Secretary of State-Elect Mac Warner made the following announcements about his initial senior staff appointments before his January 16th inauguration. 

 

Chuck Flannery will serve as Chief of Staff to the incoming Secretary of State.  Mike Queen will serve as his Deputy Chief of Staff for External Affairs & Director of Communications and Steve Connolly has been selected to serve as the Chief Legal Counsel for the Secretary of State's Office

 

“Chuck, Mike and Steve have decades of experience working across West Virginia and will serve our great state well as leaders in the Secretary of State’s office,” said Secretary of State-elect Mac Warner.  “From incentivizing business and economic growth to instilling confidence in our democratic system, we have a lot to do in Charleston. I’m putting together a team who will come to work every day thinking about how they can help improve life in West Virginia.”

 

Deputy Chief of Staff for External Affairs & Director of Communications Mike Queen is a Harrison County native and a Bridgeport resident with a long career in journalism, public relations and marketing that has spanned nearly three decades. Queen, most recently the host of "The Mike Queen Show" on The AJR News Network which serves 14 counties in Central West Virginia, is an entrepreneur at heart who owned and published The Shinnston News & Harrison County Journal.

 

He has also had a longstanding interest in public service. From 1984 to 1986 Queen served as a member of the WV Board of Regents under then-Governor Jay Rockefeller. In 1988, he was first elected to represent Harrison County in the West Virginia House of Delegates. From 2006 to 2014, Queen was elected to serve as a member and president of the Harrison County Board of Education.

 

Queen's new position comes just days after he announced his run as host of the highly popular "Mike Queen Show" was coming to an end. Queen recently did his 500th show and on Friday he completed his final segment with the regional radio show. Queen's family is well-known throughout the area. He has one child, Ben, who is also a well-known photographer that works with Connect-Bridgeport as well as USA Today among others and was recently elected to the Harrison County House of Delegates, while still a student at West Virginia University.

 

Chief of Staff Chuck Flannery is a lifelong West Virginian and a graduate of West Virginia University who has worked in government and political campaigns across West Virginia. Flannery most recently served as campaign manager for U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito in 2014 and West Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bill Cole in 2016.  From 2005 to 2008, Flannery served within the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office under WV Secretary of State Betty Ireland, with a focus on transparency and accountability in campaigns. He then served as an aide to U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito’s official office as well as her House of Representatives and US Senate campaigns totaling for seven years.

 

Chief Legal Counsel, Steve Connolly, is a Putnam County resident who heads the Public Integrity Unit for Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. Steve formerly worked as a county assistant prosecutor and received an appointment as a special assistant United States attorney to aid in fighting public corruption in West Virginia. He previously served as General Counsel to the West Virginia state Republican Party