Governor-elect John Carney on Tuesday retained two cabinet members from the Markell Administration and appointed two veteran managers to cabinet positions.
Selected were:
- Mike Jackson– Director, Office of Management and Budget
- Perry Phelps– Commissioner, Department of Correction
- Jennifer Cohan– Secretary, Department of Transportation
- Jeffrey Bullock– Secretary, Department of State
Nominations to the Governor’s Cabinet must be confirmed by the Delaware Senate.
Jackson currently serves as Deputy Controller General for the State of Delaware, working within the General Assembly to provide operating and capital budget analysis for the Joint Finance Committee and the Joint Committee on Capital Improvement. Jackson is a former Budget Director for the University of Delaware and Associate Secretary for Finance and Administrative Services for the Delaware Department of Education. Previously, he spent 11 years with the Office of Management and Budget, ultimately serving as Director of Budget Development, Planning and Administration.
Phelps will be nominated as the next Commissioner of the Delaware Department of Correction, leading Delaware’s correctional system and helping advise the governor on criminal justice policy.
Phelps has served as Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Correction since January 2015, helping oversee a department with more than 2,500 employees that supervises more than 6,500 inmates in the state’s correctional facilities.
Phelps previously served as Bureau Chief of Prisons for the department. From January 2008 to July 2013, he was the Warden of James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna, the state’s largest Level V correctional center. Earlier, he worked for the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and their Families as Deputy Director and later as Director of the Division of Youth Rehabilitative Services, overseeing the safety, security and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.
The department has been a drain on the state budget, with its funding needs crowding out spending in other areas, due to a growing prison population.
Cohan will be nominated to continue serving as Secretary of the Delaware Department of Transportation, overseeing the maintenance and improvement of Delaware’s roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure. Governor Jack Markell appointed Secretary Cohan in January 2015 to lead DelDOT after eight years as Director of the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles.
Secretary Cohan’s career in state government spans more than 25 years. She is known for having good relations with legislators, no small consideration in running a large deparatment in Delaware that faces funding challenges and gripes from residents.
Unlike most states, Delaware roads are largely mainained by DelDOT.
Bullock will be nominated to continue serving as Secretary of State, where he oversees the most diverse department in state government with eighteen different agencies, including the divisions of Corporations, Historic and Cultural Affairs, Arts, Libraries, Veterans, and Professional Regulation.
Gov. Jack Markell nominated Secretary Bullock to become Delaware’s 80th Secretary of State in January 2009.
Bullock has been credited with the state has reaching record levels of investment in the arts, library construction, and historic preservation. He is also credited with the state gaining corporate revenues.
He has been dealing with lawsuits from states and corporations over unclaimed funds that provide a significant source of revenues.
Bullock also serves on the Board of Pardons and as the chairman of the Diamond State Port Corporation, which owns and operates the Port of Wilmington. He is a former governor’s chief of staff and chief administrative officer for New Castle County.
