Cabinet Leadership

Cabinet Leadership

​​​​​​​​​​Secretary Jamie Link

Jamie Link was named Secretary of the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet by Governor Andy Beshear in November 2021. He previously served as Secretary of the Kentucky Labor Cabinet beginning in July 2021.  

Throughout his more than 35-year career in public service, Link has been tapped to lead several high-profile, successful public-sector initiatives. 

In January 2020, Gov. Andy Beshear asked Link to serve as executive director of the Kentucky Communications Network Authority – the agency responsible for overseeing the KentuckyWired broadband expansion project, which has now constructed over 3,000 miles of high-speed, high-capacity fiber optic cable in all 120 Kentucky counties. 

Link previously served as deputy secretary of both the Kentucky Finance and Administration and Tourism, Arts and Heritage cabinets. In 2010, he was appointed to serve as CEO of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games before becoming executive director of the Kentucky Horse Park.

Additionally, he has served as deputy chief of staff for former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Facilities Management, and has worked as both a finance director and a project coordinator at the University of Kentucky.​




​​Jamie Link

Deputy Secretary Vickie Wise​​​

With 35 years of state government experience, Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet Deputy Secretary Vickie Wise has a passion for serving the people of Kentucky that matches her wealth of knowledge and persistence to get a job done. She became deputy secretary in 2022 for the newly formed Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet.

Dep. Wise has held various state government positions including more than 20 years in management. Her previous state government roles include serving as the executive director of the General Administrative and Support Division and the Offices of Victims Advocacy and Criminal Appeals in the Office of the Attorney General. She served as general counsel and deputy secretary for the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, and more recently as deputy secretary of the Labor Cabinet.​

A native of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Dep. Wise currently lives in Frankfort. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Murray State University and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Kentucky.


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​Deputy Secretary Beth Brinly​​

Louisville native Beth Brinly brings a wide array of government, non-profit, and private-sector experience, and an extensive knowledge of workforce development, economic development and education to the position of deputy secretary of the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet.

Dep. Brinly is no stranger to Kentucky state government having served in the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet as the deputy secretary from 2014–2015, commissioner of the Department of Workforce Development from 2010–2014, and the Kentucky Workforce Development Cabinet from 1990–1996. She began her state government career in the Governor’s Office where she worked in policy and budget from 1987–1990.

Dep. Brinly comes to the cabinet from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) where she was vice president of the Workforce Program Area in the Human Services Division. Prior to that position, she served as the vice president of Workforce Innovation at consulting firm Maher & Maher.

On the federal level, she worked at the regional office of the U.S. Department of Labor in Philadelphia as chief of the Division of Workforce Investment in the Employment and Training Administration. Dep. Brinly has also served as an Education Program Specialist in the Philadelphia Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Education. She has extensive experience with federal programs including the Workforce Investment and Opportunities Act, Wagner-Peyser and the Trade Act.

Dep. Brinly earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Louisville in 1986 and a master’s degree in education from Pennsylvania State University in 2004, and she currently lives in Louisville.​

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