Governor McDonnell Announces Additional Appointments to Administration

RICHMOND - Governor Bob McDonnell today announced additional appointments to his administration under the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Health and Human Resources, Natural Resources and Technology secretariats.

Bios for today's appointments can be found below.  Further announcements regarding additional appointments in the McDonnell Administration will continue to be made in the months ahead.

Health and Human Resources

Martin D. Brown, Commissioner, Department of Social Services

Martin D. Brown formerly served as Vice-President of Public Affairs at Johnson Inc., Virginia's largest full-service African-American-owned marketing and public relations firm.  Prior to working with Johnson Inc., Brown served as President of the Providence Management Group, Inc. (PMG), where he oversaw its management and direction. 

Prior to this post, Brown served as Policy Advisor and Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services to Governor Jim Gilmore.  As Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Resources he served as the Secretariat's primary liaison for public affairs. 

Brown served as Executive Director and Director of Church and Community Outreach for The Family Foundation of Virginia.  Prior to this assignment, Brown served as the Director of Communications for the Virginia Department of Social Services from July 1, 1995, through May 1, 1998.  Before joining the Department of Social Services, Brown served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Health and Human Resources in the administration of Governor George Allen.

Brown is a graduate of the Howard University School of Business, earning a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. At Howard, he also earned All-Conference honors in football, and was selected Captain of the 1984 and 1985 teams.  Brown resides in Chesterfield County, Virginia with his wife Adneatria Parker and their two children.

Natural Resources

David A. Johnson, Director, Department of Conservation and Recreation

David A. Johnson has over 30 years of environmental and industrial experience working for private and governmental entities and 14 years experience working on environmental public policy and regulatory issues. An engineer, he has worked as a private consult for federal, state, industrial and commercial clients primarily in the area related to environmental regulatory matters. He served as Chief Deputy Director at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality from 1998 to 2002 under Governor Jim Gilmore. During his time at Virginia DEQ, he chaired the Citizen Wetlands Advisory Committee on Wetlands Management Strategy and served as the Chairman of the Air Deposition Committee for the USEPA's Chesapeake Bay Program. He was also very involved in Chesapeake Bay water quality improvement issues on behalf of the Commonwealth.  Prior to state service, he was appointed by Governor George Allen in 1996 to the Virginia Commission on Environmental Stewardship. Johnson is currently a Consulting Director in the Environment and Energy Practice Group with Advantus Strategies.

Since leaving state service, he has served on numerous environmental committees including appointment by USEPA Administrator Whitman to the USEPA's Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee and DEQ's Water Reuse Regulations Technical Advisory Committee. In 2009, he was selected to serve on ad hoc stakeholders committees related to the DCR stormwater regulations and the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Stakeholders Advisory Committee. He is also an alumni member of the Environmental Council of States.

He received his BS degree in Ocean Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His civic activities include Western Henrico Rotary (Past President) and central Virginia Chair for the MIT Educational Council. He resides in Henrico County.

Jeb Wilkinson, Deputy Director, Department of Conservation and Recreation

Jeb Wilkinson served in the Administration of President George W. Bush at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2006 to 2009 as Chief of Staff to the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) at DOL and as a senior aide to Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao.  Wilkinson served in the Administration of former Governor James Gilmore as a policy analyst in the Department of Human Resource Management where he authored articles for the state employee newspaper Commonwealth Currents and coordinated the Governors Service Awards program in 2001.

From 1985 to 1990 he served in the United States Navy where he was a Surface Warfare Officer (SWO).  He served onboard both USS Farragut (DDG-37) where he was the Gunnery Officer and USS Nassau (LHA-4) where he served as Electronic Warfare Officer and as a Public Affairs Officer.

Wilkinson is a 1985 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute with a B.A. in History and received an M.A. from the Regent University School of Government in 1992.

Technology

Karen Jackson, Deputy Secretary of Technology

Karen Jackson formerly served as the director of the Commonwealth's Office of Telework Promotion and Broadband Assistance where she was responsible for promoting and encouraging telework alternatives in both the public and private sectors and advising the Secretary of Technology on broadband related issues. 

Jackson has been actively engaged in the ARRA and National Broadband Plan related programs and events including: participating in the 2009 Philanthropy and Rural America Conference, representing the National Governor's Association on the NTIA proposed selection criteria panel and participating in the FCC 's National Broadband Plan workshop on State and Local government best practices.  She received a 2009 IP3 award from Public Knowledge for her work in information policy and was recently named to Government Technology's 2010 list of the top 25 Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers.

Jackson serves on a number of Boards in the Commonwealth including the Virginia Telehealth Network and the Virginia Health IT Advisory Commission. She holds a bachelor's of science in business management at Christopher Newport University and a master's of business administration from The College of William and Mary.

Cameron Kilberg, Assistant Secretary of Technology and Senior Policy Advisor

Cameron Kilberg formerly worked as an attorney in Northern Virginia. Cameron was an associate at the law firm of Patton Boggs.

Cameron graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Political Science and with a J.D. from George Washington University Law School where she was a member of the Public Contract Law Journal.  She serves on the Alumni Council of The Potomac School.  A native of McLean Virginia, Cameron has resided in Arlington since 2002. 

Secretary of the Commonwealth

Katherine Harris, Special Assistant for Appointments

Katherine previously served during Governor McDonnell's 2009 gubernatorial campaign as an assistant to the Finance Director.  Following the election, she worked on Governor McDonnell's Inaugural Committee as Assistant to the Director.  Harris is a 2010 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in Mass Communications.  She is originally from Fredericksburg and currently resides in Richmond.

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