Veneman Announces Four at Top USDA Posts

March 22, 2001

President Bush intends to nominate four individuals to top posts at USDA, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Thursday. J.B. Penn, senior vice president and manager of Sparks Companies, Inc., Washington office, will be nominated to be under secretary for farm and foreign agricultural services. Eric M. Bost, chief executive of the Texas Department of Human Services, will be named under secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services.

Thomas C. Dorr, president and CEO for an agribusiness holding company, is nominated for under secretary for rural development, and Lou Gallegos, an administrator for private, federal and state programs, will be named assistant secretary for administration.

Penn, an agricultural economist, was president of Economic Perspectives, Inc., before taking over his position at Sparks. He also has served as deputy administrator for economics at USDA and as senior staff economist for the President's Council of Economic Advisors.

Bost was named a DHS commissioner by then-Gov. George W. Bush in August 1997 and heads a human service agency with more than 15,000 employees and an annual budget of $3.5 billion. He came to Texas from the Arizona Department of Economic Security where he had been deputy director since 1994.

Dorr's holding company consists of a corn and soybean farm, a state-licensed commercial grain elevator and warehouse and two limited liability companies that finish hogs. He resigned in February as a member of the board of directors for Donlar/Biomune Systems Inc. The firm specializes in developing and manufacturing biodegradable polymers with energy and agricultural applications.

Gallegos has 30 years of experience as an administrator in private, federal and state sectors, including chief of staff to the governor of New Mexico, chief of protocol, director of enhanced relations with Spain and a cabinet secretary for the state Human Services Department.