Kay Coles James REPRepublican

Kay Coles James (born June 1, 1949) is an American public official who served as secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia from January 2022 to August 2023, and as the director for the United States Office of Personnel Management under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. Previous to the OPM appointment, she served as Virginia secretary of health and human resources under then-Governor George Allen and was the dean of Regent University's government school. She is the president and founder of the Gloucester Institute, a leadership training center for young African Americans. On December 19, 2017, she was named president of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. She is the first African-American and the first woman to hold that position. On March 22, 2021, she announced she was resigning from the foundation.