Published: 10-16-08
AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry today named Jay Kimbrough deputy chancellor and general counsel of Texas A&M University System as chief of staff.
“I am excited that Jay is returning to my staff. He is a man of integrity with a proven track record and my complete trust” Perry said. “Jay is a decorated combat veteran a man of action and sound judgment and will help lead us through the upcoming session.”
Kimbrough previously served in the Perry Administration as homeland security director and twice as deputy chief of staff. In December 2002 Kimbrough was named deputy attorney general for criminal justice by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. In that position Kimbrough continued to coordinate homeland security efforts for the state working directly with the governor.
Kimbrough also was the first conservator of the Texas Youth Commission taking decisive steps to fix the troubled agency when it was placed in conservatorship in 2007. He played a similar role several years earlier for then-Gov. George Bush fixing the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (TCADA) when it was in conservatorship.
Kimbrough also served as director of the Governor’s Criminal Justice Division and in a variety of roles in federal state and local government since 1966. A decorated Vietnam veteran Kimbrough was awarded the Purple Heart for his service in the Marine Corps and served as a prosecutor in the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He also is a former county judge and county attorney in Bee County. He also has served as the executive director of the Texas Commission on Private Security and TCADA.
Kimbrough will officially assume duties on Monday replacing Brian Newby who has been named to co-lead the Hurricane Ike Recovery and Coordination Effort.
