Interior Department Announces Management Changes

Two senior management appointments were announced today by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. "These appointments will ensure continuity of the kind of energy, experience and dedication that our stewardship mandate calls for at this time," Babbitt said.

The appointments, which become effective immediately, follow the October 30, retirement of Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Bob Armstrong, and the appointment of Sylvia Baca as Acting Assistant Secretary responsible for overseeing the Bureau of Land Management, Minerals Management Service and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

Patrick A. Shea, currently Director of the Bureau of Land Management, becomes Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management. Tom Fry, currently Deputy Director of the Bureau of Land Management becomes Acting Director. He will assume responsibility for the day-to-day operations of BLM until a new Director is named.

Pat Shea joined the Interior Department in August 1997, as Director of the Bureau of Land Management. Prior to assuming that position, he practiced law in Salt Lake City and the District of Columbia. He also served as an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Utah and at Brigham Young University Law School. In December 1996, he was appointed by the President to the White House Commission on Aviation Safety. Shea also previously served as General Counsel and Assistant Secretary for Standard Communications, Inc. in Salt Lake City from 1985-1993. He worked in the District of Columbia as Counsel to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1979 to 1980.

A native of Salt Lake City, Utah, Shea earned a law degree from Harvard University in 1975; he was a Rhodes Scholar from 1970-72, and earned a master's degree from Oxford University in 1972, and a bachelor's degree from Stanford University in 1970.

Tom Fry was appointed Deputy Director for BLM in January 1997. He joined the Interior Department July 1993, as Director of the Minerals Management Service. He subsequently served as Chief of Staff for Interior Deputy Secretary John Garamendi. Prior to joining the Interior Department, he was Vice President of a Dallas natural gas process and transmission company.

Fry's government experience includes serving as Regional Counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy in Dallas. He was Director of the Houston Field Office of the Economic Regulatory Administration. He also served for more than two years as Assistant Attorney General of the State of Texas, where he was Assistant Chief of the state's Anti-Trust Consumer Protection Program. He was also a part-time Professor at the University of Texas in Dallas, where he taught business law.

A native of Dallas, Texas, Fry earned a law degree from Southern Methodist University Law School in Dallas (1969), and a bachelor's degree from Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas (1966). He served as an officer in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of Captain. He is a recipient of the Army Commendation Medal. He has also been recognized for special efforts by the U.S. Department of Energy.

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  U.S. Department of the Interior