Kevin Shea is moving from administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to a senior adviser role in the Office of the Deputy Secretary in a new round of senior leadership changes at USDA.
Kevin Shea, USDA
Shea has over 40 years of experience at APHIS and had served the administrator since 2013. He also served as the acting deputy secretary from February 2023 to July 2023.
Michael Watson will fill Shea’s position as the administrator of APHIS.
Watson has been the associate administrator of APHIS since 2018, and served as the acting administrator when Shea was appointed acting deputy secretary.
Georgette Furukawa is now the chief of staff for the Agricultural Marketing Service. She comes to USDA from the White House where she was an adviser to the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander team in the Office of the Chief of Staff.
According to USDA’s press release, she brings over 20 years of business experience to the role, previously holding senior roles at Aestival Strategies, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, The U.S.-Japan Council, and Sony. She is also an Obama administration alum, where she worked at the Department of Energy.
Jayme Holliday has been hired as a senior adviser for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services. She comes to USDA from Capitol Hill where she most recently worked as a senior policy adviser to Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, the Democratic delegate from the Northern Mariana Islands.
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She helped manage the delegate's portfolio on the House Education and Workforce Committee. She also handled the portfolio for the Democratic Caucus Task Force on Agriculture and Nutrition in the 21st Century.
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Before that, Holliday worked as professional staff on the House Education and Labor Committee under Chairman Robert C. Scott, D-Va., where she handled the portfolio for child nutrition and school meals programs, as well as programs under the Older Americans Act.
Sarah Dietch returns to USDA’s Rural Development where she has been appointed as the chief of staff.
Dietch previously worked for the United States Peace Corps, where she served as director of Peace Corps response.
Before that, Dietch held senior roles at USDA Rural Development, the Transportation Security Administration Office of Legislative Affairs, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Legislative Affairs.
Betsy Dirksen Londrigan is now the administrator for the Rural Business Cooperative-Service. She replaces Karama Neal who is returning to Arkansas.
Dirksen Londrigan was serving as USDA’s Rural Development state director for Illinois, a position she has held since January 2022.
Jimmy Dahman has been promoted from acting chief of staff for Rural Development to senior adviser for communications and external engagement.
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