— Editor's Roundup —
USDA people in the news

Jim Little was appointed administrator of the Farm Service Agency.

From January 2001 until his appointment to this position Little served as the acting administrator for FSA. He was the associate chief financial officer for financial operations in USDA’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer during 2000. In that position he provided oversight to USDA’s overall financial operations, with an emphasis on ensuring that USDA’s mission agencies complied with U.S. government accounting standards and regulations, involving assets valued at nearly $120 billion.

Little’s 31 years of experience with USDA also includes serving as acting budget director for the [then] Federal Crop Insurance Corporation in the early 1980s, deputy director of the Budget Division in the [then] Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service from 1984-88, deputy director and then director of the Financial Management Division in ASCS from 1988- 96, and service with the Commodity Credit Corporation, first as treasurer from 1988-96 and then as controller from 1996-2000. He began his career with USDA as a staff accountant in the [then] Rural Electrification Administration in Washington, DC, in 1971.

A native of Charlotte, N.C., Little holds a B.S. degree in business administration from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Va.

Keith Kelly, the previous administrator of FSA, held that position from May 1997 until January 2001 and is now an agricultural consultant in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. •