Justin Owen is the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Beacon Center of Tennessee and Beacon Impact. He advances the strategic growth and mission of both organizations. He previously served as the Beacon Center’s director of policy and general counsel.
Justin advances Beacon’s mission – empowering Tennesseans to reclaim and protect their freedoms – by promoting free market solutions at the state and local level. Justin has led the effort to enshrine right-to-work in the Tennessee Constitution, has helped bring about Tennessee’s private school choice program, stop an expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare, usher in comprehensive tort reform, scale back government red tape, and assisted in the repeal of collective bargaining by government unions. Under his leadership, Beacon also helped repeal Tennessee’s Hall Income Tax and death tax, saving taxpayers nearly $4 billion to date.
Justin frequently represents Beacon on television and radio, as well as in opinion pieces for newspapers across Tennessee. His columns have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Forbes, the Daily Caller, the Tennessean, the Commercial Appeal, the Knoxville News Sentinel, and the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Prior to joining Beacon, Justin served as a law clerk to the U.S. Attorney in Memphis and at the Pentagon as a legal intern to the General Counsel of the United States Navy. He recently participated in the Presidential Leadership Scholars, a national program of the George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Lyndon B. Johnson presidential libraries. Justin previously served on the Tennessee Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Since 2020, he has been named to the annual Nashville Post “In Charge” list of the top influential government and policy leaders across Middle Tennessee. And in 2021, the State Policy Network presented him with its most prestigious annual award, the Thomas A. Roe Award, which recognizes leadership, innovation, and accomplishments in public policy.
Justin received his J.D. from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis and obtained his undergraduate degree from Middle Tennessee State University. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and in Tennessee state courts, although he despises the idea of actually practicing. Justin lives in Nashville with his wife Kara and his dog Henry.
