Governor Bob McDonnell announces additional appointments to his administration under the Natural Resources.
David A. Johnson, Director, Department of Conservation and Recreation
David A. Johnson has over 30 years of environmental and industrial experience working for private and governmental entities and 14 years experience working on environmental public policy and regulatory issues. An engineer, he has worked as a private consult for federal, state, industrial and commercial clients primarily in the area related to environmental regulatory matters. He served as Chief Deputy Director at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality from 1998 to 2002 under Governor Jim Gilmore. During his time at Virginia DEQ, he chaired the Citizen Wetlands Advisory Committee on Wetlands Management Strategy and served as the Chairman of the Air Deposition Committee for the USEPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program. He was also very involved in Chesapeake Bay water quality improvement issues on behalf of the Commonwealth. Prior to state service, he was appointed by Governor George Allen in 1996 to the Virginia Commission on Environmental Stewardship. Johnson is currently a Consulting Director in the Environment and Energy Practice Group with Advantus Strategies.
Since leaving state service, he has served on numerous environmental committees including appointment by USEPA Administrator Whitman to the USEPA’s Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee and DEQ’s Water Reuse Regulations Technical Advisory Committee. In 2009, he was selected to serve on ad hoc stakeholders committees related to the DCR stormwater regulations and the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Stakeholders Advisory Committee. He is also an alumni member of the Environmental Council of States.
He received his BS degree in Ocean Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His civic activities include Western Henrico Rotary (Past President) and central Virginia Chair for the MIT Educational Council. He resides in Henrico County.
Jeb Wilkinson, Deputy Director, Department of Conservation and Recreation
Jeb Wilkinson served in the Administration of President George W. Bush at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2006 to 2009 as Chief of Staff to the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) at DOL and as a senior aide to Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao. Wilkinson served in the Administration of former Governor James Gilmore as a policy analyst in the Department of Human Resource Management where he authored articles for the state employee newspaper Commonwealth Currents and coordinated the Governors Service Awards program in 2001.
From 1985 to 1990 he served in the United States Navy where he was a Surface Warfare Officer (SWO). He served onboard both USS Farragut (DDG-37) where he was the Gunnery Officer and USS Nassau (LHA-4) where he served as Electronic Warfare Officer and as a Public Affairs Officer.
Wilkinson is a 1985 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute with a B.A. in History and received an M.A. from the Regent University School of Government in 1992.