A veteran of the Shelby County Sheriff’s office has been promoted to the rank of chief deputy.

Sheriff John Samaniego on Monday announced the promotion of Clay Hammac, who was previously a major with the department. The new rank became effective Friday.

Hammac, who began his law enforcement career with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office in 2004, is currently responsible for the operational command and oversight of criminal investigations, drug enforcement, uniform patrol, tactical response, media relations, and oversight of budget, personnel and risk management.

He previously served as the commander of Shelby County’s multi-jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Task Force and executive director of Shelby County Compact.

Prior to working in narcotics investigation, Hammac was assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division and as a member of the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force. Hammac specialized in white collar, electronic, financial, organized and violent crime investigations.

Hammac has been recognized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police as one of the Top 40 law enforcement executives worldwide, from a candidate pool of more than 36,000 law enforcement leaders, according to Samaniego’s press release.

Hammac is a graduate of the FBI’s National Academy, the DEA’s Drug Unit Commander Academy, session 81, the FBI LEEDA Trilogy in executive leadership, the DEA’s HIDTA Drug Commander’s Course and Leadership Shelby County.