WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., announced today he has selected John P. Keast to serve as the staff director of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Wicker hired Keast to manage his successful first election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. Keast served as Wicker’s chief of staff from 1995 until 2006.

“John Keast is the right person to lead the Commerce Committee staff, and I am proud we successfully recruited him to return to Capitol Hill,” Wicker said. “I am confident he will assemble a great team to put the committee on a successful path. John knows our state well, and he will always pursue the best interests of Mississippi.”

“I am honored to return to public service and again be working with Senator Wicker,” Keast said. “Mississippi holds a special place in my heart, and I will always consider the needs of Mississippians as we pursue a positive, pro-growth agenda.”

Keast is a native of Virginia and a graduate of Radford University. He worked at a non-profit think tank specializing in state and local policy, and as a staff member for the Virginia House of Delegates before joining Wicker’s 1994 campaign in Mississippi. In 2006, after eleven years as Wicker’s chief of staff, Keast joined Cornerstone Government Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Keast is married to the former Virginia Hill of Columbia, Mississippi, and the couple has three children. Their oldest son, Patrick, plans to attend the University of Mississippi in the Fall.