Gov. Gregoire appoints new director of Labor and Industries, reappoints Agriculture director

For Immediate Release: April 5, 2005

Gov. Christine Gregoire today named Gary K. Weeks director of the Department of Labor and Industries. The agency manages Washington�s workers� compensation insurance system and oversees workplace safety and health through its WISHA division (Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act).

The governor also today reappointed Valoria Loveland as director of the Department of Agriculture. Loveland has been director since 2002.

Weeks currently is director of the Oregon Department of Human Services, the largest state agency in Oregon with 9,500 employees and a budget of $9.5 billion. Before that, he was director of Government Operations, a position that serves as the operations manager for all of state government.

Weeks also worked with the Casey Strategic Consulting Group, which assists states, counties and cities with the reform of public human services systems. The group�s consultants often are called in when there are significant management challenges, particularly in child welfare and juvenile justice.

From 1991 to 1993, Weeks was director of the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services and, as such, held the title of insurance commissioner and banking superintendent. Among other things, the agency was responsible for worker protection under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and for implementing reform of the workers� compensation system.

The governor said her No. 1 criteria in searching for a new L&I director was management skill. �Gary is the consummate manager who can tackle some of the difficult issues at L&I, whether that�s making the vocational rehabilitation program work as efficiently as possible or improving the timely processing of claims.�

Said Weeks: �I want to thank Governor Gregoire for this opportunity. I am committed to working closely with business and labor to improve the quality and efficiency of service at the Department of Labor and Industries. I�m looking forward to applying my experiences and skills to the issues facing L&I.�

Gregoire said one of Weeks� tasks will be to build bridges that bring representatives from business and labor together to solve problems.

�Over the past few years, we have spent too much time fighting and not enough time solving problems,� she said. �I want to see government work more effectively. The agency needs to do its part, but I also call upon business and labor to come to the table and work together to solve problems.�

Gregoire said Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski told her that Weeks will not only be a great director for L&I but also a real asset to the cabinet as a whole.

In reappointing Loveland as director of the agriculture department, Gregoire said her office conducted an extensive search for a leader.

�I�m pleased that Valoria emerged at the top,� she said. �Her roots are firmly planted in the farming community of Eastern Washington. It�s important to me that our Ag director comes from the agriculture community and has a thorough knowledge about the needs and economy of the state, particularly east of the mountains.�

Gregoire said she has asked Loveland to particularly focus on promoting Washington state products to markets in-state, as well as around the world through trade missions and other ways.

�We are going to have to challenge ourselves to make sure our agricultural products continue to be competitive in the world marketplace � with the highest yield and the highest quality,� she said. �Much effort is going in that direction, including the Life Science Discovery Fund. This $1 billion fund, seeded by tobacco-settlement money, will back innovative new research that will create new jobs across the state, and provide the latest advancements in agriculture production.�

Gregoire said Loveland will need to look at future economic opportunities for agriculture � like taking what today is agricultural waste and converting it into alternative energy or other bio-products that could lead to a second crash crop for agriculture. �That�s why I funded the bio-products lab in the Tri-Cities as a partnership between WSU Tri-Cities and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories,� Gregoire said.

The governor said Loveland also will be a key player in responding to the drought.