Published: August 17, 2019

Wanda Young Wilson, Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp., is retiring after 26 years of service to the lottery industry, effective October 31

Wanda Young Wilson, Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp., is retiring after 26 years of service to the lottery industry, effective October 31

Wanda Young Wilson has been an integral part of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation for the past 16 years. As a member of the start-up team, Wanda worked tirelessly to help successfully launch the TEL ahead of schedule in 2004.  Her contributions to the continued growth and successes of the Tennessee Lottery are countless.  Admired and respected by all TEL employees, Wanda will be especially missed by her staff who value her guidance and excellent leadership qualities and by her colleagues all around the country who value her friendship and wise counsel.

 As the chief operating officer, general counsel and secretary of the TEL, she has had executive management responsibility for the corporation’s departments of legal services, contract compliance, human resources, corporate services and security. In addition, she provided strategic leadership to the other divisions and rendered legal advice and counsel to the Board of Directors and the senior officers of the Corporation.  She began her career in the lottery business in 1993 with the inception of the Georgia Lottery Corporation, where she served as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for 10 years.   While she has more than 26 years of executive management experience in the public gaming industry, she is an accomplished corporate attorney and was a founding member of the NASPL Lawyers Group.   

 Wanda has received several professional awards for her contributions to the public gaming industry. Shortly after her employment by the Tennessee Lottery she was named one of the 50 most powerful African Americans in Tennessee; in 2012 she received the Individual Star Diversity Award of Excellence from Corporate Counsel Women of Color; in 2015 she was awarded the Major Peter J. O’Connell Lottery Industry Lifetime Achievement Award by Public Gaming Research Institute; and in 2016 she received the Powers Award for Performance Excellence presented by the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries. 

She is also very active in professional and civic organizations. She currently serves on the Board of Advisors at the University of Minnesota School of Law. She was a founding member of the Board of Directors of Purpose Preparatory Charter School in Nashville and has served as a mentor with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee. She is also a life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and a member of the Music City Chapter of The Links, Inc.  Over the years she has been a member of numerous Bar Associations including Napier-Looby, the Nashville Bar and the Cook County Bar. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and is a founding member of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys.

 Wanda earned her bachelor’s degree in advertising from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After a few years in marketing, she entered law school at the University of Minnesota, where she earned a Juris Doctorate degree. She also attended Boston University School of Law.  She has been licensed to practice law in the states of Georgia, Minnesota, and Tennessee. This year she celebrated 40 years in the legal profession.