Brooke Rollins has officially stepped into her new role as Secretary of the US Department of Agriculture, a key position that touches nearly every part of farming, agribusiness, and, by extension, our rural communities. Rollins brings experience from the first Trump administration, where she served as chief for domestic policy, as well as on-the-farm experience developed during her childhood in Glen Rose, Texas.
Born on April 10, 1972, in Glen Rose, Texas, Rollins was raised by her single mother, Helen Kerwin. Notably, Helen is in politics as well – she was elected member of the Texas House of Representatives for the 58th district in 2024. Brooke was raised on the family farm and was part of 4-H and Future Farmers of America, where she later served as a state officer. In high school, Brooke was a cheerleader for the Glen Rose Tigers football team.
While studying at Texas A&M University, Brooke became the first woman elected as student body president. She also served as a Student Senate speaker pro tempore, Texas A&M Judicial Court chair, Fish Camp counselor, and Cotton Bowl Classic Queen. Wow!
After college, Rollins started her career at multinational corporate law firm K&L Gates LLP in Dallas. She also worked as a clerk for U.S. Federal District Court Judge Barbara M. Lynn and later as then-Governor Rick Perry’s policy director, deputy general counsel, and ethics adviser. Additionally, Rollins served as the president and chief executive officer of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) for 15 years.
Rollins left TPPF in 2018 when she was appointed as President Trump’s assistant for Intergovernmental and Technology and joined the Office of American Innovation. She served in this position until May 2020, when she was appointed as director of the Domestic Policy Council.
Following Trump’s election loss in 2020, Rollins, by early 2021, had already co-founded the “America First Policy Institute” and would go on to become the organization’s president and chief executive officer. The AFPI is a Trump-aligned think tank that developed policy and cultivated a network of personnel for the second Trump administration.
Rollins obviously has a strong background, from the farm to the courtroom to government and leadership roles. Farm and ag industry groups widely supported her nomination to serve as USDA Secretary, and she even received unanimous approval from the Senate’s agriculture committee.
During confirmation hearings, Rollins promised her team would be “at the table fighting for what we believe is necessary” for rural communities. “Of all of the portfolio that, if confirmed, I am taking on, the one that excites me the most is the opportunity to put forward a vision and build a program around revivifying, restoring, and bringing back rural America,” Rollins said.
Since her confirmation, Rollins has held multiple roundtables with farmers, including about the bird flu outbreak, released about $20 million in frozen farmer funds, met with fire crews that battled blazes in California and attended a slew of ag-related events. Rollins says her long-term goals include realigning the agency back to its original intent of “working for our agriculture community, our farmers, ranchers and our rural communities” and, more broadly, bringing prosperity back to rural America.
Rollins and her husband, Mark, have four children. She is very private about her personal life but has said they spend the majority of time with kids, taking them to experience different activities and games. They take them to “baseball games, cattle shows, piano lessons, and Aggie football games.” (Sources: A&M, AFPI, USDA)
