NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has named former higher education adviser Randy Boyd to become his new commissioner of economic development.

Boyd is the founder and CEO of Knoxville-based Radio Systems Corp., a privately owned maker of technology-based pet products like PetSafe and Invisible Fence.

Boyd in 2009 co-founded tnAchieves, a nonprofit scholarship organization that has helped pay the full community college tuition for more than 10,000 high school graduates, and that became a model for Haslam's free tuition program.

In 2013, Boyd become a full-time unpaid adviser to Haslam on higher education initiatives, and helped develop the governor's "Drive to 55" campaign to improve college graduation rates from 32 percent to 55 percent by the year 2025.

Boyd succeeds Bill Hagerty, who announced he was stepping down last month.