— Editor's Roundup —
USDA people in the news

John Surina was appointed deputy assistant secretary for administration.

From January 2001 until his appointment to this position in November 2001 Surina served as acting deputy assistant secretary for administration. From 1998-2001 he was the first director of USDA’s newly established Office of Ethics. In that position he provided ethics training and counseling to high-level USDA personnel, administered financial disclosure requirements, and directed ethics policy throughout the Department.

Surina was staff director of the Federal Election Commission from 1983-98. In that capacity he was the statutory chief operating officer of that independent regulatory agency, which regulates the financing of federal election campaigns and provides technical assistance to state and local election officials. From 1973-82 he held various positions with the [then] Interstate Commerce Commission. This included serving from 1980-82 as its assistant managing director during the implementation of the reform legislation that largely deregulated the trucking, railroad, and passenger bus industries.

Surina worked as a consultant to the [then] Cost of Living Council, under the Executive Office of the President, from 1972- 73, where he aided in the development and administration of a computerized tracking system for pay increase adjudications. From 1970-72 he was based in Falls Church, Va., as a systems analyst in the Systems Division of Computer Sciences Corporation. He served from 1966-70 as a U.S. Army Intelligence Officer at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Civil Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

A native of Alexandria, Va., Surina holds a B.S. degree in international affairs from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, DC.

Debbie Matz, the previous deputy assistant secretary for administration, held that position from December 1997 until January 2001, and is now a member of the board of directors of the National Credit Union Administration, a federal agency that charters, supervises, and insures the nation’s federal credit unions. •