Irene Taylor
| Irene Taylor | |
|---|---|
| File:Helen-mirren.jpeg | |
| Secretary of Commerce and Labor | |
|
Assumed office November 10th, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Glass |
| office1 = Senator | term_start1 = November 17th, 2022 | term_end1 =
| predecessor1 = James Bruhman | successor1 = }}
Irene Dorothea Gallagher Taylor (née Gallagher, born July 26, 1958) is an American musician, educator, and politician currently serving as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor and as Senate Majority Leader in Dixie's Class I Senate seat. Concurrent with these roles, Taylor is also the Dixie Secretary of Education, Party Chair of the New American Left, and assemblywoman of Dixie's fourth district. She announced on December 16, 2022, however, that she would not seek the assembly seat again.
Born and raised in Pigeon Forge, Dixie, Taylor graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 1981. She served in the Pigeon Forge Chamber of Commerce, as Director of Marketing and Sales from 1983 to 1991 and then as Executive Director from 1991 to 1993. Taylor left the Chamber that year in a bid to become Superintendent of the Sevier County Public School System, which she garnered in 1994. From 1994 to 2021, Taylor served as Sevier County's head educational official, a tenure notable for the implementation of CTE programs in the county's high schools, the School Board's approval and negotiation with the local teachers union, and Taylor's personal advocacy for masking and vaccinations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taylor was a founding member of the New American Left and the primary author of its present constitution and platform.