Colonel Matt Perry began his career in law enforcement in 2002 as a deputy with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department in Tennessee where he worked until joining the Tennessee Highway Patrol in 2004. Perry served as a road trooper before taking a position with the Critical Incident Response Team as a crash reconstructionist in 2007. In 2010, Perry was promoted to Sergeant over Davidson and Cheatham counties before being promoted to Lieutenant and Commander of the Interdiction Plus Team, liaison to the Tennessee Fusion Center, and coordinator of the license plate reader program in 2013. In 2015, Perry was promoted to Captain over the Nashville District, commanding nearly 100 commissioned personnel spanning 12 counties. In 2017, Perry was promoted to Major over the Administrative Bureau, then laterally transferred to Major over the Field Operations West Bureau. He oversaw all road trooper operations in THP’s Nashville, Lawrenceburg, Jackson, and Memphis Districts. In 2019, Perry was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He served in the capacity of Executive Officer/Lieutenant Colonel, supervising the Support Services Division, until his promotion to Colonel in December 2020.

Colonel Perry earned a bachelor’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University. He graduated from Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command, PERF’s Senior Management Institute for Police, and the FBI National Executive Institute.

He currently serves as Southern Region Chair for the IACP State and Provincial Police Division, and as the Law Enforcement Representative on the AAMVA International Board of Directors.