Youngkin announces secretary of administration pick

Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin has chosen former Federal Reserve System Chief Information Officer Margaret “Lyn” McDermid as the commonwealth’s secretary of administration.

“Lyn will play a pivotal role in making Virginia’s government work for the people. Her vast experience will allow us to hit the ground running on Day One as we seek to revamp our cybersecurity system to keep pace with growing security risks; root out waste, fraud and abuse; and fix the Department of Motor Vehicles and Virginia Employment Commission,” Youngkin said in a statement.

McDermid served as chief information officer for the Federal Reserve System from 2013 until her retirement in 2020, overseeing information technology strategy, investments and spending, as well as enterprise cybersecurity. She had previously been Dominion Energy Inc.’s CIO and was also a senior vice president for the Fortune 500 Richmond-based utility.

McDermid has chaired the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Board of Directors; Mary Baldwin College’s board of trustees; and the Greater Richmond Technology Council’s board. She currently chairs the board of Henrico County-based ChildFund International and also serves on Harvard University’s IT visiting committee. A co-founder of the Richmond Women in Technology group, McDermid received the RichTech Chairman’s Award in 2013 and was one of the YWCA Richmond’s 2010 Outstanding Women.

McDermid holds a bachelor’s degree from Mary Baldwin College and an MBA from the University of Richmond. She was the first woman accepted to the Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Newport News-based Fortune 500 military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc.