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Friday, December 07, 2007

Steve Beshear announces new appointments.

Here is the information:

Governor-Elect Beshear Announces Additional Members to Beshear/Mongiardo Administration

FRANKFORT, KY (December 7, 2007) - Governor-Elect Steve Beshear today announced additional appointments to the Beshear/Mongiardo Administration.

The following join the Administration: General Counsel Ellen Hesen as Acting Secretary of the Health & Family Services Cabinet; Vince Gabbert as Deputy Chief of Staff; Joe Meyer as Senior Policy Advisor; Katie Allison as Deputy Policy Advisor; Virginia Woodward as Director of Boards and Commissions; Mike Haydon as Legislative Liaison; Eddie Jacobs as Special Advisor to the Governor; Courtney French as the Governor's Scheduler; Colmon Elridge as Executive Assistant to the Governor; Jeff Derouen as Chief of Staff and Director of Communications for Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo.

Acting Secretary of the Health & Family Services Cabinet: Ellen Hesen, age 49, Governor-Elect Beshear's General Counsel, has been named as Acting Secretary of the Health & Family Services Cabinet until a permanent Secretary is named. Hesen, of Louisville, has practiced law for 20 years. Most recently, she has served as General Counsel for the State Auditor's Office. She began her career with the Jefferson County Attorney's Office, was an associate at the former firm of Barnett & Alagia, and was a partner at Woodward, Hobson & Fulton, before coming to state government. From 1996-2003, Hesen served in various positions in state government including General Counsel to the Cabinet for Health Services, Interim Commissioner for the Department for Medicaid Services and Deputy Secretary and Acting Secretary of the Cabinet for Health Services.

Deputy Chief of Staff - Vince Gabbert, age 32,is a graduate of the University of Louisville and the Brandeis School of Law. Gabbert served as State Senate Caucus Director from 1999-2002 and managed Jonathan Miller's successful 2003 re-election campaign. In addition to serving as Political Director for the Democratic Party since July, Vince has spent the last three years working for Ross, Sinclaire & Associates as manager of the Kentucky Local Government Division for Municipal Finance. Vince currently resides in Louisville with his wife Tonya and their two daughters.

Senior Policy Advisor: Joe Meyer, age 59, has worked as Senior Policy Advisor for the State Auditor of Public Accounts since 2004, where he played a significant role preparing "Kentucky Jails, A Financial Overview" and the Auditor's briefing report on the impact of rising college tuition. In 2004, Meyer served Chief of Stafffor the Chair of the House Majority Caucus. From 2000-2003 he practiced law in Covington. Prior to that, he served with the Kentucky Association of Counties in Frankfort. From 1982-1996, Meyer served as a member of the Kentucky General Assembly (House 1982-1988 and Senate 1988-1996). He received his Juris Doctorate from Northern Kentucky University, a Master of Arts in Urban Affairs from Bellarmine College and a Bachelor of Arts from Covington Latin School. Meyer and his wife Dale have four grown children.

Deputy Policy Advisor: Katie Allison, age 33, graduated from duPont Manual High School in Louisville and received her Bachelor's Degree from Oberlin College in Ohio. Having served as the Policy and Research Director for the Beshear/Mongiardo campaign, she is a veteran of mayoral, gubernatorial and senate campaigns. She also served as Chief Speechwriter for the Office of the Governor of Alabama and policy director for the Office of the Public Advocate in New York City. Allison resides in Louisville.

Director of Boards and Commissions: Virginia L. Woodward, age 56, has served as president of the Louisville Metro Women's Network, is the immediate past president of the Kentucky Women's Political Caucus and served as the Executive Director of the Kentucky Commission on Women from 1996 to 1998. A dental hygienist for more than 30 years, Woodward served two terms as president of the Kentucky Dental Hygienists' Association and the American Dental Hygienists' Association.

Virginia has actively supported initiatives to promote pay equity within state government resulting in a bill for Pay Equity which passed Kentucky's General Assembly in 1996 and a Women's Health Initiative which became law in 1998 addressing some of the key health concerns for Kentucky's women. She is married to Dr. James Woodward. They share three sons and a granddaughter.

Legislative Liaison - Mike Haydon, age 57, is appointed as the Governor's Legislative Liaison. He has more than 30 years of public service at both the state and local level. Most recently he has served as Chief of Staff for House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins. Other senior management positions Haydon has held include Deputy Secretary of the Governor's Executive Cabinet where he assisted Governor Patton in developing the Governor's legislative agenda; Secretary of the Revenue Cabinet; Deputy Secretary of the Revenue Cabinet; Commissioner of the Department of Property Valuation; and Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Local Government.

Haydon has also served as Director of Public Administration at both Buffalo Trace Development District and Lincoln Trail Area Development District. He also served as Mayor of Springfield Kentucky. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Government after serving two years in the United States Army. He is a native of Springfield where he lives with his wife Lisa. They have three grown children.

Special Advisor to the Governor - Eddie Jacobs, age 52, served as Deputy Campaign Manager for the Beshear/Mongiardo campaign. He served in the Kentucky Labor Cabinet from 1996 to 2003 as Deputy Secretary, Communications Director, and Assistant to the Secretary. He served as Executive Director of the Kentucky Democratic Party in 2004, and Chairman of the Fayette County Democratic Party from 1999 to 2005. Mr. Jacobs is retired from Verizon/GTE and was Vice President of Communications Workers Local 3372 from 1991 to 1996. He lives in Lexington with his wife Sharon Hardesty. They have one daughter and three grandchildren.

Scheduler - Courtney French, age 23, served as an intern to the 2003 Chandler/Owen gubernatorial campaign. From there she took a position as legislative intern to State Senator Daniel Mongiardo in the 2003 General Assembly. In 2004, she did advance work for Dr. Daniel Mongiardo's U.S. Senate Campaign. Courtney served as the Kentucky Young Democrats National Committeewoman. She worked at Ross, Sinclaire and Associates as an administrative assistant to the Department of Local Government while she finished her studies at the University of Kentucky where she graduated with honors in 2005.She managed her father's Judge/Executive campaign and then managed their family construction firm when he took office. Courtney began scheduling Governor-elect Beshear in August. She lives in Warsaw.

Executive Assistant to the Governor - Colmon Elridge, age 25, most recently served as the Central Kentucky Director for the Kentucky Education Association and the Outreach Director for the Kentucky Democratic Party and Democratic National Committee. Previously, Elridge served as the Legislative Liaison for the Kentucky Association of Regional Mental Health Programs (KARP). In 2007, Elridge served as President of the Fayette County Young Democrats and in 2006 he served as Treasurer of this group. Elridge resides in Lexington and is engaged to Victoria Hall of Louisville.

Chief of Staff and Director of Communications for Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo: Jeff Derouen, age 39, received both his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and his law degree from the University of Louisville. He spent seven years in the Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney's Office where he served as Assistant Commonwealth Attorney and Communications Director before joining Auditor Crit Luallen's Office as Director of Communications and Deputy General Counsel. Derouen has worked on various political campaigns including that of Clinton for President and Harris Wofford for U.S. Senate. Derouen resides in Louisville with his wife Andrea, son and daughter.

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