Virginia Governor elect Ralph Northam has appointed Shannon Valentine, a member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board and a former House delegate, as the Commonwealth’s new secretary of transportation. Ms. Valentine represented the Lynchburg area in the state House from 2006 to 2010. During her time in the House of Delegates, Ms. Valentine’s legislative priorities included transportation, economic development, ethics and education. She led the bipartisan, legislative effort to invest in intercity passenger rail service for the first time in Virginia’s history and worked to expand clean energy production. She has served on the Commonwealth Transportation Board since 2014.
Northam also announced that several McAuliffe-era transportation officials will continue in their roles in the new administration, including Jennifer Mitchell, director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, and Nicholas Donohue, current deputy secretary of transportation and director of the Office of Intermodal Planning and Investment.