Judge Joseph Wood
Gov.-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday said she will nominate Washington County Judge Joseph Wood as secretary of the Department of Transformation and Shared Services.
“Judge Wood shares my enthusiasm for shrinking the size and scope of government by identifying efficiencies and bold reforms to reduce budgets, saving money and providing better services to the hardworking men and women of Arkansas,” Sanders said in a news release. “The leadership and work he has done in one of our largest counties to ensure government performs better makes him a natural choice to serve as Secretary of the Department of Transformation and Shared Services in my administration.”
Wood is completing his second term as Washington County judge, having been reelected in 2018. He most recently sought the 2022 GOP nomination for lieutenant governor, losing in a crowded field to Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.
“I am not shy about my desire to serve the state of Arkansas and to help make it a place where businesses grow, families move to, and government stays out of the way,” Wood said. “That’s exactly what we have done in Washington County during my tenure as County Judge, and I am humbled by the confidence Governor-elect Sanders has in me to ask that I take on this critical work.
“Citizens expect their government to work for them and that’s exactly what we are going to make happen.”
Wood has served on the Veterans & Military Services Committee, the Broadband Task Force and Advisory Committee for the National Association of Counties.
Before his public service, Wood was head of international recruitment for Walmart Inc. of Bentonville. He previously served as assistant director of recruitment for the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
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