Military and Veterans Affairs

full-time Chief of Staff at the Delaware Air National Guard Headquarters. In this position, he acted on behalf of the Adjutant General in the administration, training and operation of all Air National Guard (ANG) units within the state. He also served as the principal representative and spokesperson for the Delaware Air National Guard and as the senior manager for major statewide programs that were conducted under the Department of Military Affairs. In 1996, he assumed the additional position as the Delaware National Guard Legislative Liaison Officer and authored numerous pieces of legislation that were enacted into law. In November 2008, Earl was elected to his first term in the House of Representatives for the 27th District. He is currently chair of the House Education and Veteran Affairs committees, and serves on the Joint Finance Committee and Appropriations Committee. As chairman of the House Veteran Affairs Committee, he continually authors numerous pieces of legislation to assist veterans and National Guard personnel. Representative Jaques has received numerous awards from various organizations to include: Humane Society of the United States, Delaware State Education Association, Delaware MS Society, Charter School Network, National Guard Association of Delaware, and became an Honorary Member of the Delaware City Fire Company. He is a 2018 recipient of the Charles Dick Medal of Merit from the National Guard Association of the United States. Recently, he was appointed as a member of the prestigious Southern Regional Education Board. In 2013, Earl was inducted into the Robert Kirkwood Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolutions with ancestors who fought in the battles of Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and White Plains and also participated in the Boston Tea Party.

House Committee on Judiciary, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the House Committee on Rules. Also in 2018, she graduated from the Eastern Leadership Academy, a fellowship program designed to enhance the leadership abilities of state officials from all three branches of government. The fellowship took place at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Before being elected state representative, Vella-Wilkinson served three terms on the Warwick City Council, from 2011 to 2016, with two terms as finance chairwoman. She was state commissioner on the Rhode Island Commission for Human Relations from 1999 to 2016. She has also served as the City of Warwick Veterans liaison from 2011 to 2016. In 2016, she was honored with the Legislator of the Year award from the Disabled American Veterans, the YMCA Woman of Achievement award and the American Legion Post 43 Auxiliary Female Veteran of the Year award. She is an alumna of the URI Schmidt Labor Research Center and Leadership Rhode Island (2006), a member of American Legion Post 43, Military Officers Association of America and St. Benedict’s Daughters of Isabella Circle 423. A retired Navy officer, she is self-employed as a work-readiness coach. She graduated from St. Edmund High School in Brooklyn in 1974. She received a bachelor’s degree in English and psychology from Long Island University in 1979. She received her master’s degree in labor relations from the University of Rhode Island and juris doctor degree from Roger Williams University in 2006.