Ivey names Marengo County native as state finance director

MONTGOMERY – Marengo County native Reg. Bill Poole (R-Tuscaloosa) has been appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey to serve as Alabama’s finance director upon the retirement of current Director Kelly Butler. Poole’s appointment is effective August 1.

“Bill Poole is one of the most gifted public servants Alabama has seen in many years and his exceptional leadership qualities, and the respect he commands on both sides of the aisle in the Alabama Legislature, makes him uniquely qualified to serve as Alabama’s next finance director,” Ivey said.

“His detailed focus on education funding demonstrates a depth of knowledge in our state’s budget process that few can match, and his passion for advancing good public policy gives him an added platform to help me and my administration continue to seek out new solutions to solving many of Alabama’s long-neglected challenges,” she continued. “I’m more than pleased he agreed, once-again, to serve our state in this new role, and I know he will do a bang-up job.”

Poole has served as the House Ways and Means education chairman, the committee that oversees the Education Trust Fund (ETF) for the last eight years. The nearly $8 billion budget oversees the funding for K-12 education, community colleges, public universities and various education related agencies and programs. The ETF is the larger of Alabama’s two budgets and handles appropriations for workforce development initiatives as well as tax-credit programs for economic development. 

In addition to his duties in the Alabama House of Representatives, Poole also serves as chairman of Innovate Alabama, a statewide commission charged with developing a long-term strategy to expand Alabama’s economy in bold, new ways.

“I am deeply thankful to Gov. Kay Ivey for offering to me the opportunity to serve as finance director for the state of Alabama,” Rep. Poole said. “My service in the Alabama House of Representatives has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I am excited to accept this new role and embrace this new challenge, and I will continue to do my very best on behalf of the state of Alabama.”

Under Poole’s leadership, priority initiatives such as high-quality pre-K, literacy, broadband, workforce development and career technical training received increased appropriations to ensure Alabama’s students are college and career ready post-graduation from high school.

In 2019, Poole was instrumental in the crafting and securing passage of what is known as Rebuild Alabama, which in two years, has appropriated $295 million to the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) projects on the state highway system. He also sponsored the Alabama Incentives Modernization Act, a critical law focused upon making the state more attractive to tech-based companies and entrepreneurs. He currently serves as chair of the Tuscaloosa County Legislation Committee.

Poole was first elected to House District 63 in 2010. A graduate of the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama School of Law, he has worked in private practice since 2004. He has previously worked for the Committee on Ways and Means in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.

Poole and his wife, Niccole, have three children.