Joe Flynn was named Secretary of Transportation in December 2016, prior to that he served as Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety where he was also Director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. His career in state government began in 2009 at the Agency of Transportation as Rail Program Director. In 2011 he left that position and moved, along with many others from headquarters in Montpelier, to live and work in southeastern Vermont in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene. That was followed by time in the Irene Recovery Office at the Agency of Administration, before going to Public Safety in 2012.
Prior to State service, Joe was employed for thirty-years in the private sector spanning building, construction supplies and services, transportation, and over twenty-years in manufacturing-distribution- sales.
Flynn has extensive experience in public safety and emergency services. He has served as Fire Chief of South Hero Volunteer Fire Department, Deputy Sheriff with the Grand Isle County Sheriff’s Department, Vermont State Firefighters’ Association representative to the Vermont Fire Service Training Council, among several other key emergency services roles. He is a former member of the South Hero Select Board and former trustee of Lyndon Institute. Flynn graduated from Saint Michael’s College and lives in South Hero, Vermont.