Barbara Robinson was selected as the deputy administrator for transportation and marketing programs in the Agricultural Marketing Service.

From February 2001 until her selection Robinson served as the acting deputy administrator for transportation and marketing programs in AMS. She was the agency’s deputy associate administrator from 1992-2001, where she helped to oversee program management and direct marketing services in AMS. While in this position, in 1996 she also served as executive director for the USDA Advisory Committee on Agricultural Concentration.

From 1991-92 Robinson was economics editor for the Economic Research Service’s monthly Agricultural Outlook magazine. She served on a detail as an agricultural economist with the President’s Council of Economic Advisors from 1988-89. From 1985-88 she was the assistant director of ERS’s National Economics Division. She began her career with USDA in 1980 as an agricultural economist in ERS, working in domestic and international policy areas.

A native of Rochester, N.Y., Robinson holds a B.S. degree in economics from Oswego State University in Oswego, N.Y., an M.S. degree in agricultural economics from Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., and a Ph.D. degree in agricultural economics from the University of Maryland.

Eileen Stommes, the previous deputy administrator for transportation and marketing programs in AMS, served in that position from 1995 until February 2000 and is now a sociologist in the Food Assistance Branch with the Economic Research Service’s Food and Rural Economics Division. •