Jim Shulman has spent the better part of the last eighteen years working in various capacities for the State of Tennessee. He currently serves as the Deputy Commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Health. Shulman started in State Government as the General Counsel for the Department of Finance. At the conclusion of Governor Ned McWherter’s term in office, Shulman went to work for the Speaker of the House Jimmy Naifeh where he served as the Speaker’s Chief of Staff for six years. After a brief break in State service, Shulman came back to the State serving for eighteen months as the Assistant Commissioner for Member Services for the bureau of TennCare and for 3 years serving as the Executive Assistant to the Commissioner of Finance and Administration before moving into his present role.
In 2006, Shulman helped draft legislation that created the State’s Cover Tennessee Plan, a program designed to assist uninsured citizens. For the last year, Shulman has traveled the State talking to and listening to Tennesseans about health insurance issues.
Shulman is originally from Johnson City, Tennessee. He moved to Nashville to attend Vanderbilt where he earned both his B.S. and his J.D. He has long been interested in public policy having worked in Washington during college for then-Congressman Albert Gore, Jr. Shulman just completed two terms on Nashville’s Metropolitan Council, having been elected to represent the Green Hills area.
Shulman is a member of the board of the Adventure Science Center, the Nashville City Cemetery Association, the Safe Haven Family Shelter, and the Nashville Children’s Theatre. He and his wife, Lori, have two daughters.
