PARIS ACHEN - Newly-appointed commissioner Paula Brown attends her first Oregon Transportation Commission meeting Jan. 19, 2017, at the Oregon Department of Transportation building in Salem.

SALEM — Retired Rear Adm. Paula Brown took her seat Thursday as the Oregon Transportation Commission’s newest member.

The Oregon Senate confirmed Brown as Gov. Kate Brown’s appointee to the commission Dec. 14.

OTC chairwoman Tammy Baney introduced the new commissioner at the commission’s public meeting Jan. 19 as “Admiral Brown” and “admirable as well.”

“You are exactly the individual I was hoping for, and we have hit it out of the park,” Baney said. “I am excited to learn from you. I am excited to hear how you strengthen us, as we move forward, by sharing your experiences and being part of this team.”

Brown, a Republican from Ashland, was appointed to the five-member commission to succeed Susan Morgan, who left her 15-year career in state and local government to pursue a career as a lobbyist. The Republican from Douglas County now works for the Association of Oregon Counties.

Now retired from the U.S. Navy, Brown and her husband, P atrick Flannery, own the Dana Campbell vineyards in Ashland.

In the fall, Brown left her extensive career working in federal and local infrastructure projects and government contracting. Most recently, she served as deputy chief of civil engineering at Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Washington, D.C.

Before that, she worked at the U.S. Navy First Naval Construction Division in Norfolk, Virginia, and served as public works director for the City of Ashland. She also worked at the Rogue Valley Council of Governments.

She is a registered civil engineer in Oregon and California and an environmental engineer in Oregon. She worked as an engineer for municipalities and special districts in California and Oregon from 1988 to 2008.

“It’s always hard to listen about yourself, and thank you very much,” Brown said, after Matt Garrett, director of the Oregon Department of Transportation, spouted off her list of accomplishments. “Though I served long — 35 years is a long time — serving Oregon is just as important.”