Dominion's Hardy Joins Warner's Team

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner has tapped Eva Teig Hardy, a longtime executive at Dominion Virginia Power, one of the most influential companies in the state, to be his interim state director.

Warner (D) has been searching for a state director for months, but has not yet found the right permanent person for what he considers a key job on his staff. Instead, he asked Hardy, whose long years of experience make her an ideal, if perhaps overqualifed, candidate, to take on the job while he continues to search for a permanent director.

Hardy currently works part-time as a consultant to Dominion and a senior policy advisor at McGuireWoods law firm, but said she will resign from both companies before she starts the job for Warner.

Hardy will be paid about $70,000 a year. She will start in June.

Hardy is well known in political circles

She spent 17 years in local and state government. She was secretary of health and human resources for Gov. Gerald L. Baliles (D) and commissioner of the Virginia department of labor and industry for Gov. Charles S. Robb (D). She retired last year as executive vice president of public policy and corporate communications at Dominion.

Hardy will be based in Richmond while overseeing offices in Richmond, Abingdon, Norfolk and Roanoke and working with local and state government officials.