Viola Baskerville

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Viola Baskerville (born October 29, 1951), has served as Secretary of Administration in the Cabinet of Virginia Governor Tim Kaine since January 2006.

She was born in Richmond, Virginia. Her educational background includes a B.A. from the College of William and Mary earned in 1973, and a law degree from the University of Iowa earned in 1979. Furthermore she also studied abroad on a Fulbright Fellowship in Bonn, Germany.

Prior to her appointment as Secretary of Administration, she served on the Richmond City Council from 1994 to 1997, including a stint as the city's Vice Mayor under then-Mayor Tim Kaine. Following her tenure as Vice Mayor, she was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, serving from 1998 to 2005. In 2005, she became the first African-American woman to seek the Democratic Party nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, coming in second place in the four-way primary behind State Senator Leslie L. Byrne, but ahead of State Delegate Chap Petersen, and State Senator Phillip Puckett. Following the 2005 general election, she served as Co-chair of Governor Kaine's Transition Team.