Today, Bob Rolfe leaves his role as Tennessee’s economic development commissioner capping a tenure that lasted more than five years. Governor Bill Lee announced Rolfe’s departure on June 7. Rolfe’s last day in office was July 10, when he returned to the public sector, reclaiming his role as Managing Partner of West End Holdings, Inc., a Nashville-based private equity partnership that focuses on “special situation” companies seeking capital and leadership expertise.
Under Rolfe’s leadership, the city of Nashville’s made two of its largest jobs announcements in history: Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL), which formally pledged close to 6,000 jobs to receive incentives for its future riverfront tech campus, and Amazon.com Inc., which is 60% of the way toward its target of 5,000 jobs at its downtown office towers. On the day Amazon announced in 2018, accounting giant EY also announced 600 jobs for Nashville.
Rolfe’s time as the state’s recruiting chief is capped by the securement of four of Greater Nashville’s five most significant business investments, including Oracle, Facebook’s data center complex in Gallatin, and electric vehicle and battery production at the General Motors Co. factory site in Spring Hill. In addition, Rolfe was instrumental in the recruitment of AllianceBernstein’s global headquarters from Manhattan.
Rolfe is a Nashville native and is an alum of Nashville’s former homegrown investment banking powerhouse J.C. Bradford & Co.
He was succeeded as commissioner by longtime entrepreneur and venture capital investor, Stuart McWhorter.