RICHMOND -- A former federal economic development official has been tapped to head a state agency responsible for helping tobacco-dependent communities revamp their economies.

Gov. Tim Kaine on Monday named Neal Noyes of Richmond as executive director of the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission.

Kaine's office said Noyes has 23 years of experience as an official with the federal Economic Development Administration's Philadelphia region, which covers Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia.

Noyes replaces former Franklin County businessman Carthan Currin, who resigned last year to pursue a new career. Currin had held the job since the commission's inception.

The 31-member commission oversees half of the annual proceeds that Virginia receives from a 1998 multistate legal settlement with major tobacco companies. It compensates farmers for the decline of tobacco quotas and awards grants to help economic development in tobacco-dependent communities of Southwest and Southside Virginia. It has a budget of $102.8 million for the current fiscal year.

-- Michael Sluss