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O’Brien moves to White House, McKalip returns to USDA

Doug O’Brien
Doug O’Brien
Doug O’Brien, the Agriculture deputy undersecretary for rural development, will today join the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he will coordinate the White House Rural Council and lead on various administration initiatives regarding rural economic development, a spokesman for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has told The Hagstrom Report in email.

O’Brien served as the acting undersecretary for rural development for one and a half years between the departure of Dallas Tonsager and the confirmation of Lisa Mensah.

Earlier in the Obama administration, O’Brien served as chief of staff to then-Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan and as a senior adviser to Vilsack.

His work has focused on USDA and administration priorities such as minority farmer class action lawsuits, the Know Your Farmer Know Your Food program, the bioeconomy, and targeting resources to impoverished rural areas.

Before working at USDA, O’Brien was the assistant director of the Ohio Agriculture Department, senior adviser to Iowa Democratic Gov. Chet Culver, and counsel to the Senate Agriculture Committee when Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, was the top Democrat on the committee.

O’Brien has also worked at the University of Arkansas graduate agricultural law program, Drake University Agricultural Law Center, for former Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, and as a clerk for the Iowa Supreme Court.

He is a graduate of Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, the University of Iowa Law School, and the University of Arkansas Graduate Agricultural Law Program. He grew up on a diversified hog farm in Dubuque County, Iowa.

Doug McKalip
Doug McKalip
Doug McKalip, a USDA civil servant who has been on detail to the White House Domestic Policy Council, will return to USDA as senior adviser to the secretary, with a portfolio including coordination of biotechnology issues and the White House Rural Council.

McKalip laid the framework for the formation of the White House Rural Council, helped coordinate the administration response to the drought of 2012-2013, and provided policy counsel to the White House for the 2014 farm bill, the Vilsack spokesman noted in the email.

McKalip began his career at USDA in March 1994 with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. He served in numerous leadership capacities for NRCS, including director of legislative and public affairs from 2000 to 2008. He served as confidential assistant to Vilsack from 2009 to February 2011.