Director

In January 2003, Governor Sonny Perdue appointed Vernon M. Keenan as director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Keenan had served as acting director for six months prior to his appointment. During his career, Keenan was promoted to every rank in the GBI's Investigative Division, and then moved even farther up the chain of command to assistant director and now director.

As GBI Director, Vernon Keenan is the leader of a state criminal investigative agency with over 800 employees and a budget of $84.5 million. The GBI is comprised of three divisions: the State Crime Laboratory, the Georgia Crime Information Center and the Investigative Division.

Keenan began his career in law enforcement as a police officer with the Dekalb County Police Department (November 1972 – June 1973). In July 1973 he became a GBI Special Agent assigned to Northwest Georgia.

In November 1980, he was assigned to the Missing and Murdered Children Investigation in Atlanta and remained in this assignment until his promotion to Squad Commander of the State Auto Theft Squad in February 1981. On August 1, 1982, Keenan was promoted to Special Agent in Charge and assigned to the Calhoun Regional Office. In this capacity, he was responsible for managing the Special Agents who worked twelve counties in northwest Georgia.

Keenan was promoted to Inspector in March of 1988 and assigned to supervise the seven regional offices in north Georgia as well as the Metro Fugitive Squad and the Special Investigations Unit/Financial Investigations Squad. As Inspector, he served in the law enforcement command center at the 1988 Democratic Convention and was responsible for planning and implementing the state's law enforcement response to three separate white supremacist demonstrations in Atlanta, each involving in excess of 1,000 law enforcement and National Guard officials. He was also agency manager for the GBI's participation in planning security for the 1996 Olympic Games. In this capacity, he was dispatched as a law enforcement observer to the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain and served as a member of the Georgia Law Enforcement Delegation to Israel in March 1993.

In June of 1993, Keenan was promoted to Deputy Director and placed in command of the Investigative Division. He also was one of several officials in charge of the State Law Enforcement Command Center during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

After his promotion to GBI Director, Keenan served as a member of the State Homeland Security Central Command responsible for public safety, facilitation of law enforcement and coordination of state personnel during the G-8 Summit at Sea Island, Georgia (June 8 – 10, 2004).

Keenan has participated in law enforcement leadership programs in Israel, China, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom. He is a guest lecturer on law enforcement issues at the FBI National Academy and throughout the United States. He serves as a member of both the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Investigation Operations Committee and the Dangerous Drugs and Narcotics Committee.

Keenan is a graduate of Waycross High School and received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Valdosta State College in 1972. In addition, he is a graduate of 117th Session of FBI National Academy (May, 1979 - June, 1979). In 1997, Vernon Keenan graduated from the Georgia Chiefs of Police Command College with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Columbus State University.

Vernon Keenan is an Eagle Scout. He has been married since 1972 to Joan Thomas Keenan from St. Mary's, Georgia. They live in Cherokee County and have two sons, Mack and Jackson.