MEMPHIS (AP) — A former deputy commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has died in a car crash.

Media outlets report that Bill Giannini, who also was a former chairman of the Shelby County Election Commission and the Shelby County Republican Party, was killed on Interstate 40 in Decatur County between Jackson and Nashville on Thursday.

Shelby County Republican Party Chairman Lee Mills said Giannini was killed about 1:45 p.m. Tennessee Highway Patrol officials said his vehicle crossed through the median into the westbound lanes, causing a head-on collision and injuring the driver of the other vehicle.

Gov. Bill Haslam appointed Giannini deputy commissioner of the commerce and insurance department in 2011. He served in that position until earlier this year when he left to start a consulting business.