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Marilyn Harris - Director of the Governor's Office for Substance Abuse Prevention

In January 2006, Marilyn Harris was reappointed by Governor Timothy Kaine to serve as Director of the Governor's Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (GOSAP), a position she has held since 2002 when appointed by former Governor Mark Warner. Marilyn also continues to serve as Deputy Secretary of Public Safety, a position she has held since promoted in 2005 by former Governor Mark Warner from Assistant Secretary for Public Safety. Since 1997, she has also coordinated the legislative process for all of the agencies under the Office of the Secretary of Public Safety.

She is no stranger to the field of criminal justice or education, having served for more than 30 years in state government. As former Deputy Superintendent of the Virginia Department of Correctional Education (DCE), Marilyn provided leadership and supervision to academic programs, government affairs, and public information for the benefit of more than 70 juvenile and adult schools. Prior to her administrative role at DCE, Marilyn spent 17 years teaching in private, public or correctional schools, as well as on the college campus. Marilyn is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, where she obtained both undergraduate and graduate degrees in education.

As Deputy Secretary, she assists Secretary of Public Safety John W. Marshall in overseeing Virginia's 13 Public Safety Agencies including the Departments of Alcoholic Beverage Control, State Police, Correctional Education, Criminal Justice Services, Emergency Management, Fire Programs, Juvenile Justice, Military Affairs, Veteran's Services, Corrections and Forensic Science; the Commonwealth's Attorneys' Services Council and the Virginia Parole Board.

Since becoming Director of GOSAP, Marilyn created the GOSAP Collaborative, a collaborative of GOSAP and the other 12 agencies in the Commonwealth that contain youth prevention efforts as part of their missions. Under her guidance, a statewide Memorandum of Agreement was created to provide a framework for continued cooperation between the Governor's Office, state agencies and organizations responsible for youth prevention programming. She commissioned the creation of "Gaining Traction," the substance abuse prevention plan for Virginia's youth; "Midway," the update to the plan; a brochure on methamphetamines, "Virginia's Youth Speakout About Crime and Public Safety" and "Quick Guide To Prevention Terminology in Virginia - Common Language Primer."

Marilyn also implemented former Governor Warner's KIDsafe initiative and Governor Kaine's Prevention Comes First initiative. Under each initiative, she commissioned the creation of parent guides for personal safety and coordinated annual prevention conferences. The great demand for the publications and high attendance at each of GOSAP's prevention conferences are indicative of the statewide impact of her efforts.