Editor's Roundup
USDA people in the news

Anthony Haynes was named as the deputy administrator for program policy and telecommunications in the Rural Utilities Service. He succeeded Chris McLean, who held that position from January 1998 until July 2000, when he was sworn in as the RUS administrator.

From March 1997 until his appointment in July 2000, Haynes served as a confidential assistant to the RUS administrator, where he concentrated on such issues as electric industry restructuring, telecommunications, and electronic commerce. From 1993-97 he was a confidential assistant for congressional relations in the Office of the Secretary, where he served as the liaison between the secretary of agriculture and Congress on issues concerning the Forest Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and pesticides.

From 1991-93 Haynes served as the director of government affairs for the Washington, DC-based National Association of Conservation Districts, which represents the nation’s nearly 3,000 local soil and water conservation districts. He worked as a legislative specialist for the Lower Mississippi Delta Development Center, based in Memphis, Tenn., from 1990-91, where he concentrated on issues related to poverty and economic decline of the lower Mississippi Delta region. He previously worked at the Center as a staff analyst from 1989-90.

A native of Trenton, Tenn., where he grew up on a family farm which raised cattle and cash grains, Haynes holds a B.S. degree in agriculture from the University of Tennessee in Martin, Tenn., and a Master of Public Administration degree from Memphis State University--now the University of Memphis.