President Donald Trump has appointed Lori Frazier Bearden from Abbeville to the top spot in the employment and training administration of the U.S. Labor Department.
Bearden was appointed deputy assistant secretary for the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the U.S. Department of Labor.
It's a big deal for Alabama to have a native daughter and former state workforce development official in this vital slot.
Her job is to help Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer execute Trump's mission of prioritizing American workers, veterans and retirees.
The mission of the Employment and Training Administration is to contribute to the more efficient functioning of the U.S. labor market by providing high-quality job training, employment, labor market information, and income maintenance services, primarily through state and local workforce development systems. Some of those systems will be in Alabama.
Bearden served as a senior economist and Lead for Labor and Workforce Development at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) on the Duke University campus.
She was director of the Office of Economic Development at HUD, overseeing $4.5 billion in congressional earmarks and funding over 4,000 projects nationwide.
As deputy commissioner of Economic and Workforce Development at the Georgia Labor Department, she governed statewide operations in the eighth-most populated state, with an operational budget of $500 million. She oversaw 42 career centers and over 500 employees.
In Alabama, she served in the Bentley and Ivey administrations in workforce development and commerce.
Lori hails from Abbeville and graduated from Abbeville Christian Academy. She earned a Bachelor's in political science from Columbus State University and a Master's in Public Administration from Auburn.
Her husband, Joshua Bearden, a native of Guntersville, is an assistant U.S. Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice and currently serves on active duty mobilization as a Colonel in the U.S. Army prosecuting the case of United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad et al. ("The 9/11 Case"). They have two children.
Jim' Zig' Zeigler writes about Alabama's people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at [email protected].
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