Several on Beshear's team have strong UofL ties

After his election in November as Kentucky's 61st governor, Steve Beshear began putting together his cabinet with a simple goal: "We are going to approach governing this state on the basis of trying to find the best people to help us."

It soon became clear that several of those "best people" would have strong University of Louisville connections.

Larry Hayes, Beshear's secretary of Executive Cabinet, is a member of UofL's Board of Overseers and a former member of both the UofL Board of Trustees and foundation board. The native of Washington County was deputy mayor and secretary of finance and administration for the city of Louisville under Mayor Jerry Abramson before joining Beshear's cabinet.

Hayes served as the first president of what is now Greater Louisville Inc. (formerly the Louisville Chamber of Commerce) from 1987–1988. In state government, he served as secretary of the Executive Cabinet and state budget director from 1983–1987 in Martha Layne Collins' administration. Prior to that, he was the executive assistant to the Kentucky Senate president for six years.

In his role as executive cabinet secretary, Hayes serves as the link between Beshear and his cabinet secretaries and functions as one of the governor's top policy advisers. For Hayes, it's a return to Frankfort after 20 years.

"A lot of things have changed," he said, "but some of the same problems we thought we fixed are still here."

Beshear's general counsel is 1984 UofL Brandeis School of Law graduate Ellen Hesen, who also is serving as acting secretary of the Health and Family Services Cabinet until a permanent secretary is named.

Hesen, who has practiced law for 20 years, most recently served as general counsel for the state Auditor's Office. She began her career with the Jefferson County Attorney's Office. From 1996–2003, she served in various positions in state government including general counsel to the Cabinet for Health Services, interim commissioner for the Department of Medicaid Services and deputy secretary.

J. Michael Brown, a 1979 law grad and current member of the Board of Overseers, is Beshear's secretary of Justice and Public Safety. Brown has had a long career in public service, including a tenure as law director for the city of Louisville, district court judge and chairman of the Louisville Regional Airport Authority.

He has practiced law in various legal arenas including labor and employment, airport and aviation, administrative entertainment and commercial litigation. Prior to working as an attorney at Stites and Harbison in the firm's Louisville office, Brown served on the Louisville Regional Airport Authority for 12 years, guiding it through major construction and noise mitigation programs and through the attraction and expansion of cargo and passenger carriers.

"This is a position that I think can make a difference," said Brown, who before law school served as an infantry officer and helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army. "My public service started out during my days in the military. And I look at this as being called back to active duty to protect and defend the commonwealth. It's where I live, it's where my family lives, and I don't know how you turn that down."

Joe Prather, a member of the UofL Board of Overseers, was named secretary of the Transportation Cabinet. He served three terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives in the late 1960s and early 1970s before moving to the Senate, where he became president pro tempore in 1976.

After leaving the Legislature in 1986, he was instrumental in the election of Gov. Brereton Jones in 1991 and served in Jones' administration as a $1-a-year adviser to the governor and as secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet. Prather has been a realtor, auctioneer and banker.

Jim Cauley, a 1992 UofL political science graduate, and Vince Gabbert, a 1997 political science graduate and 2001 law grad, were named Beshear's chief of staff and deputy chief of staff respectively.

A veteran of more than 20 political campaigns, Cauley ran Barack Obama's successful bid for the U.S. Senate in Illinois. As chief of staff, the Pikeville native and Louisville resident will manage Beshear's office, help plan strategy and create an agenda for the state.

"Jim Cauley's talents lend themselves to all of those areas," Beshear said. Gabbert served as state Senate Caucus director from 1999–2002 and as political director for the Kentucky Democratic Party since July.

Beshear appointed Virginia Woodward, a UofL 1971 dental hygiene graduate, as the new state director of Boards and Commissions. A dental hygienist for more than 30 years, Woodward served as president of the Louisville Metro Women's Network and is the immediate past president of the Kentucky Women's Caucus. She also served as director of the Kentucky Commission on Women from 1996–98.

Rodney Brewer, who earned UofL bachelor's (1979) and master's (1993) degrees in justice administration, is the new State Police Commissioner. The Ballardsville resident served 26 years with the Kentucky State Police before retiring as deputy commissioner in 2004.

Beshear said he handled jobs in uniformed operations, special investigations, narcotics, strategic planning and the executive security detail assigned to protect the governor and lieutenant governor. He picked Brewer "due to his wealth of experience and high level of both personal and professional integrity."