Pence keeps transportation, National Guard chiefs

Incoming Gov. Mike Pence continued Thursday the trend of keeping Gov. Mitch Daniels' agency heads in place as he builds his administration.

Pence announced that Maj. Gen. Martin Umbarger would continue as the head of Indiana's National Guard and Michael Cline would continue serving as state transportation commissioner. He also announced John Hill would take over Homeland Security and Virgil Madden would run the state's licensing board.

Hill joins the new administration following a career as the head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration under former President George W. Bush and the president of a truck safety consulting firm he formed in 2009. Madden will move from Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman's office, where he is a senior policy adviser.

The new Pence administration is shaping up to look similar to Daniels'. Pence announced last week that Rob Wynkoop and Mike Alley would stay on in their respective jobs as Department of Administration secretary and revenue commissioner.

"I thought our success on Election Day was as much an affirmation of the policies and practices the state of Indiana had advanced in the last eight years as it was an affirmation of the agenda on which we ran," Pence said.

Incoming Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann said Thursday that Mark Newman will continue as executive director of the state Office of Tourism and Development and Jacob Sipe will continue as executive director of the Housing and Community Development Authority, both offices she will oversee.

Pence also said Thursday he had accepted an invitation from Notre Dame President John Jenkins to attend next month's championship game against the University of Alabama, one week before his inauguration.

He said he will deliver his first State of the State address Jan. 22, a little more than a week after his inaugural speech.