CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A career FBI agent-attorney has been appointed to a director position within the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.
DMAPS Secretary Jeff Sandy announced the appointment of Jennifer Wilson as the director of the Division of Administrative Services (DAS) earlier this month.
According to a release by DMAPS, Wilson has helped advise and lead FBI operations in New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
DAS was created in 2018 alongside the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which consolidated West Virginia’s prison, jail and juvenile services systems, according to DMAPS.
Wilson had been serving as acting director since late September.
“I am honored to be named the director of DAS,” Wilson said in a released statement. “Over the last 60 days, as the acting director, I have been impressed with the leadership team here and the employees’ dedication and commitment to the success of the newest division of the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.
“I plan to focus the next year on completing the staffing and developing more efficient systems to serve the DMAPS agencies.”
Wilson has deep roots in West Virginia, as before joining the FBI in 1997 she practiced law in Cabell County as both a public defender and prosecutor.
She has multiple layers of leadership experience with the FBI starting in San Francisco as a supervisory special agent chief division counsel.
In Washington D.C., Wilson was supervisory special agent assistant general counsel at FBI Headquarters and in New York, Wilson led an eight-lawyer legal division while advising the executive management of the FBI’s 2,200 special agents and employees there.
“When the director positions at DAS came open, we again reached out to Wilson,” Sandy said in a release. “During her acting assignment, Wilson has strengthened DAS relationships with all internal and external partners.”
DAS allows the leaders of Corrections and Rehabilitation as well as other DMAPS agencies to focus on their core missions, a release stated.
DAS handles the array of functions common to state agencies including human resources, payroll, recruiting, contracts and procurement, and vehicle and property management.