Ms. Beth Walker Green
Acting Administrator
Rural Housing Service
USDA Rural Development
Elizabeth “Beth” Walker Green began her new role as Acting Administrator of the Rural Housing Service on August 3, 2020. Before being appointed to this role, she served as USDA Rural Development’s State Director for Virginia.
Elizabeth has been working in Federal and State politics for over thirty years during that time she has cultivated relationships with political and industry leaders. She looks forward to working closely with Federal, State, and local policymakers to improve economic opportunities throughout rural America. She feels that for rural areas to develop and grow federal assistance needs to be offered. She looks forward to targeting communities in need and empowering them with the resources they deserve.
Elizabeth graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Communications and Political Science.
Ms. Diane Lenoir-Giles
Public Relations Outreach Specialist
USDA Farm Service Agency
Diane graduated from Alcorn State University in Lorman, MS with a B.S. in Agricultural Economics. Worked in several USDA offices across the state of Virginia. Currently, I am working out of the Virginia State Office as the Public Relations Outreach Specialist. I have been employed with USDA over 31 years.
Mr. Keith Boyd
Assistant State Conservationist for Field Operations
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Keith currently serves as Assistant State Conservationist for Field Operations in the coastal plains region of Virginia. In this capacity Mr. Boyd oversees 11 field offices from Warsaw to Accomac to Emporia and all points in between. The majority of conservation work performed under his guidance is “conservation agronomy” but also includes, shellfish aquaculture, animal waste, wetlands protection, highly erodible land compliance, easements and grazing land management. Mr. Boyd graduated from VA State University with a BS in Plant and Soil Science in 1989. He served as President of the VA Chapter of the International Soil and Water Conservation Society in 2017. He has devoted his entire professional career to agricultural conservation with USDA/NRCS throughout the Commonwealth of VA. When not working you might find him on the Bay fishing or testing water quality onboard the “Summerschool”.
Ms. Patricia Dombroski
Regional Administrator for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office
USDA Food and Nutrition Service
Patricia Dombroski is the Administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service Mid-Atlantic Region. In that capacity, she provides leadership of 15 domestic nutrition assistance programs in six states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Benefit and administrative funds for the Mid-Atlantic Region nutrition programs exceed $12 billion and reach close to 30 million people each month. Prior to her current position, Ms. Dombroski served as Deputy Regional Administrator for the Mid-Atlantic Region. Ms. Dombroski has had the unique opportunity to direct all of the agency’s assistance programs throughout her tenure with the Food and Nutrition Service. She has served as Mid-Atlantic Regional Director of the WIC Program, the Food Stamp Program (now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and the Special Nutrition Programs. Ms. Dombroski also led the agency’s largest field office, managing more than 15,000 food stamp retailers and the federally operated Summer Food Service Program in New York State.
Dr. Jewel H. Bronaugh
Commissioner
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
In April 2018, Governor Ralph Northam appointed Dr. Jewel H. Bronaugh as the 16th Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Dr. Bronaugh most recently served as the Executive Director of the Center of Agriculture Research, Engagement and Outreach (CAREO) at Virginia State University. She previously served as the Virginia State Executive Director for the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), where she was appointed by Governor Terry McAuliffe and the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, in July 2015. Dr. Bronaugh is the first African American female in the nation to serve in this capacity.
Prior to being appointed to FSA, she served as the Dean of the College of Agriculture at Virginia State University (VSU) for 5 years, where she led the strategic vision for the Extension and Research divisions and the academic departments. In her earlier career at VSU, she was the Associate Administrator of Cooperative Extension and a 4-H Youth Development Specialist, where she developed and delivered programs that addressed issues of bullying among youth.
In spring 2019, she launched the Farmer Stress Task Force, organized in partnership with agricultural and health related agencies and organizations, to raise awareness and coordinate resources to address farmer stress and mental health challenges in Virginia.
