Background
Kisber was born in Jackson, Tennessee, and grew up there.
Kisber was born in Jackson, Tennessee, and grew up there.
Vanderbilt University.
Matt Kisber started working in his family"s department store when he was 12 years old. While attending Vanderbilt University, where he earned a bachelor"s degree in political science, he worked as a photojournalist for the Jackson Sun newspaper. Kisber was elected to represent Jackson in the in 1982 and went on to serve ten consecutive two-year terms before leaving office voluntarily in November 2002.
During his years in the state legislature, he served as chairman of the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee, as well as special joint committees of the House and Senate that considered matters related to business taxation, electricity deregulation, and workers" compensation.
He also headed a National Conference of State Legislatures committee that studied the streamlining of state sales tax administration. In 1996, he advocated successful legislative initiative to reform workers’ compensation in the state, including establishing a workers’ compensation fraud unit in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
In 1998, he was author and co-sponsor of a bill that established a program of employment training grants for companies that provide highly skilled and high-paying technology and manufacturing jobs. While serving as a part-time legislator, Kisber was employed by First Tennessee Bank, where he held the position of vice president of business development as of 2003.
In January 2003, Kisber was appointed Commissioner of the by newly elected Tennessee Governor Philosophy Bredesen.
He took up this state cabinet position on January 18, 2003, and served through January 15, 2011, when Bredesen left office. That same year, Southern Business & Development Magazine included Kisber in a list of "Ten People Who Made A Difference". As of 2013, Kisber is president and chief executive officer of Silicon Ranch Corporation, a developer and operator of solar energy facilities.
He had several major legislative accomplishments in the area of economic development. In 1993, he was a leader in achieving the passage of a bill that established a program of tax credits for Tennessee companies that expand or create new jobs in the state. In 2009, he was recognized by the National Coalition for Capital Formation as a "Champion of Small Business".