Dec. 30, 2019
Career FBI agent-attorney named DMAPS
agency head
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – She helped advise and lead FBI
operations in New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, and now oversees
the newest agency within the W.Va. Department of Military Affairs and Public
Safety.
Jennifer
Wilson was appointed director of the Division of Administrative Services by DMAPS
Secretary Jeff Sandy earlier this month. Administrative Services was created in
2018 alongside the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which consolidated
West Virginia’s prison, jail and juvenile services systems. Wilson had been
serving as acting director since late September.
“I
am honored to be named the director of DAS,” Wilson said. “Over the last 60
days, as the acting director, I have been impressed with the leadership team here
and the employees’ dedication and commitment to the success of the newest division
of the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety. I plan to focus the
next year on completing the staffing and developing more efficient systems to
serve the DMAPS agencies.”
After
practicing law in Cabell County as both a public defender and prosecutor, Wilson
joined the FBI in 1997. Her resulting career took her to: San Francisco, where
she rose to supervisory special agent chief division counsel; Washington, D.C.,
where she was supervisory special agent assistant general counsel at FBI
Headquarters; and New York, where she led an eight-lawyer legal division while
advising the executive management of the FBI’s 2,200 special agents and employees
there.
Wilson
completed her FBI tenure in Pittsburgh, as special agent task force coordinator
that brought her back to West Virginia via a multiagency federal investigation
targeting drug trafficking in the region. Her expertise at the FBI also extended
to violent crime, gang, and international terrorism investigations. She retired
last year, joining DMAPS legal team soon afterward.
Sandy,
himself a retired U.S. Treasury special agent, had become aware of Wilson’s
interest in continuing public service. She began as a part-time deputy general
counsel, working with multiple DMAPS agencies included the State Fire Marshal’s
Office, the Capitol Police, and the W.Va. Intelligence Fusion Center. Her
duties eventually expanded to full-time, and she began helping Administrative
Services with personnel issues and legislative proposals.
“When
the director positions at DAS came open, we again reached out to Wilson,” Sandy
said. “During her acting assignment, Wilson has strengthened DAS relationships
with all internal and external partners.”
Administrative
Services allows the leaders of Corrections and Rehabilitation as well as other
DMAPS agencies to focus on their core missions. Inspired by the U.S. Treasury Department’s
Bureau of Fiscal Services in Parkersburg, DAS handles the array of functions
common to state agencies including human resources, payroll, recruiting,
contracts and procurement, and vehicle and property management. Administrative
Services hopes to become a model for effective streamlining across state
government.
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