Sheriff Michael J. Brown is a native of Bedford County, Virginia, and has forty-two years of law enforcement and intelligence experience on a local, national and international level.

Sheriff Brown is a retired Senior Special Agent with the U.S. Treasury Department (BATF). He served with the US Army Military Police Corps (1967-1970); as a police officer with the Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, D.C.; as a Staff Support Specialist with the CIA; and, prior to his election as Sheriff on 1 January 1996, he was a criminal justice consultant and program developer with the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. State Department in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Sheriff Brown is a member of the Board of Directors, National Sheriffs' Association; a member of the Board of Directors, National White Collar Crime Center, and a member of the Board of Advisors, Law Enforcement Innovation Center, University of Tennessee.

Sheriff Brown holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Police Administration and the Administration of Justice from the American University in Washington, D.C.; Brown is a graduate of the Executive Development Program which was established and conducted by the National Sheriff's Institute. He is also a graduate of the Chief Executive Officer Program, developed by the U.S. Department of Justice.