Lee faith-based office director recently led tech startup that once flirted with bankruptcy

The director of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives owned and, while working in state government, remained involved in a now-defunct tech startup that at one point flirted with bankruptcy. The company dissolved in January.

Lance Villio, who Lee tapped in 2022 to lead his faith-based initiatives office, started Think Native LLC in 2019 after abruptly leaving a job at a national Christian multimedia ministry the year before. Villio did not have a technology background but started the company to provide software solutions around building community through online groups and other services.

But multiple investors say the company never found its footing.

“Everything invested is gone," one investor told The Tennessean last year, speaking on condition of anonymity as investors sought to extricate themselves from the startup. "It’s lost.”

According to documents reviewed by The Tennessean, Villio at one point tried unsuccessfully to sell the company, and more recently considered filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The company ceased business activity in October, after The Tennessean's inquiries began. A Nashville attorney who specializes in bankruptcy filed dissolution paperwork with the Tennessee Secretary of State on Jan. 26. Last month, the company sent letters to investors inviting claims for outstanding funds owed.

Multiple investors have told The Tennessean that Villio refused at length to respond to basic questions from investors about the company’s finances prior to its dissolution.

It is unclear whether Villio ever received a salary from his tech startup in addition to his annual salary of $165,000, plus a $1,000 monthly car allowance leading the governor's faith-based Initiatives office and managing its taxpayer-funded budget of $1.2 million. But he remained the company’s registered agent more than a year after taking the full-time role with the state, according to the company’s latest annual report.

It is not clear whether the governor was aware of Villio’s history at the tech startup when he hired Villio to lead the office. The governor's office told The Tennessean that it followed its usual process for vetting appointees when selecting Villio.

"Lance's experience and credentials qualify him to lead as the initiative serves Tennesseans in need," Lee spokesperson Elizabeth Johnson told The Tennessean in an email.

Lee has stood by his choice of Villio to lead the office, and defended the office’s record of accomplishments "making life better for all Tennesseans." He is the right person to lead the office, a Lee spokesperson said, pointing to efforts by Villio to connect the Department of Children's Services to a church in Shelby County as part of an effort to find housing for kids in DCS care.

"When considering candidates for the role, Gov. Lee reviewed Lance's prior experience and is confident in his ability to lead as Faith Based Executive Director," Johnson told The Tennessean last fall. "Gov. Lee is pleased with the progress being made."

Johnson did not respond to questions from The Tennessean about whether Lee was aware of Villio's record with Think Native LLC before appointing him for the job, or his continued role there after joining the faith-based office full time.

Villio denied investors' allegations about his startup through a faith-based office spokesperson, and later in an interview with The Tennessean.

"These allegations are false and would not be supported by the vast majority of the investor group," Erik Lokkesmoe, a senior adviser on strategy and communications at the faith-based office said in an email. "Lance will continue to lead in facilitating partnerships with non-profit and faith-based organizations to effectively serve Tennesseans who need it most."

Despite multiple requests, Lokkesmoe declined to connect The Tennessean with investors who he said support Villio's work with the startup.

Lokkesmoe also said Villio "had no operational involvement in the company" once he started his new role in the faith-based office.

But documents reviewed by The Tennessean show Villio sent business emails from Think Native, including about potential sale of the company, months after taking the faith-based director role ― and even during state business hours.

When reached for an interview for this story, Villio did not respond to questions about the company's finances, and declined five times to confirm whether the company ever considered bankruptcy.

Less than three weeks after The Tennessean spoke with Villio, the company dissolved.

Think Native LLC

Lee launched the Tennessee Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in 2019 with the goal of leveraging the nonprofit community to "help us unleash the potential of all Tennesseans to get involved to not only make lives better for their fellow citizens but to reduce the responsibilities and ultimately the size of government."

By state law, the office is run by an appointee of the governor, who works in tandem with a separate nonprofit entity governed by a board of directors, also appointed by Lee. Until last year, the office relied entirely on private money to operate. But for the first time, the legislature at the request of Villio and the governor gave the office $1.2 million in direct taxpayer support. A nonprofit board oversees how the money is spent.

Initially, the office was led by Dave Worland, who left in 2022. Lee then tapped Villio in September 2022 as his replacement to lead the faith-based office.

Villio's background is largely in religious advocacy. He graduated from Palm Beach Atlantic University with a degree in religious studies in 2008. His career began at an anti-human trafficking nonprofit in New York City, then in corporate operations at Ralph Lauren before landing as director of Gabe and Rebekah Lyons' Christian culture summit, Q Ideas. He later led I Am Second, a national Christian multimedia ministry – a position from which he suddenly departed in late 2018.

After his stint at the ministry, Villio filed paperwork to establish the tech startup, Think Native LLC, in March 2019, according to state business records. The company facilitated software designed to help build community through online groups, private messaging, and video meeting hosting.

"Think Native was started because my wife was diagnosed with cancer and while we had great medical treatment at Vanderbilt, she had never met anyone that had been through that type of cancer," Villio told The Tennessean in an interview. "That's what the technology did ― think eHarmony but for diagnosis, and so that was really meaningful."

In July, a few months after filing to establish the company, Villio posted photos on Instagram of himself with several investors he was courting at the time on a fishing trip in Montana.

According to multiple investors who spoke to The Tennessean, Villio told potential backers that the nationally known Susan G. Komen Foundation was a client of Think Native to help bolster the company.

But the national foundation was never a client. A spokesperson for the Susan G. Komen Foundation confirmed to The Tennessean the foundation was never a client of Think Native LLC.

There is a connection, though: Villio’s sister was previously employed by the Tulsa affiliate of Susan G. Komen, the national foundation confirmed. The Tulsa affiliate is a separate entity that dissolved in 2021.

“Exciting possibilities ahead for @thinknative,” Villio posted to Instagram on January 28, 2020, with a photo of the Tennessee state Capitol. It’s unclear why Villio would have any reason to interact with the state government regarding his private startup business at that time. The Department of General Services confirmed that Think Native LLC has not won any state contracts.

‘The money is gone.’

After a failed attempt at a sale, the investors say, Villio’s startup was administratively dissolved by the state after inactivity in August 2022, according to state records. But business records show that Villio filed to reinstate the company in December 2022 – at the same time he was leading the governor's faith-based office.

Some of Villio’s investors have long been ready to wash their hands of the ordeal.

“All investors know that the money is gone,” one investor told The Tennessean.

Prior to the company's dissolution, a handful of Villio’s investors asked questions about who the company owed money and any outstanding payments – in an effort to shutter the company completely and be done with it.

But, they say, Villio did not respond to questions or requests in writing from investors for documentation about the company’s spending, accounts receivable, bank statements, credit cards and other financial documentation.

“Transparency is not a word that he understands,” the investor said. “The more questions I ask, the more resistance.”

The company borrowed nearly $117,000 from the SBA through the federal Paycheck Protection Program between 2020 and 2021, all of which has been forgiven, according to SBA records. The company also borrowed more than $100,000 in an SBA economic injury disaster loan, which is not forgivable.

As of last year, Think Native also has several outstanding loans and accounts payable, including to lawyers, according to documents reviewed by The Tennessean and one investor.

‘In way over my head’

Villio started Think Native a few months after a sudden departure from a top post at the nationally known media ministry.

Villio joined e3 Partners – the multimedia nonprofit behind the I Am Second movement, which produces film content to inspire people to put Jesus Christ first in their lives – in May 2017.

As president of I Am Second, Villio was the highest compensated employee in the $15 million organization. He earned a salary of $126,000 per year, plus nearly $20,000 in other compensation, according to the nonprofit's tax filings.

E3 Partners and I Am Second did not respond to email or telephone requests for comment about Villio's departure. But Villio’s social media posts confirm that leaving the company was not his choice.

“A little over a year ago, I was unexpectedly let go of a job that I was extremely passionate about,” Villio wrote on Instagram in July 2020. According to LinkedIn, his job at I Am Second ended in December 2018.

“After several honest conversations with God, and seeking guidance from my heroes, I decided to start a software business to continue what was being stirred up while at my last gig,” he added. “Not being a software guy, I knew I was in way over my head, but that has always been the case for me.”

‘The right person to lead’

The governor’s office did not disclose how many other candidates were considered for the position to lead the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, when asked by The Tennessean.

“Governor Lee met with multiple qualified candidates, and based on Lance’s background and character, the Governor determined he was the right person to lead Faith Based & Community Initiatives for the administration,” Johnson, Lee's spokesperson, told The Tennessean in an email.

“As with any recruitment process, it is standard practice to review resumes and call references, and the Governor's Office followed that process,” Johnson told The Tennessean in an email last year.

The governor’s office also declined to disclose what references or previous employers the governor's staff contacted to determine Villio’s qualifications for the job.

If other applicants were considered, the governor's office did not maintain a record of it. In response to a public records request, the governor's records counsel indicated to The Tennessean the office does not possess a copy of Villio’s resume, cover letter, recommendation letters or any other application materials associated with Villio’s appointment to lead the office. Nor does the governor’s office possess any record of any other candidates considered for the position.

Tennessee Department of Human Resources also does not have an employee personnel record for Villio with any documentation regarding Villio’s previous employment, compensation, or other details.

Villio’s office is in the Tennessee Tower, a state office building, and he and staff use official state email addresses. But they are not employed by the state: their paychecks come from the separate faith-based nonprofit.

“As you know, the statue specifically allows for the foundation to partner with the Office, which is why this set-up is permissible,” Johnson said, citing the Governor’s Books From Birth program as a similar model.

For more than a year after Villio took over, the office also had trouble with its website and social media. For months, the website URL linked on the office's social media redirected to a Malaysian Lottery website.

Only in October did the office launch a new website at faithandcommunity.org, which details the office's mission and highlights the story about DCS and the beds for children in Shelby County. Since December, an Instagram account for the office has been active.

Recently, the office has begun hiring for positions funded by the $1.2 million allocated by the legislature. But onboarding issues continue to plague new staff: according to his emails to The Tennessean through Villio's email account and his own, it took the office three full weeks after Lokkesmoe was hired as communications strategist for the office to provide him with access to an email account.

In the past, the office has functioned with six staff members supported entirely by private funding, according to annual reports.

Vivian Jones covers state government for The Tennessean. Reach her at [email protected] or on X at @Vivian_E_Jones.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Faith-based director led tech startup that once considered bankruptcy