ATLANTA — Vernon Keenan, the longtime director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, announced to staff Wednesday he was retiring as of Jan. 1.
“I'm at peace with this," he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shortly later.
"I knew I have to retire at some point. I've been in the agency nearly 40 years, 15 as the director. I did not intend to die behind my desk.”
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He said he met with Gov.-elect Brian Kemp earlier in the day to discuss the decision, which Keenan had been mulling for some time. The director hasn't yet told Gov. Nathan Deal.
Kemp didn't ask Keenan for a recommendation for a replacement, and Keenan didn't offer one.
“Whoever the director is going to be is going to be a success because the staff," he told the AJC.