Victor Donoho Named Director of Tennessee Highway Safety Office

Donoho Recommended for Position after a National Search

NASHVILLE – Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner David W. Purkey today announced Victor Donoho as the director of the Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO).  Donoho was recommended for the position following a national search. 

Donoho is a native of Macon County, Tennessee, with more than 31 years of experience in state and local public safety services. He has served in the Tennessee Highway Patrol since 1989, starting as a road trooper and going on to earn several promotions, including serving as the Assistant Director of the Research, Planning, and Development Division, and his current position as Director (captain) of the Inspectional Services Bureau. Donoho began his career in public service as an emergency medical technician with the Macon County Ambulance Service, and joined with three community-based organizations, providing ambulance, fire, and rescue services.

Donoho is the only department employee to have been chosen to attend a one-year appointment to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) traffic safety leadership program in Washington, D.C., where he gained specialized training in traffic safety, highway grant funded programming, and knowledge of highway safety federal funding requirements.

“Vic understands his mission as the new THSO director,” Purkey said.  “His more than 31 years of public safety experience has prepared him for this role.  Vic has a long line of public servants in his family, and because of that community perspective, Vic fully understands the importance of cultivating strong relationships with local police chiefs, sheriffs, and traffic safety partners.”

“It’s my lifetime privilege to have been considered to lead the THSO,” Donoho said.  “I’m prepared to continue to develop, execute, and evaluate traffic safety and law enforcement programs, working hand in hand with our police chiefs, sheriffs, and traffic safety partners to help make Tennessee’s roads safer.”

Donoho plans to strengthen grant funded priorities to reduce traffic fatalities on Tennessee roadways.  “The THSO has a particularly strong group of staff members who have done an excellent job in providing grant funding to traffic safety partners, and have demonstrated their ability to distribute funding while monitoring program initiatives properly,” Donoho said.  We will continue to ensure these programs meet federal standards, and provide data supporting the success of traffic safety initiatives.”

Donoho graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership from Union University.  He is also a graduate of the Tennessee Government Executive Institute, LEAD Tennessee and Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command.

He and his wife Libby, Assistant General Counsel with the Department of Military, reside in Nashville.

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The Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO) is a division of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security advocating for traffic safety. THSO works in tandem with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to implement statewide programs addressing occupant protection, impaired driving, speed enforcement, pedestrian and bicycle safety, and crash data collection and analysis. Programs administered by THSO are 100 percent federally funded. THSO’s mission is to effectively develop, implement, and evaluate these programs. To learn more about THSO, please visit www.tntrafficsafety.org.