Ryan Kennedy, a disabled U.S. Army Veteran, was appointed by Governor Morrisey to serve as the Cabinet Secretary for the Department of Veterans Assistance in February 2025.
On active duty, Kennedy served as a Chemical Corps Officer and was forward deployed to South Korea. There, he was responsible for maintaining the highest degree of training and readiness among his troops against the potential of a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, or Nuclear attack from North Korea.
Following his discharge from active duty, Kennedy returned to school and earned a Doctor of Law degree from West Virginia University.
For the next twenty years, he worked as a lawyer in several capacities, including criminal litigation, civil litigation, and real estate law. Kennedy’s passion for helping fellow veterans drove him to become accredited as an attorney with the federal VA and represent veterans on claims to the VA pro bono.
Community involvement is something that has always been important to Kennedy. In addition to serving on the Clarksburg city council and serving a term as mayor, he served as President of the Harrison County Senior Citizens Center, a Member of the Sacred Heart Children’s Charity, and a Board Member of the Harrison County Historical Society. He is also a past President of the Rotary Club of Clarksburg, the Kiwanis Club of Clarksburg, and the Harrison County YMCA Board of Directors.
He served as counsel for his church, where he helped form the church’s nonprofit structure, and has assisted other charitable organizations, both religious and secular, in nonprofit law and corporate compliance. Additionally, Kennedy is an FBI Citizens’ Academy Graduate and past Post Chaplain and Adjutant for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Clarksburg.