ABOUT JORDAN

Jordan has a passion for service that has been a part of his fabric since his upbringing. Jordan's parents raised him and his sisters with the principle to treat people fairly, with respect and to be honest. His dad told him numerous times that, "If you are going to be anything in life, be a leader." From a young age, Jordan had a desire to embark on a career in business but also to make an impact in public service and to share the Gospel in pulpit ministry

Jordan's grandfather immigrated from Ukraine after World War 2. He sought liberty, opportunity and a place to practice faith without hinderance from the Communist state. Jordan learned patriotism and learned a passion for our nation's history from an early age. He understands the great blessing it is to be an American and the responsibility to preserve our community and our nation for all time.

EARLY YEARS

Jordan graduated from Daniel 1 Academy in Cookeville in 2006. He would go on to have a very active college career at Tennessee Tech University. Along the way to obtaining his Political Science degree in 2010, he also worked two jobs on campus and participated in an internship, along with numerous college activities. He worked under Rob Schabert with Tennessee Tech Sports Information, where he served as the PA announcer for home baseball, volleyball and soccer events, courtside work at basketball games and contact for the track and cross country team, among other duties. When former Congressman Diane Black first ran for the office in 2010, Jordan served an internship at her Cookeville campaign office and learned invaluable aspects of what makes a successful campaign work.

After college, Jordan worked for Sears, Roebuck & Co. in their Cookeville store, selling electronics and working as an assistant to the Human Resource Manager. In this time, he also obtained his life insurance license to prepare for a potential insurance career.

SERVICE AT CHICK-FIL-A

Jordan had read the books written by Chick-Fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy starting in high school. He decided in 2011 that he not only wanted to learn the principles of successful and ethical business practices from a book, but also by personal experience. He began work at the Cookeville Chick-Fil-A part time alongside of his Sears work, as well as serving in an internship with the youth ministry at the Sycamore Church of Christ. The following year, he was approached by the leadership at the local Chick-Fil-A restaurant to work fully there. Jordan was named the Hospitality Director at the restaurant just days after he ended his tenure at Sears. In the role, he was responsible for providing exceptional service personally and for the environment of the customer facing areas of the store. He also served in the role of mentoring other employees, particularly the younger team members, in upholding the organization's high expectations in service and cleanliness.

SERVICE IN BANKING

Jordan has had an interest in economics, financial markets and the banking landscape since his early years. He started watching daily moves on the markets in middle school and would talk with those with more years of experience about financial investments. During his tenure at Chick-Fil-A, he began to realize that a banking career would be a logical fit for his next chapter in life. He worked for eight years with two credit unions. At Middle Tennessee Federal in Cookeville, Jordan was a Member Services Representative. In this role, he did just about everything except for produce loans and manage the branch. With no prior experience in banking, he opened his first account three days after beginning his tenure there. An opportunity arose at The Tennessee Credit Union in 2019, and Jordan jumped at the opportunity to improve his career. He did many similar functions to his role at Middle Tennessee, but he also traveled to fill in at almost each of their nine branches across the state. He was also tapped early to be a mentor to new employees. The role was similar to his Director role at Chick-Fil-A, where he would teach and encourage new employees to the institution, many with no prior banking experience. After two years, he was offered the opportunity to go to Nashville to serve in the role of the Main Branch Manager. He drove from Cookeville to Nashville daily to work, wanting to stay in his hometown as much as possible. One of the first priorities was to restaff the branch. On the tail end of the COVID-19 Pandemic with a labor shortage in Nashville, Jordan came into leading a branch with seven reporting to him. Only one had significant experience and one other had been with the institution for about a month in her first banking-related position. Over the next few months, Jordan would do everything from conduct interviews, make hiring decisions, open accounts, perform IRA work, run many teller transactions, help members find resolutions for their problems with financial products, conduct audits and numerous other tasks, all while still mentoring new employees. After a few months, the branch became fully staffed and Jordan worked with the regional manager to even send some of his staff to suburban branches to help with their labor shortages. Realizing that he was not able to spend the time with family and in the community as often as he wanted to because of the time in Nashville, Jordan left the position after nearly a year and returned to Cookeville. He has been working at American Bank & Trust in Cookeville, still doing some teller work and also backing up the manager in account and customer service functions.

PUBLIC SERVICE

While a senior in his college career at Tennessee Tech, Jordan was informed by Vern Crabtree, then a Putnam County School Board member, that he would not seek re-election in 2010. Crabtree encouraged Jordan to seek the seat and others in the community would do so as well. With all the college and work activities Jordan was involved with, he still created a campaign from scratch. He and his mom, Joan, would go on to put out 100 signs and knock on many hundreds of doors around the district. When the election came to pass, Jordan lost by only 3% of the vote.

In 2013, while newly married and working at Chick-Fil-A, Jordan took the initiative to seek a seat on the Putnam County Commission. His priorities were economic development, improvements in quality of life, keeping taxes low and taking care of essential services. Putting the same work ethic into effort that he did nearly four years prior, Jordan was elected to a seat on the Commission at the age of 27. He was elected to be the Parliamentarian of the body in the first meeting of the term and would continue in the role for two years. Jordan was also named by County Mayor Randy Porter to serve on the county Budget Committee in his first year, and would also be chosen in two more subsequent years. He also served on the Planning Committee, the Intragovernmental Committee, Economic Development and on the Finance Committee. It was his work with the Finance Committee that he had direct involvement with the Trustee's Office. Trustee Freddie Nelson would bring his research into rates of return for potential products the county could invest in, and the committee made the decision on bringing the proposals before the commission for a vote. Jordan gained key inside experience and knowledge in the process of investing the county's idle funds. He also toured many county facilities while a commissioner to witness first hand conditions and situations county buildings were undergoing. He visited schools in all of Putnam County's communities, numerous fire stations, the Justice Center and even the Trustee's Office. Jordan would go on to be re-elected and serve two terms on the body.

IT'S ABOUT FAITH, FAMILY, COMMUNITY

Jordan's passion is for faith, family and community. He was raised by very faithful parents and grew up at the Monterey Church of Christ. His father, Joe, is still a deacon there. Jordan was offered opportunities to occasionally preach during high school, and that role has developed over the years to where he has now filled in preaching at over 30 congregations across the Upper Cumberland and even into the Memphis metro. As already mentioned, he served in a youth ministry internship at Sycamore Church of Christ over four years. He is a member of the Zion Church of Christ with his wife, Rachel. They have been married since 2013 and reside in north Cookeville. Rachel is an Accountant at Twin Lakes Telephone Co-Operative. She is well versed in county finances, as she previously served as the accountant and bookkeeper in the Jackson County Mayor's office for five years. She obtained her Certified County Financial Officer designation while employed with Jackson County. This is a designation Jordan intends to seek if elected your next Trustee. With Jordan and Rachel, Putnam County can choose a couple that together has a vast knowledge of business and government finance to put to work to serve you as Trustee.

In the community, Jordan has been involved in supporting numerous endeavors. He has been involved with the Republican Party locally since his freshman year at Tech. He would lead the College Republican chapter there for three years as President. While a junior at Tech, Jordan was encouraged by numerous members of the Putnam County Republican Party to seek the position of Vice Chairman in 2009. Jordan was elected to the position and served in the role for two years while also still President of the College Republicans. For a month, he also was thrust into the position of serving as the Interim Chairman on the passing of then-Chair Don Caldwell. He would go on to serve as Vice Secretary from 2011-13 and again from 2017-21, with the final year of that stint serving as the Secretary. He was elected in January of 2025 to the position of Vice Secretary again, a role he is currently serving in. He was a member of the Cookeville Noon Rotary from 2011-14 and transitioned to the Breakfast Rotary Club from 2014. He served on the board of the Jingle Bell Trot 5K fundraiser and was a mentor to Rotary Exchange students. Recently, Jordan was asked to become a Charter Board Member of the Putnam County Exchange Club. Jordan and Rachel both are active with the organization. They have been active supporting many non-profits in our local area, such as The Exceptional Bean, Habitat for Humanity, Hope Adoption, the Stephens Center, the CRMC Foundation, and the Run 4 Don, of which Rachel is a board member.

Jordan's passion is for exceptional service, influencing others positively and engaging with the community. Jordan doesn't believe that integrity, transparency, service and accountability are just slogans or marketing words. The choice of Jordan as your next Trustee is the choice for demonstrated integrity and transparency and for a career of learning and providing exceptional service to individuals.