Mr. Batson has been the TBR Chief Audit Executive since June 2017, guiding internal audit, consulting services, and investigations for the system and its colleges. He began his professional career as a Legislative Auditor with the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, Division of State Audit. He became an internal auditor at Tennessee State University and later spent two years as the fiscal officer for TSU's then Center of Excellence for Research and Policy on Basic Skills. In 2000, he returned to TSU’s Department of Internal Audit as the director.