Steve Beshear announces new Cabinet Secretaries.

Here is the announcement:

Governor Elect Beshear Announces Secretary of Personnel Cabinet, Secretary of Environmental & Public Protection Cabinet, Secretary of Commerce Cabinet and Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Labor

FRANKFORT, KY (December 6, 2007) - Governor-elect Steve Beshear today announced the appointments of Nikki Jackson as Secretary of the Kentucky Personnel Cabinet; Robert Vance as the Secretary of the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet; Marcheta L. Sparrow as Secretary of the Commerce Cabinet and J.R. Gray as Director of the Kentucky Department of Labor.

See photo on left (Clockwise from left; Marcheta L. Sparrow, Robert D. Vance, Nikki Jackson, and J.R. Gray.)

Secretary of Personnel Cabinet: Nikki Jackson, age 37, has held several human resource and law related leadership roles with various companies. Most recently, she served as Director of Human Resources at Norton Suburban Hospital in Louisville, overseeing all areas of Human Resources administration for 1,600 employees. Other jobs have included: Philip Morris USA, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, ADP, and CW Johnson Xpress, a minority owned transportation company operating in the west end of Louisville, KY. There, she served as Vice President of Human Resources and General Counsel.

"I am pleased to have Nikki on board," said Beshear. "She has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the personnel management arena that will allow her to serve the people and employees of the Commonwealth well."

Jackson is a member of the Louisville Society of Human Resource Professionals, National Employment Law Council and is well versed in a multitude of HR disciplines, having delivered Organizational Effectiveness and HR Compliance Strategy Presentations at conferences across the country. She has authored and delivered several leadership development courses and has been a featured keynote speaker, both locally and regionally, on the same topic.

Jackson began her career as a labor and employment attorney in South Florida, representing public and private sector employers in all facets of labor and employment law and regulatory compliance. Certified in Collective Bargaining from Cornell University's School of Industrial Relations, she earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Miami, School of Law and a Bachelors of Arts degree from Hampton University.

Jackson lives in Louisville with her husband Vince and their two children.

Secretary of the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet: Robert D. Vance, age 67, has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Kentucky. He is also a graduate of the School of Banking at Rutgers University and the Executive Banking Institute at the University of Louisville.

Vance's experience includes working as an Agriculture Lender for Farm Credit Services, Trust Examiner for Controller of the Currency; Stock Broker for Bache & Company, President and CEO of State National Bank of Maysville, Chairman and CEO of Dawson Springs Bancorp; Chairman and CEO of Community First Federal Financial, Inc in Maysville; Chairman of Community First Bank of Kentucky in Warsaw; Senior Vice President of National City Bancshares in Evansville; and Interim Chair and CEO of National City Bancshares in Evansville, Indiana (now Integra Bancorp.)

"I have known Robert for many years and he is a man of high moral and ethical fiber with the extensive business and management expertise necessary to successfully run this large cabinet of state government," said Beshear.

Vance has also served on the University of Kentucky Law School Alumni Board, as President of the Maysville-Mason County Chamber of Commerce, Chair of the Kentucky Bankers Association.

He lives in Maysville with his wife Judy. Together they have five children.

Secretary of Kentucky Commerce Cabinet: Marcheta L. Sparrow, age 60, of Harrodsburg, has served as the President and CEO of the Kentucky Tourism Council since 1999, managing a 575-member statewide association representing the many sectors of Kentucky's travel industry. Her responsibilities have included acting as an advocate in the area of legislative and governmental relations. In this role, she worked closely with tourism officials in both the Patton and Fletcher administrations to provide a link for tourism businesses and organizations to various departments of state government for funding sources and technical assistance.

"As an industry advocate, Marcheta has a sound understanding of Kentucky's diverse tourism product," said Beshear. "She also has an understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by every region from our smallest rural communities to the largest cities."

For nearly nine years, beginning in 1990, Sparrow served as Marketing and Public Relations Director at the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. There she developed and implemented communications and marketing programs for a National Historic Landmark comprised of a 14-building living history museum, 80 overnight guest rooms, 125-seat restaurant, two craft stores, various meeting facilities and a riverboat operation.

Sparrow also worked as Director of Tourism for the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau from 1984-1989 and Executive Director of the Frankfort Tourism Commission from 1983-1984. Prior to that she served in the Kentucky Department of Tourism in the Department of Public Information (1978-1981).

She attended Spencerian College and the Kentucky State University. She is married Herb Sparrow and is the mother of two grown daughters and a grown son.

Commissioner of the Department of Labor: Following high school in Eddyville, J.R. Gray, age 69, moved to the Northwest Indiana where he took a job in the steel industry. He later accepted employment in the chemical industry in western Kentucky. He has served in several positions in his local and his district union, International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, including 20 years as Directing Business Representative for Machinist District Lodge No. 154 in Calvert City. Gray was active in the establishment of the Western Kentucky Labor Management Committee and the Kentucky Labor-Management Advisory Council which led to the formation of the Annual Kentucky Labor-Management Conference.

Gray has also served 26 years as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives and as Chairman of the House Labor and Industry Committee for the majority of those years.

"J.R. brings extensive labor and management experience to this position" said Beshear. "His years of service in the Kentucky legislature will also be an asset as he has great understanding of state government as it relates to labor organizations in the Commonwealth."

Gray and his wife of 50 years, Yvonne, have a son and daughter and three grandchildren.

Update: Appointments raise ethics issues. This is just what Steve Beshear doesn't need!