Tom Surtees
Industrial Relations Director

G. Thomas Surtees, Director of the Department of Industrial Relations since 2007, was asked by Governor Robert Bentley to continue in that position.

Surtees served as Commissioner of Revenue from March, 2004 to September, 2007, where he was responsible for the state’s tax collection program, which exceeds eight billion dollars annually. In September 2007 he was named Industrial Relations Director, responsible for the administration of Alabama’s unemployment compensation laws, worker’s compensation, employment services, labor market information and mine safety.

Prior to entering public service, Surtees was vice president human resources for Citation Corporation and manager of employee relations for Stockham Valves and Fittings, Inc., both Birmingham firms. He served as a member of both the Jefferson County Board of Education and the Pleasant Grove City Council.

He received his Bachelor’s in Business Administration and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He retired in 1997 from the U.S. Army Reserves as a lieutenant colonel with 27 years service.

Surtees served as treasurer of the Multi-State Tax Commission and was a member of the Federation of Tax Administrators. He was chairman of the Business Council of Alabama’s Education and Human Resources Committees. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham and serves on the boards of the American Cancer Society Mid-South Division and the Boy Scouts of America Alabama Council. He is married to the former Cecilia Woods and has two adult children and three grandchildren..