RICHMOND — Three Democratic state delegates and a former FBI agent are among the Cabinet secretaries Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger (D) has nominated as she builds out the team that will advise her and help administer state government after she is sworn in on Jan. 17.
Apart from working on her legislative agenda for the upcoming session of the General Assembly, choosing a Cabinet is one of the most significant tasks facing Virginia’s next governor.
The nominees must be confirmed by the General Assembly, but with Democrats holding majorities in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate, Spanberger is unlikely to face opposition to her picks.
The three delegates on the list will have to step down from their seats, and House Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) must call special elections to replace them. All three are from solidly Democratic districts, so the elections are not likely to affect the 64-36 majority Democrats are set to enjoy next year.
Under the state constitution, there are 12 secretaries in the governor’s Cabinet. Here is a quick look at Team Spanberger as it stands so far, starting with her most recent nominees:
Secretary of finance: Mark D. Sickles
Del. Mark D. Sickles (D-Fairfax) just won his 12th two-year term representing parts of Fairfax County in the House of Delegates. He serves as chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee and is vice chairman of House Appropriations, the powerful committee that oversees the state budget for the chamber.
As one of the most senior members of the House, Sickles is a go-to expert on fiscal and health care policy. He chairs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, which conducts studies of state policy and agencies, and serves on the Governor’s Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates, which advises the governor on economic outlook.
The finance secretary is instrumental in assembling a state spending plan for the governor and working with the legislature to get it approved.
Scott has not yet announced a date for a special election to fill Sickles’ House seat, which he won this year with about 75 percent of the vote.
Secretary of administration: Traci J. Deshazor
Traci J. Deshazor has played multiple roles in state and municipal government, most recently overseeing human services across six departments for the city of Richmond. In that role, she developed new agencies to handle services related to neighborhoods and homelessness, while also serving as municipal government’s chief equity officer.
Deshazor served as deputy secretary of the commonwealth under two previous Democratic governors, Ralph Northam and Terry McAuliffe, helping oversee appointments to state agencies and the restoration of rights to people who had served felony sentences.
As secretary of administration, Deshazor will manage state agencies that handle buildings and grounds, human resources and information technology. She will also work with constitutional officers around the state, such as municipal treasurers, sheriffs, prosecutors and clerks of court.
Secretary of veterans and defense affairs: Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams (ret.)
Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams served as adjutant general of the Virginia National Guard for nine years — and under three governors — before stepping down in 2023.
An alumnus of Virginia Tech, Williams spent five years in Army active duty before joining the Virginia National Guard in 1990. He took command as adjutant general in 2014. His term at the head of the state’s defense forces included mobilizing hundreds of Guard members to assist with logistics and vaccination efforts during the covid pandemic, as well as deploying in Washington, D.C., to respond to the riots and disturbances of Jan. 6, 2021.
Since retiring, Williams has served as adviser to the chief of the National Guard Bureau — who is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington — on matters of policy and legislative agenda.
Secretary of natural and historic resources: David L. Bulova
Del. David L. Bulova (D-Fairfax), first elected to the House of Delegates in 2005, just won his 11th term and served most recently as chair of the General Laws Committee, which handles legislation related to areas such as gaming and alcoholic beverage control, consumer protection, occupational licensing and open government.
Bulova is known for his work on environmental-related legislation and serves on the Chesapeake Bay Commission, where he was twice chosen as chairman, and the State Water Control Board.
Bulova specializes in stormwater management, water resource policy and Chesapeake Bay restoration as a project manager for the engineering consulting firm WSP USA.
Bulova’s mother, Sharon Bulova, is a former chairwoman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
A special election to fill his seat in the House is set for Jan. 13.
Secretary of the commonwealth: Candi Mundon King
In just two terms in the House, Del. Candi Mundon King (D-Prince William) has become one of the most outspoken members of the Democratic majority, known for engaging in sharp floor debates with Republican colleagues.
She chairs the Counties, Cities and Towns Committee, which handles legislation affecting the state’s localities, and is vice chair of the Public Safety Committee. One of Mundon King’s highest-profile efforts was carrying legislation known as the “Virginia MOMnibus,” aimed at overhauling state services for maternal health care. She founded both the Sickle Cell Caucus and the Black Maternal Health Caucus.
Secretary of the commonwealth has a broad portfolio of responsibilities, including helping the governor fill more than 900 appointments to boards and commissions. The role also oversees petitions to restore the voting rights of people who have served time for felony offenses. That could change if the state passes a proposed constitutional amendment that would automatically restore those rights after felony sentences are completed.
A special election to fill her seat in the House is set for Jan. 13.
Secretary of transportation: Nick M. Donohue
The founder of a transportation consulting firm, Nick M. Donohue has served under three Virginia governors and advised WMATA and the D.C. Metro system.
Donohue was deputy secretary of transportation under McAuliffe and Northam and was an assistant transportation secretary under Gov. Tim Kaine (D). He had a role in many of the state’s recent major transportation initiatives, from the plan to increase passenger rail service implemented under Northam to the Smart Scale transportation funding policy developed under McAuliffe that has been widely praised for taking politics out of the allocation of transportation dollars.
This year, Donohue — who founded the consulting firm Transportation and Infrastructure Strategies — helped prepare ambitious plans for funding the full automation of the D.C. Metro system.
Secretary of public safety and homeland security: Stanley M. Meador
Stanley M. Meador was the special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Richmond from 2021 until earlier this year, capping a more than two-decade career with the agency.
Several Republicans have criticized the pick, noting that Meador was in charge when two analysts in the Richmond field office produced a memo in 2023 that suggested a small subset of radical traditionalist Catholics could be tied to violent extremism. Republicans in Congress used the memo to suggest that the FBI under President Joe Biden was anti-Catholic, though Biden himself is Catholic and an inspector general’s report the following year cleared the bureau of wrongdoing.
Meador began his career in law enforcement in 1997 by becoming a special agent with the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority. After joining the FBI in 2002, Meador rose through the ranks to become a supervisory special agent at FBI headquarters working on operations in the Middle East and then, in 2014, chief of Asia operations.
He held high-level roles in several FBI field offices before becoming chief of staff to the agency’s deputy director in 2020 and then assuming command of the Richmond office.
Secretary of agriculture and forestry: Katie K. Frazier
Since 2018, Katie K. Frazier has been a lobbyist for Farm Credit of the Virginias, an agricultural cooperative that says it provides more than $2.2 billion in loans and support for 12,000 farmers and businesses in Virginia, West Virginia and Western Maryland.
As chief brand officer for the organization, she also oversees education, community outreach and charitable contributions.
Before joining Farm Credit, Frazier was executive director of the Virginia Agribusiness Council.
Secretary of health and human resources: Marvin Figueroa
Marvin Figueroa served as Virginia’s deputy health and human resources secretary under Northam, then went on to work in government and health policy at the federal level. He was chief of staff to Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-California) and has advised Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia) on health policy.
During the Biden administration, Figueroa served as director of intergovernmental affairs for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Today, he is a vice president at BGR Group, a consulting firm, where he lobbies and advises clients on health care policy.
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