Brandon Walters, Karen Henegar, Eric Pearson, Peyton Webb

By Charlotte Underwood

JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- After Monday’s Campbell County Commission Workshop was over, County Mayor Jack Lynch released copies of resumes of the four finalists which will be interviewed for the county’s finance director position later in the month.

According to Mayor Lynch, “all four candidates have impressive resumes, and he looks forward to meeting with the applicants.” The FMS committee plans to hold interviews on July 22 and July 24, interviewing two candidates each evening. After they conduct interviews on the four candidates, the field will be narrowed down to two candidates, which will get a second interview to narrow it down to a final choice.

Of the four finalists, two are local to Campbell County, one is out of Knoxville, while another works in Claiborne County, but prior to that worked in Wisconsin.

“I think we have some really good qualified candidates,” Mayor Lynch said.

Candidates:

Brandon R. Walters

Walters currently serves as a Staff Auditor at Pugh CPAs in Knoxville. According to his resume, he lists his address in LaFollette.

Walters holds both a master’s degree of Accountancy and an MBA from Tennessee Technological University, in addition to dual bachelor’s degrees in accounting and political science.

He has an “extensive background in governmental accounting.” This “includes working with complex fund accounting systems, implementing purchasing and payroll systems, and leading teams across multiple counties and agencies.”

 Walters has worked with Pugh CPAs from April of 2023 until present.
Prior to that from 2014 until April of 2022, he worked at Pellissippi State Community College overseeing multiple grants and grant programs, as well as leading accreditation and compliance reporting for the Department of Labor funded programs, among other duties.

From 2003 until 2011, he served as the general manager for Anchor Marine of Powell Valley, Inc. in Speedwell, Tn.

Karen Henegar

Henegar currently works for the Campbell County Finance Department and has done so for nearly 30 years, since she started in January 1996 until present. Henegar graduated from Campbell County High School in 1981 and from Jacksboro Vocational School in Bookkeeping from 1981 until 1983.

Henegar has performed multiple duties for the county’s finance department over the years. From January 1996 until July of 1998, she served as the Payroll Data Processor.

From July of 1998 until March 2005, Henegar served as the Payroll/Benefits Supervisor. From March 2005 until March 2008, Henegar was the General Ledger Supervisor.

From March 2008 until September 2018, she served as the Deputy Director/General Ledger Supervisor/Payroll/Benefits Supervisor and from 2018 until present she serves as the Deputy Director/General Ledger Supervisor.

As Deputy Director, her duties include assisting the finance director in overseeing operations and implementing policies, as well as ensuring goals are met. Henegar attends the monthly Campbell County BOE meetings along with any other assigned meetings.

As General Ledger supervisor, Henegar maintained and reconciled the general ledger for all funds, reconciled all bank accounts with the trustee, posted trustee reports for all funds, maintained general journal, and to record all budget amendments. Some of her other duties included participating in the annual audit performed by the state, providing information to the general public and outside agencies, answering inquiries and coordinating operations with other departments, among other duties.

As a payroll/benefits supervisor, she supervised the overall payroll/benefits for department activities, prepared pay sheets for all funds and audited personnel documents for proper salaries. She also was tasked with troubleshooting payroll problems, preparing tax records, unemployment records, and more.


Eric Pearson

Pearson is currently employed at the Claiborne County Finance Director with the “responsibility for managing centralized purchasing, payroll, budgeting, and accounting for all the county operations, and providing support for grants management.” Pearson’s resume states because of this position, he has “extensive experience with county finance, including under the County Financial Management System of 1981.” Pearson also has recently completed the Certified County Finance Officer Program through CTAS.

Pearson holds a Master of Arts in Public Affairs and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin with his major in Public Administration and minors in Economics and Political Science.

From November of 2022 until present, Pearson has served as Claiborne County’s Finance Director. Prior to that, he serves as the Budget and Fiscal Policy Operations Manager for the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin from January 2019 until October of 2022. From January 2001 until December of 2018, he served as the Budget and Policy Manager for the City of Milwaukee. From February 1997 until December of 2000, he served as a Budget and Management Analyst for the City of Milwaukee. From May of 1994 until February of 1997, Pearson worked for the state of Wisconsin for the Legislative Audit Bureau.

Peyton Webb

Webb currently serves as an Analyst, and Regulatory Oversight and Reporting for the Tennessee Valley Authority in Knoxville. He has worked in this position from March of 2024 until present. In this position, Webb executes compliance activities to “make sure local power companies are adhering to the Wholesale Power Contract requirements.” Other duties in this position include reviewing financial statements for financial health trends, performing financial analysis and reporting on statement results.

 Webb served as a Regulatory Analyst for TVA from September 2021 until March of 2024.

He also serves as an accounting clerk from March 2019 till September 2021 for the Anderson County Government Finance Department in Clinton.

Prior to that, he served as an accounting intern for Gary Disney, CPA Firm in Clinton from February 2019 to March 2019.

Webb has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Memphis with a major in Accounting. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-07/16/2025-6AM)

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