DALLAS, Texas --

Ironton native Brigham A. McCown has recently been appointed by U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta to serve as chief counsel for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

Mineta said McCown brings "a diverse range of experience to the department that will be of great value as we face the transportation challenges of the years ahead"

and his "expertise will be invaluable as we complete the reauthorization of our surface transportation programs and begin their implementation."

McCown joins FMCSA from the Dallas office of the law firm Winstead Sechrest & Minick P.C., where he has practiced since 2001 as a member of the firm's litigation and government affairs sections.

"Brigham has been a great asset to our firm and we are excited to have one of our own serving the nation and the Bush Administration,"

said W. Mike Baggett, chairman and CEO of Winstead Sechrest & Minick P.C.

As chief counsel, McCown will serve as the chief legal advisor to the FMCSA administrator and will be responsible for developing and coordinating all motor carrier policy and legislation. He will also represent the FMCSA in all legal and administrative matters.

As part of Winstead's government and political consulting groups, McCown routinely represented international, national and regional transportation, energy and manufacturing clients interested in governmental affairs by providing strategic policy planning, political counseling and direct client representation.

He also served as a special legal counsel to the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign during the Florida recount process.

Between 1998 and 2001 he was an associate attorney with the firm Peterson & Bernard in West Palm Beach, FL, where he gained extensive litigation experience.

McCown is admitted to the State Bars of Florida, Kentucky and Texas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, and is an active member of the Federal Bar Association, and National Transportation Safety Board Bar Association. Additionally, he has over 14-years of active and reserve service as a Naval aviator and maintains his commission as a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve. He currently serves as the executive officer for the commander of all Naval Air Forces in the Western Pacific based at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan

McCown accumulated more than 1,500 flight hours in Operation Desert Storm, Haiti's Operation Support Democracy and other deployments.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1988 and a law degree from Northern Kentucky University in 1997.

McCown, the son of Frank McCown and Karen McCown, is a 1984 graduate of Ironton High School. He and his wife, Jacquelynn, have two sons, Tucker, 7, and William, 5. They will reside in Burke, Va.