Keyanna Conner is an American politician. She served as the Virginia Secretary of Administration in the Cabinet of Governor

Ralph Northam Ralph Shearer Northam (born September 13, 1959) is an American physician and former politician who served as the 73rd governor of Virginia from 2018 to 2022. A pediatric Neurology, neurologist by occupation, he was an officer in the Medical Co ...

. She worked for

Mark Warner Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th gove ...

's campaign and administration before joining Northam's cabinet.

Education

Keyanna Conner grew up on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and is a native of Wattsville, Virginia. Conner studied

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

Hampton University Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missiona ...

, where she took part in an environmental health project at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where she put her skills in analytical chemistry to work. Conner graduated from Hampton University in 2006 and received a doctorate in

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

from

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

in 2015, where she worked on her thesis "Gas Phase Studies of Organic Reaction Mechanisms" under adviser Scott Gronert. During her educational pursuits, Conner was actively involved in public service projects.

Career

After watching Barack Obama's presidential campaign kickoff speech, Conner was inspired to be politically active and volunteered making phone calls and data entry for the Obama campaign. After earning her undergraduate degree in 2006, she moved to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, where, in 2012, she served as the Chair of the Democratic Committee in

Henrico County Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,389 making it the fifth-most populous county in Virginia. Henrico Coun ...

. Conner joined Senator

's 2014 campaign for the U.S. Senate as a senior adviser and political director. She then worked for Senator Warner, first as his Director of Government and Community Affairs and then as his State Director. After serving on Senator Warner's staff, Conner accepted a position in Virginia Governor Ralph Northam's cabinet as Secretary of Administration. In this role, she oversaw the Department of Human Resource Management, the Department of Elections, the Compensation Board, the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, and the Department of General Services. In December 2020, it was announced that Conner would leave her position for a job in the private sector.

Honors

In 2018, Conner received one of "VCU Alumni's 10 Under 10" awards.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Conner, Keyanna Living people People from Accomack County, Virginia Politicians from Richmond, Virginia Hampton University alumni Virginia Commonwealth University alumni State cabinet secretaries of Virginia African-American state cabinet secretaries Virginia Democrats Women in Virginia politics African-American people in Virginia politics 21st-century American chemists 21st-century American women scientists 21st-century Virginia politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century African-American politicians Year of birth missing (living people)