Henry "Tank" Powell

Who is Henry "Tank" Powell?

Henry Watson Powell, known as Henry "Tank" Powell, is an insurance agent in Ponchatoula in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, who served as a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 73 from 1996 until term-limited in 2008. He and Leonard R. "Pop" Hataway, former sheriff of Grant Parish, were subsequently appointed in 2008 by Governor Bobby Jindal to the five-member Louisiana Board of Pardons. In 2012, Powell and Hataway were reappointed to the pardon board, a part-time position that pays $36,000 annually.

A native of Bogalusa in Washington Parish, Powell graduated in 1963 from Bogalusa High School, where he excelled as an All-American football player, and presumably acquired his unusual nickname. Powell graduated in 1968 from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, also in Tangipahoa Parish. In 1982, he was named to the board of directors of First Savings and Loan Association of Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond.

Powell has long been affiliated with Prudential Insurance, having been "Agent of the Year" and also "Man of the Year" designation from Tangipahoa Life Underwriters.