Meet Van

Van Hilleary is a proud, lifelong Tennessean. Born and raised in Rhea County, he attended the University of Tennessee on an Air Force ROTC scholarship, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in business, majoring in banking, and a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.

After active duty, he remained in the Air Force Reserve for nearly 13 years during which time he attended law school at the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University. He received his law degree in 1990, one day before volunteering for two active duty tours in the Persian Gulf during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. While deployed to the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), he flew 24 missions during the war as a C-130H navigator, earning two Air Medals, the Aerial Achievement Medal, the National Service Medal, the Kuwaiti Liberation Medal, the Southwest Asia Campaign Medal and the Outstanding Unit Ribbon before returning home in 1991.

After witnessing President Bill Clinton push through what was at the time the biggest tax increase in American history, Hilleary decided to run for Congress and was elected as a Republican to represent Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District, a majority Democrat district at the time. Van served four terms as the 4th District’s Congressman, increasing his vote margin in each election and winning his final reelection in 2000 by 32.7%. While in Congress, he fought for a strong military from his position on the Armed Services Committee, and from his position on the House Budget Committee he took the necessary tough votes to balance four federal budgets – the only four balanced federal budgets Congress has produced in the last 55 years.

He left Congress in 2002 in a bid to become Governor of Tennessee. He ran on a pro-education and anti-income tax platform. After winning the Republican nomination, he lost in a close election to eventual winner Phil Bredesen. Hilleary then worked in the private sector until 2019, when his friend, Congressman-elect John Rose, asked him to be his Chief of Staff. Hilleary accepted the offer, and has served with distinction in that role 6 and ½ years, assisting Congressman Rose to implement President Trump’s America First agenda and to keep Washington, DC values out of Tennessee.

Van and his wife of 25 years, Meredith, make their home in Hendersonville and are the proud parents of their four children.