— Editor's Roundup —
USDA people in the news

Suzanne Biermann was named deputy under secretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services.

Before joining USDA, from 1998 until her appointment to this position Biermann served as the deputy commissioner of planning, evaluation, and project management for the Texas Department of Human Services, headquartered in Austin. During her service in that position she was the executive sponsor of a software development project to replace the automation used by over 12,000 field workers in determining client eligibility for temporary cash assistance, food stamps and nutrition programs, health care coverage, and community-based programs for the elderly and people with disabilities.

From 1996-98 Biermann worked in Olympia, Wash., for the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services as the special assistant to the assistant secretary of the Economics Services Administration, where she supported the administration and regulatory development of the state’s public assistance, welfare-to-work, and child support enforcement programs. From 1992-96 she worked as a grants policy specialist in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC, dealing with grants policy for over 300 mandatory and discretionary programs within HHS. She was a research associate from 1988-92 for James Bell Associates, a Washington, DC-based management consulting firm focusing on improving services and programs within state and federal government.

Biermann holds a B.S. degree in business administration from Radford University in Radford, Va.

Julie Paradis, the previous deputy under secretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services, held that position from December 1997 until January 2001, and is now the Washington counsel for America’s Second Harvest, a nationwide network of 50,000 food pantries, soup kitchens, and food rescue organizations serving low income individuals across America.•