J. Randall “Randy” Minchew, a prominent and longtime fixture in the Loudoun community and legal profession, was appointed by Gov. Robert McDonnell Aug. 13 to be his administration’s new deputy counselor and advisor to the governor.

A Leesburg resident, with his wife Teresa and son Jack, Minchew is currently managing shareholder of the Loudoun office of Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley, Emrich and Walsh PC. He has held this position since 1998.

“I am honored and also appreciative of the weighty responsibility of helping the governor,”Minchew said Friday. It is the first time Minchew has been on the staff of a Virginia governor, though he has been involved with several state and local boards and commissions.

Minchew has been active in Loudoun politics for the past two decades. He was at one time chairman of the Loudoun County Republican Committee, and ran for the state senate in 2006. He lost in the Republican primary to former Loudoun County Supervisor Mick Staton. Staton went on to lose the general election to current incumbent Mark Herring, a Democrat.

Minchew has been a longtime backer of McDonnell, having been a supporter going back to his days in the House of Delegates. Minchew grew closer to McDonnell when he ran for attorney general in 2005, and when he ran for governor in 2009. He was a financial supporter in both campaigns.

“This is an extension of a friendship [and] service obligation that I feel towards this governor,” Minchew said. “It’s an opportunity to serve someone who is really special.”

Minchew said the idea of an advisory role began shortly after the governor’s election in November, when he said he expressed an interest in serving the governor and mentioned it to the governor’s staff. In the weeks and months that followed, Minchew said the role he would play was formulated in the thinking of McDonnell and his chief of staff and counselor.

On his role with the McDonnell administration, Minchew said: “I will serve at the pleasure of the governor. That means that I will serve him, his public policy initiatives, and also assist the gifted people in his office in fulfilling their responsibilities.”

He added that he would provide legal counsel “when needed and appropriate.”

“Functionally, it’s one where I work under the chief of staff, Martin Kent, and the governor’s counsel, Jasen Eige. The governor knows my areas of expertise, which is economic development and also public policy.”

Minchew said he will remain in Loudoun – his son is an incoming freshman in the new Tuscarora High School - and travel to Richmond as needed. His appointment begins immediately. The position is considered part-time. It does not require confirmation by the General Assembly, and comes with a $1,000 per-month stipend.

Minchew graduated from Langley High School in McLean in 1976, earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University in 1980, and then a law degree in 1984 from Washington & Lee University. He then served as a law clerk to state Supreme Court Justice A. Christian Compton. Prior to his position with the law firm of Walsh, Colucci, Minchew was in private practice with the law firm of Hazel & Thomas, PC.

On the community front, Minchew served as president of the Loudoun Bar Association, a member of the Board of Directors of the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the Loudoun County Economic Development Commission and as chairman of the Loudoun County Rural Economic Development Taskforce. He also serves as an Episcopal lay minister and earned a diploma in Theological Studies from Virginia Theological Seminary.

In addition to politics and public service, one of Minchew’s fondest hobbies is the Boy Scouts. A longtime avid supporter, Minchew has served as chairman of the Loudoun County Boy Scouts, as well as scoutmaster of Leesburg Troop 998. More recently, he was one of a dozen scoutmasters from the National Capital Area Council at the 2010 National Scout Jamboree held in July at Fort A.P. Hill.

Of the most recent Jamboree, Minchew said he enjoyed being “surrogate father of 36 highly motivated Type-A scouts.” He laughed about how his troops kept him “going for 18 hours a day, sleeping in tents, and weathering 100-degree plus days” at Fort A.P Hill.

Perhaps just the right kind of training for someone who will face a similar climate and clientele in Richmond?

“If we had more of Eagle Scout ethics in Richmond, the commonwealth would be even stronger than it is now,” Minchew said.