Commissioner of the Revenue

Terry C. Frye, MCR

Terry Frye was elected Commissioner of Revenue for the City of Bristol in 2001 and again in 2005. In 2005, Terry was awarded a Masters Certification as a Master Commissioner of the Revenue (MCR) from the University of Virginia.

 Terry is a lifelong resident of the City of Bristol, having lived in both Bristol Virginia and Tennessee. He is a 1976 graduate of Bristol Tennessee High School, East Tennessee State University in 1980 and a 1986 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Law.

During Law School, Terry was a member of the Law Review and Mock Trial Team and he clerked for Senior Circuit Judge William W. O'Hearn. Before becoming Commissioner, Terry's practiced law for 16 years in both Virginia and Tennessee. His legal work included serving as  a Staff Attorney for Legal Services, Assistant Public Defender and later Assistant District Attorney General for Sullivan County, Tennessee and partnership law practice  for 6 years. Terry also served as the Municipal Judge for the City of Bluff City, Tennessee (1996-2001). 

Terry was President of the Bristol Tennessee Bar Association in 1996. He is a past member of the Kingsport Jaycees, the Bristol Rotary Club and is currently a proud member of the Bristol Host Lions Club, for which he served as President in 2006-07.

He has been very politically active. Terry began his political involvement by serving as a campaign coordinator in Shelby County, Tennessee for Democrats for Reagan in 1984. More recently, He  has served in various Democratic Party offices in both Sullivan County Tennessee and Bristol, Virginia. He has volunteered to campaign in various roles for a number of candidates, including campaign manager and party chairman.  He is currently the Chairman of the Board of CORPAC (the non-partisan Commissioner of Revenue Political Action Committee) which he formed in 2007. 

Terry has also been very active in service to his community. He is a volunteer legal adviser to SCORE and to the Holly Help Neuter & Spay Foundation, and he serves on the Board of Directors of the following non-profit community service organizations: the Bristol United Way (Board and Audit Committee), the ETSU Football Foundation (Volunteer Legal Counsel), The Crisis Center (President of the Board), Jesse Walker Educational Foundation, the Better Earth Foundation and the Worldwide Prayer Foundation. Terry serves on the Advisory Board of the National Business College in Bristol, the Advisory Board to the Bristol Virginia School System Committee on Children with Special Needs and is on the Board of American Member Benefits, Inc. Terry is a member of the Shelby Masonic Lodge in Bristol, Virginia.

Having children in both schools, Terry is a member of the Virginia High School Band Boosters and has been the Treasurer of the Virginia Middle School Band Boosters since 2004.

He has been the Vice-President of the Southwest Virginia Commissioner's Association since 2002 and was elected by fellow Commissioners at the 88th Annual Convention in 2007 as a Vice-President of the Virginia Commissioner of the Revenue (COR) Association. He serves on the following Committees of the COR Association: Career Development, Legislative and Attorney General Liaison Committee.

Terry has been married to Nancy Maynard Frye since 1990 and has two children for whom he is most proud: Morgan Elizabeth Frye and Ryan Patrick Carroll Frye. He and his family are members of the State Street United Methodist Church. His hobbies are sports, history, reading, amateur writing and playing guitar.