Terry Lemons spent more than 26 years at the IRS in a variety of roles overseeing the agency’s communications efforts. Before retiring from the government in February, Lemons worked 11 years as the IRS Chief of Communications and Liaison, where he served as a principal advisor to the Commissioner and IRS leadership. In this role, he navigated some of the toughest communications scenarios in government while leading a 325-person team and overseeing the agency’s work with the tax professional community, Congress, the news media as well as internal communications to 100,000 employees. 

Among his accomplishments, Lemons established the IRS social media program, which drew praise for its innovative and creative work sharing tax information on Instagram and other platforms. He created the IRS “Dirty Dozen” tax scams list in 2002, an annual, high-profile consumer alert designed to protect taxpayers from evolving schemes.

Lemons also played a lead role involving identity theft. He co-chaired the Security Summit communications team, part of a joint public-private effort to battle tax-related identity theft. The Summit coalition brought together the IRS, state tax administrators and the tax and financial community, successfully protecting millions of taxpayers and billions of dollars from identity theft.

In 2017, his work on the Security Summit and identity theft helped him receive a Presidential Rank award – the highest award presented to a member of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service. 

Before joining the IRS in 1998, Lemons worked for 15 years as an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor, including serving as Washington bureau chief of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He covered the White House and Congress for the Little Rock-based newspaper following Bill Clinton’s victory in the 1992 presidential election.

During his government and journalism career, Lemons has made hundreds of media interviews, appearing on shows ranging from NBC’s Today Show to the PBS Newshour as well as major newspaper and radio interviews.

In addition to being a consultant, Lemons is a currently freelance writer working on a variety of projects covering taxes, travel and baseball. The St. Louis native is a die-hard baseball Cardinals fan, and his Missouri roots include graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in journalism.