Kay Coles James | |
---|---|
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia | |
In office January 15, 2022 –August 29, 2023 Acting: January 15, 2022 – March 2, 2022 | |
Governor | Glenn Youngkin |
Preceded by | Kelly Thomasson |
Succeeded by | Kelly Gee (acting) |
President of The Heritage Foundation | |
In office January 1,2018 –December 1,2021 | |
Preceded by | Edwin Feulner |
Succeeded by | Kevin Roberts |
Director of the Office of Personnel Management | |
In office July 11,2001 –January 31,2005 | |
President | George W. Bush |
Deputy | Dan Blair |
Preceded by | Janice Lachance |
Succeeded by | Linda M. Springer |
6th Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources | |
In office January 15,1994 –March 12,1996 | |
Governor | George Allen |
Preceded by | Howard Cullum |
Succeeded by | Robert Metcalf |
Personal details | |
Born | Madeline Kay Coles June 1,1949 Portsmouth,Virginia,U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Charles E. James Sr. |
Education | Hampton University (BS) |
Kay Coles James (born June 1,1949) is an American public official who served as secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia from January 2022 to August 2023,and as the director for the United States Office of Personnel Management under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. [1] Previous to the OPM appointment,she served as Virginia secretary of health and human resources under then-Governor George Allen and was the dean of Regent University's government school. She is the president and founder of the Gloucester Institute,a leadership training center for young African Americans.
On December 19,2017,she was named president of The Heritage Foundation,a conservative think tank. [2] She is the first African-American and the first woman to hold that position. [3] On March 22,2021,she announced she was resigning from the foundation. [4]
James' mother was on government welfare for at least some of James' youth. She was raised in the inner city of Richmond,Virginia. James attended John Marshall High School in Richmond. [5] She is a graduate of Hampton University.
James served on School Board for Fairfax County,Virginia and the Virginia Board of Education,and on the board of the conservative evangelical Focus on the Family. [6] She was senior vice president of the Family Research Council,a conservative,Christian right group and lobbying organization. [7] She has also served as Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer for One to One Partnership,a national umbrella organization for mentoring programs. [8] [ failed verification ]
She was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and reappointed by President George H. W. Bush as member of the National Commission on Children,an advisory body on children issues. [9] She served under President George H. W. Bush as Associate Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and as Assistant Secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In the mid-1990s,James served as dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University in Virginia Beach,Virginia. [10] She also served as Convention Secretary for the 1996 Republican National Convention,which nominated Bob Dole for president.
James served as the director for the United States Office of Personnel Management from 2001 to 2005 in the George W. Bush administration. [10] Paul Krugman noted that Regent University boasted of 150 graduates working in the Bush administration and criticized James' tenure as the federal government's chief personnel officer when many of these hires occurred. [11] Charlie Savage,a journalist with The Boston Globe ,wrote that previous to James,"veteran civil servants screened applicants and recommended whom to hire,usually picking top students from elite schools." Noting that Regent University is ranked a "tier four" school by U.S. News &World Report ,the lowest score and essentially a tie for 136th place,Savage said James' changes resulted in lawyers with more conservative credentials,less prior experience in civil rights law and the decline of the average ranking of the law school attended by the applicants. [10] In addition to Savage,other journalists made similar comments. [12] [13] [14]
On November 4,2009,Governor-elect Bob McDonnell of Virginia named her one of the co-chairs of his transition committee [15] and subsequently appointed her as a member of Virginia Commonwealth University's governing body,the Board of Visitors. [16]
On December 19, 2017, The Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative Washington, D.C.-based public policy research institute, announced that James would be its sixth president. [17] She has served as a member of the Board of Trustees since 2005. [18]
In 2018, she was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as one of two members of the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission. [19]
In March 2019, she was appointed to the Advanced Technology External Advisory Council (ATEAC), which was set up by Google to advise on the ethical implications of Artificial Intelligence. [20] Her appointment proved controversial, with some employees of Google protesting. [21] On April 5, 2019, it was reported that Google had disbanded the ATEAC after more than 2,380 employees at Google signed a petition asking that James be removed from it. The petition signers stated that "James' positions on transgender and immigrant rights should have disqualified her from weighing in on AI ethics." [22]
James resigned from the Heritage Foundation in 2021. [4]
James later served as co-chair of Governor-elect Youngkin's transition steering committee and was appointed by Youngkin as secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia in January 2022. [23] She resigned in August 2023 to assume a leadership position for Youngkin's "Spirit of Virginia" PAC. [24]
James is the mother of three grown children [25] and the wife of Charles E. James, Sr., who was the deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs from 2001 to 2009 during the George W. Bush administration. [26]
In 2004, James was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. [27]
James was named one of the Library of Virginia's Virginia Women in History in 2018. [28] [29]
James is the recipient of several honorary degrees, including a Doctor of Laws Degree from Pepperdine University. [30] James is the recipient the University of Virginia's Publius Award for Public Service, and the Spirit of Democracy Award for Public Policy Leadership from the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. [31]
As a 1994 graduation speaker at Hampton University, James said, "[The United States is] experiencing cultural AIDS. We as a country have been the victims of an immune system that has broken down. It's gone." [32]
{{cite book}}
: |work=
ignored (help)Mary Elizabeth Alexander Dole is an American attorney, author, and politician who served as a United States Senator from North Carolina from 2003 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served in five presidential administrations, including as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President Ronald Reagan from 1983 to 1987 and as U.S. Secretary of Labor under Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush, from 1989 until 1990. Dole then left government to serve as president of the American Red Cross from 1991 to 1999; she departed from that position to seek the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election but eventually withdrew from the race.
James Addison Baker III is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House Chief of Staff and 67th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Ronald Reagan and the 61st U.S. Secretary of State before returning as the 16th White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush.
The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022.
Regent University is a private Christian university in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It was founded by Pat Robertson in 1977 as Christian Broadcasting Network University and changed its name to Regent University in 1990. Regent offers on-campus programs as well as distance education. Regent offers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in over 70 courses of study. The university is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Kate Walsh O'Beirne was the former president of National Review Institute and the Washington, D.C. editor of National Review. Her column, "Bread and Circuses," covered Congress, politics, and U.S. domestic policy.
David Spears Addington is an American lawyer who was legal counsel (2001–2005) and chief of staff (2005–2009) to Vice President Dick Cheney. He was the vice president of domestic and economic policy studies at The Heritage Foundation from 2010 to 2016.
Karen M. Czarnecki is the Vice President for Outreach for the Mercatus Center and an adjunct professor at George Mason University. She is a member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel. She was formerly chief of staff to Congressman Mike Kelly (R-PA) and held various appointed executive positions at the Department of Labor in the administration of President George W. Bush.
Susan Elaine Dudley is an American academic who served as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Office of Management and Budget in the administration of George W. Bush. As such, Dudley was the top regulatory official at the White House.
Barbara McConnell Barrett is an American businesswoman, attorney and diplomat who served as the United States secretary of the Air Force from 2019 to 2021. She is also an instrument-rated pilot, and cattle and bison rancher.
The government of Virginia combines the executive, legislative and judicial branches of authority in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The current governor of Virginia is Glenn Youngkin. The State Capitol building in Richmond was designed by Thomas Jefferson, and the cornerstone was laid by Governor Patrick Henry in 1785. Virginia currently functions under the 1971 Constitution of Virginia. It is Virginia's seventh constitution. Under the Constitution, the government is composed of three branches: the legislative, the executive and the judicial.
Nancy Mitchell Pfotenhauer is the president of MediaSpeak Strategies. She has been a Senior Policy Advisor and National Spokesperson with the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign and political commentator on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. She was also former Executive Vice President of Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), former President of the Independent Women's Forum, and former President of Americans for Prosperity.
In the United States, black conservatism is a political and social movement rooted in African-American communities that aligns largely with the American conservative movement, including the Christian right. Black conservatism emphasizes social conservatism, traditionalism, patriotism, capitalism, and free markets. What characterizes a "black conservative" has changed over time, and proponents do not necessarily share the same political philosophy.
The Virginia Governor's Cabinet is a body of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the government of Virginia. The Cabinet is responsible for advising the governor of Virginia. Cabinet officers are nominated by the governor and then presented to the Virginia General Assembly for confirmation. Once confirmed, all members of the Cabinet receive the title "Secretary" and serve at the pleasure of the governor.
Joe Anna Hibler is an American educator. Much of her career was spent teaching business at the university level. Retired from active teaching, she is the former president of Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU), an inductee into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame, and currently a regent of the Regional University System of Oklahoma.
Kevin D. Roberts is the president of The Heritage Foundation. Prior to assuming his current role, he was the CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, Texas. Roberts served as the president of Wyoming Catholic College from 2013 to 2016.
Daniel MacArthur Gade is an American disability and veteran services activist, political candidate, professor, and researcher. He became an amputee in 2005 while serving as a company commander in Ramadi, Iraq. Gade retired from the United States Army as a lieutenant colonel in 2017. Gade was the Republican nominee for the 2020 election to represent Virginia in the United States Senate losing to incumbent Democrat Mark Warner. He currently serves as the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Veterans Services.
The 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the next governor of Virginia. The election was concurrent with other elections for Virginia state offices. Incumbent Democratic Governor Ralph Northam was ineligible to run for re-election, as the Constitution of Virginia prohibits governors from serving consecutive terms. Businessman Glenn Youngkin won the Republican nomination at the party's May 8 convention, which was held in 37 polling locations across the state, and was officially declared the nominee on May 10. The Democratic Party held its primary election on June 8, which former Governor Terry McAuliffe easily won.
Glenn Allen Youngkin is an American businessman and politician serving as the 74th governor of Virginia since 2022. A member of the Republican Party, he spent 25 years at the private-equity firm The Carlyle Group, where he became co-CEO in 2018. He resigned from the position in 2020 to run for governor.
Glenn Youngkin became the 74th governor of Virginia on January 15, 2022.
Kelly T. Gee is an American public official serving as the acting secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia since 2023. She was the executive director of the Virginia Lottery from 2022 to 2023. Gee served as the deputy chief of staff to Kirk Cox while he was speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates.