Martha Wigton Named Director of House Budget and Research Office

ATLANTA— House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) today announced that Martha Wigton has been named the director of the House Budget and Research Office effective August 1, 2011. She succeeds John Brown who was recently named Vice Chancellor of Fiscal Affairs to the Board of Regents by Chancellor Hank Huckaby.

“Martha has extensive knowledge of each step of Georgia’s budget process,” said Speaker Ralston. “As deputy director, she was responsible for the oversight of spending policy and developing priorities for the state’s annual supplemental and general appropriations acts. She has a proven track record and I am confident that she will continue to provide quality leadership in her new position.”

Wigton has twenty-one years of legislative experience, including working directly with two lieutenant governors and three House speakers, in the areas of policy, budget, strategy and office management. She has been the deputy director of the House Budget Office since 2005. She received a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in English from Georgia Southern University and did post-baccalaureate studies in Education, specializing in Gifted Education, at the University of North Florida.

“It is an incredible honor to serve our members in this role,” said Wigton. “Because we already have such dedicated and talented professional staff in the House, I am confident that we will be able to capitalize on their expertise to build an even broader, more innovative support system to assist our representatives in the challenges they face.”

House Budget Analyst Christine Murdock has been named Deputy Director of the House Budget and Research Office, taking over the position vacated by Wigton.

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