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Kellems plans to step down as public safety chief
(Published May 3, 2004)

The District’s chief of public safety operations announced April 21 that she will leave the government June 6 to become a vice president at one of the nation’s top investment banking firms.

Margret Kellems said she is looking forward to "a new challenge in the private sector" as she steps down as deputy mayor for public safety and justice, a position she has held since September 2000.

During that time, Kellems oversaw the coordination of D.C. government homeland security efforts with federal agencies in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and presided over the closing of the District’s penitentiary in Lorton, Va.

Mayor Anthony A. Williams credited Kellems with making "enormous and lasting contributions to the quality of life and security of this city." An interim deputy mayor is expected to be named to the position while a permanent replacement is sought to oversee homeland security and emergency management, police, fire and emergency medical services, the medical examiner and the corrections department.

Kellems’ impending departure had been rumored for some time, following the retirement last fall of Deputy Mayor and City Administrator John Koskinen and the resignation of Emergency Management Agency Director Peter LaPorte and Deputy Mayor for Children, Youth and Families Carolyn Graham.

Kellems announced she will join Washington-based Friedman, Billings, Ramsey as a vice president of operations in the investment banking firm’s headquarters office. Kellems, who holds a law degree from Georgetown University, joined the D.C. government in September 1998 as executive director of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council after spending seven years as a consultant to local and federal agencies for the management consulting firm of Booz, Allen and Hamilton Inc.