Meet DES Advisory Board Member
Charles Harrison
Charles Harrison, CGFM, CPA, is a member of the DES advisory board that was established by Mayor Purcell in 2004 to continually review DES and make reports and recommendations to the Mayor. Harrison was appointed to represent the state of Tennessee, DES’ largest customer, on the board. He is committed to helping the DES advisory board ensure dependable and costeffective services to customers.
Prior to his appointment, Harrison served as a board member for the Nashville Thermal Transfer Corporation. In 2001, when the Thermal board decided to replace NTTC with DES, Harrison was very involved with the transition. In 2002, he represented the state in negotiations for a service agreement between the state of Tennessee and the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. The agreement was to provide heating and cooling services to 14 state buildings, including the state Capitol. The negotiations resulted in fixed charges and improvements in thermal efficiency of state buildings and the state’s steam distribution system.
“Nashville’s downtown business district is very fortunate to have a world-class district energy facility dedicated to providing efficient and cost-effective energy to our businesses,” Harrison said. “What I appreciate about the advisory board is that there’s a partnership between the board and customers. We offer advice and provide input to management plans, but at the same time we learn about DES plans. We then communicate this to our customers – in my case, the state of Tennessee.”
Harrison is an assistant to the comptroller of the Treasury for Management Services and is responsible for providing administrative support services to the 13 divisions of the comptroller’s office. In June 2006, Harrison won the Outstanding CPA in Government Award presented at the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants’ annual conference for his contributions to the state. He is a member of the Association of Government Accountants’ Nashville chapter and is past national president of the Association of Government Accountants. Harrison earned his bachelor of science degree from the University of Tennessee, where he majored in accounting.