, and discuss the successes and pains of the job. These meetings provide not only a bit of solace in comradery, but an opportunity to form real relationships with those Todd might not otherwise get to know. “I think Washington has one of two affects on you; either you become more partisan…or far less partisan,” he says. “I’ve got great relationships with people you’d be shocked at, (people) who worked hard against us when we were running for office.” Meeting Todd, it’s not a stretch to believe that he’d carry his hospitable nature from the Scenic City to his big city political adversaries.
To be fair, Todd does get the opportunity to partake in a healthy dose of hometown, albeit in short snaps. During the 35 weeks a year that Congress is in session, Todd flies to D.C. on Monday mornings and returns late on Thursdays. Fridays are reserved for catch-up work at home, in Corker’s Chattanooga office, or in the field offices. Saturdays and Sundays are family time.
Mention of the other 17 weeks of the year, termed “Congressional recess,” causes Todd to laugh. “Recess is such a misnomer,” he says. Hardly the backyard-hammock experience that the term calls to mind, recess is a time to be in the state dealing with constituent issues that can’t be dealt with in Washington. Still, Todd says he doesn’t mind the schedule. “It’s really nice in some ways because there’s a bright red line between D.C. and here,” he says. “When I’m there, I’m able to throw myself into work as many hours as it takes. When I’m here, I can really focus on our Tennessee operation and most importantly being a dad and a husband.”
Todd’s equally unflappable wife Katie, who was introduced to Todd on a dinner and bowling blind date, takes the lifestyle in stride. On the morning I meet them at their home—an unassuming brick ranch-style that overlooks the city—Katie has all four children, and herself, photo-ready at 9:30 a.m. The house is remarkably tidy, and the older children, seven-year-old Laura Kate and five-year-old Rebekah, wait patiently with their assemblage of stuffed animals for picture time. Katie balances baby Andrew on her hip as she buzzes about, and three-year-old John, appeased with the promise of a cupcake, plays quietly in the next room. As Todd points out, there are days that Katie, who homeschools Laura Kate in addition to caring for the younger three children, would rather have a second set of hands than a husband in Washington, but their system of management seems to rely on constant contact and, one may infer, Todd’s sure-footed approach.
It helps that both Todd and Katie believe strongly in what Todd is doing. To start, Todd feels what can only be described as a passion for Tennessee and, in particular, Chattanooga. Todd’s parents—his father grew up in East Ridge and his mother in Van Buren, Tennessee—met at a church function and started dating as students at the University of Chattanooga (previous to the university’s incorporation into the UT system); both Katie and Todd attended the college as well.
Their commitment to raise their children in the city is founded in their strong pride in what the city has accomplished, such as the Riverfront, and also what’s to come. “The day that we made the announcement (that Volkswagen had chosen Chattanooga for its assembly plant) was really the best moment of my public service career,” says Todd. “We’d dreamed big, and we were really able to change our community for generations. I think about my own children and the economic opportunities that are available in Chattanooga now and will be for years to come because of VW.”
And, while many Washingtonites may hang their hat on the idea of public service, Todd works consistently to actually serve Tennesseans, providing what he calls “good customer service.” For example, by Todd’s dictum, each of the 300,000 pieces of correspondence received annually to the Corker office must be answered within seven days. Additionally, each constituent request for service called into the office—passport, social security, or disability problems, for example—are examined and acted upon every 45 days until resolution; at each of those examination points, a staff member must call the constituent to offer an update. To Tennesseans’ benefit, this process has ensured much quicker resolution compared to other senatorial offices. What’s more, Womack focuses on having boots on the ground. Last year, Senator Corker and his team were in all 95 counties and the senator has made 160 visits this year throughout the state himself. Womack adds, “Our staff is in every county at least 4 times a year and in some counties, they visit many more times.”This close contact with the electorate—discussing their needs, their values, and their hopes—guarantees that Corker and Womack continually carry Tennessee back to Washington, rather than the reverse.
If Chief of Staff shoes sound like ones only a Renaissance Man could fill, rest assured, Todd relishes that approach. “The great thing about my job is I get to be a generalist,” he says. “I get to be a generalist because we have staff that are specialists in their issue areas—for example we have a legislative aide who is a health care expert, a legislative aide who is a banking and finance expert, a legislative aide who is an energy expert, etc.” The mile-wide inch-deep method allows him to focus a bit on every issue, from energy to health care, tax policy to agriculture. Todd values the opportunity to toil for solutions involving the greatest challenges that face our state and country today.
With all of his responsibilities and titles—generalist, husband, Chief of Staff, father, Chattanoogan—Todd still, perhaps surprisingly, draws on his English major. When asked who he’s been most impressed to meet during his time in Washington, Todd doesn’t choose a world leader or political powerhouse. No, he chooses a writer: renowned historian David McCullough, author of 1776 and John Adams. Todd explains that, last year, a special Chiefs of Staff dinner was held one evening at historic Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia. At that dinner, speaker McCullough’s brilliant descriptions of the room and all that had gone on therein—during the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, the Hall was a haven for the country’s founders—provided a new perspective on the nation’s past and the importance of the decisions being made in the present. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of people, a lot of political folks, but probably the McCullough experience stands out as one of the real highlights of my experience,” Todd says. For a generalist like Todd, there will always be a hundred titles for the taking, but, at present, the English major has made the right choice for himself and the people of Tennessee.