Respected, career state government leader will continue to serve as budget director
FRANKFORT, Ky.—Gov. Steve Beshear today appointed Mary Lassiter as Secretary of the Governor’s Executive Cabinet. Lassiter currently serves as the state budget director for Gov. Beshear, a role she will continue to fill.
“As demonstrated by her years of dedicated service to me and several of my predecessors, Mary has earned the respect of members of every branch of government on both sides of the aisle,” said Gov. Beshear. “She is an exemplary public employee and I have every confidence in her ability to serve the demanding dual role of my budget director and secretary of my cabinet.”
“It’s been an honor to devote my adult life to public service in the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Lassiter said. “ I look forward to continuing to work for Governor Beshear, who I believe is doing an outstanding job serving the people of this state during the most trying economic times in modern history.”
Lassiter has been a state employee for more than 25 years, spending the last 10 years in the Office of State Budget Director in various roles, including acting state budget director in 2003. She previously served as a financial analyst in the Office of Financial Management, which operates the Commonwealth's investment and debt management programs and served as a special assistant to Governors Wilkinson, Patton and Fletcher on economic development, workers' compensation and tax policy issues.
She holds both a BBA and MBA from the University of Kentucky. Lassiter also represented the executive branch on the board of the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center from 1999 to 2008.
Lassiter replaces Larry Hayes, who has been selected Secretary of the Cabinet for Economic Development, a position for which he has served as interim director since September 2008.
Lassiter will be paid about $150,000 annually to carry out the duties of both jobs. That compensation level also reflects the voluntary 10 percent pay cut that Gov. Beshear and other senior staff members took last year and continue to take this year.
--Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office
