YOUR AD HERE »

Vilsack announces USDA appointments

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday announced three political appointments at USDA.
Kenneth Walker will be assistant chief for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.Walker has been a state representative in the Mississippi House of Representatives, where he served as vice chair on the Workforce Development Committee and as a member of the Agriculture, Water and Conservation, Education, Energy, and Forestry committees. Walker grew up on a farm in Leake County, Miss., which produced cattle. He was also a member of the local cattlemen’s association and a volunteer firefighter. Before serving as a state representative, Walker was a project manager at United Water, overseeing the maintenance and operation of the Jackson, Miss., wastewater treatment plant. He received his bachelor of science and master of science degrees from Jackson State University.
Ramón Correa-Colón will be oversight director for the Office of Congressional Relations.Correa-Colón has been legislative counsel for Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, a member of the House Judiciary Committee handling a portfolio that included immigration, civil rights, civil liberties, the federal judiciary, and oversight. Before that, he worked at the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, the Office of the Governor of Puerto Rico in Washington, as general counsel and policy adviser. In this role, he advised on proposed rules, pending legislation, and responses to congressional inquiries and covered public policy issues around economic development, appropriations, public safety, and disaster recovery. Correa-Colón is a licensed attorney admitted before the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico U.S. District Court, and the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals. Previously, Correa-Colón was a judicial law clerk at the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation. He has a bachelor of arts in political science from the University of Puerto Rico and a law degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law.
Jaime Jackson will be senior adviser for the Rural Utilities Service.
Most recently, Jackson served as director of investments at a clean energy finance authority, where she led more than $25 million in deployment of capital on affordable community housing. Before that, she spent 11 years at the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. (EXIM), where she led a $1.2 billion portfolio of power and high-technology corporate and project finance transactions spanning across Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Prior to EXIM, Jackson also held leadership positions in hospitality and data integrity industries. She is a member of Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy and The Association of Women in International Trade. Jackson holds a bachelor of arts in business finance from Clark Atlanta University and a master of business administration from the University of Maryland.
–The Hagstrom Report