Maryland Governor-Elect Larry Hogan (at the podium) announced several appointments to his cabinet, including Van Mitchell, third from the left, as secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene. Mitchell is a former House of Delegates member from Charles County. (Photo from Change Maryland Facebook page)
Annapolis, MD – Governor-elect Larry Hogan announced six Cabinet-level appointees Tuesday, Dec. 23 at a press conference. Among the appointments is former House of Delegates member Van Mitchell, who was selected as the Hogan Administration’s secretary of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Mitchell represented Charles County in the Maryland House of Delegates for 10 years and previously served as a principal deputy secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Other appointments announced Dec. 23 were:
General Adjutant of Maryland: General Linda Singh. A 33-year member of the U.S. Army Reserve, Gen. Singh was the first woman to lead the Maryland Army National Guard. She was a managing director at Accenture, a leading management consulting and technology services company.
Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR): Charlie Evans. A former assistant secretary of DNR, Evans is known as the “grandfather” of the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund and has decades of private sector experience.
Secretary of the Department of Agriculture: Joe Bartenfelder. A former 12-year member of the Maryland House of Delegates and member of the Baltimore County Council, Bartenfelder has over 30 years of experience as a small businessman and farmer. He succeeds Calvert County resident Earl “Buddy” Hance as MDA secretary.
Secretary of the Department of the Environment: Ben Grumbles, who was the longest-serving assistant administrator for water at the Environmental Protection Agency. He also served as director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, where he worked on air quality and climate change, water efficiency, and wastewater recycling.
Special Secretary of Minority Affairs: Jimmy Rhee. Mr. Rhee, former Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Trade in the Commonwealth of Virginia, is credited with making Virginia one of the top states to do business. He has served as CEO of Global Technology Systems Consortium, a government consulting firm, and Cleverlearn, an Internet software technology firm that personalized the online language learning experience.
“We have been working to assemble a talented, diverse, and bipartisan Cabinet to help us in our mission to change Maryland for the better,” said Hogan. “I am honored to have these six individuals join the Hogan-Rutherford administration.”