Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced the appointment of John M.R. Bull as commissioner of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.  John Bull has been with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission since June 2007 and has been serving as acting commissioner since January 2014.

In his career at the agency, he has been director of public relations and legislative liaison and has worked closely with the agency’s many and varied constituent groups, the news media and the Virginia General Assembly and has been involved in all aspects of agency operations. Before joining the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, he was an award-winning newspaper reporter at eight different newspapers over the span of 23 years, most recently as an investigative reporter and Virginia General Assembly reporter for the Newport News Daily Press.  He is a journalism graduate of Penn State University.