David Lillard was elected in August, 2002 and re-elected in August 2006 to the Shelby County Commission.  He represents District 4, which includes virtually all of the area outside the City of Memphis including the suburban municipalities of Germantown, Lakeland, Collierville, Bartlett, Arlington and Millington. District 4 also includes precincts in the City of Memphis.

He has been an advocate for increased accountability in County Government expenditures by achieving better results from those expenditures. For example, Commissioner Lillard sponsored the Performance Based Budgeting and Spending Guidelines Resolution. He also sponsored, in collaboration with Mayor Wharton, the Resolution establishing the Schools Capital Needs Assessment Committee. Both of these measures were enacted by the County Commission. He has also advocated for full funding by the state of Tennessee of the Better Education Program (BEP) formula for school funding in both the Memphis City Schools and the Shelby County Schools. In 2005 he sponsored Resolutions which were adopted by the Shelby County Commission and also by the Tennessee County Commissioners Association supporting increased state funding for at-risk students in all school systems across Tennessee. The Governor and the Tennessee General Assembly subsequently increased state funding of at risk student expenditures. Commissioner Lillard is a former officer of a neighborhood association and he works closely with neighborhood and community groups throughout Memphis and Shelby County.

Commissioner Lillard serves as Chairman of the Public Works Committee of the Shelby County Commission. The Public Works Committee provides legislative oversight of the Public Works Division of County Government, including county roads and bridges, county buildings, homeland security and the Mississippi River Port and Harbor. Commissioner Lillard also represents Shelby County as a member of the Board of Directors and as President-Elect of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association.

Commissioner Lillard grew up in Memphis and graduated from the Memphis City School System.  He is a member of the law firm of Burch, Porter & Johnson, PLLC. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Memphis and is a graduate of the University of Memphis School of Law.  He also received a Master of Laws in Taxation (LL.M. in Taxation) from the University of Florida.  His practice specializes in finance issues and financial transactions in the specialties of Taxation, Healthcare, Financial Institutions, Mergers and Acquisitions, Municipal Finance and Securities.

He served as an Election Commissioner on the Shelby County Election Commission from April 1993 to January 2002, including service as the Secretary of the Election Commission. He also served as a public member of the Tennessee State Board of Accountancy from 1995 to 1998.  He served as president of the University of Memphis National Law Alumni Association from 1998 to 1999, and also served on the Board of Directors of The University of Memphis Society. From 2000 to 2003 he was Finance Chairman of the Race for the Cure of the Memphis-MidSouth Affiliate of The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

In 2003 The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation awarded Commissioner Lillard the Cameo Award and a sterling silver ribbon for outstanding service to The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. He also is a recipient of the Community Service Award from the Shelby County Schools, the highest non-educator award given by the Shelby County Schools for outstanding contributions to education.