Department of Health and Human Services

Bio, via Equity forward:

Jonathan H. Hayes was appointed interim director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) after Scott Lloyd was ousted from the role in November 2018. A few months prior, Hayes had joined the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as chief of staff at the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Before this, he had no direct experience working with refugees or in the health care field; his eight years of political experience were spent working for conservative anti-abortion members of Congress.

Bio, via HHS.Gov:

Ed Heidig was appointed by the President on May 15, 2018 as Regional Director for HHS Region IX which serves the people of the states of Arizona, Nevada, California, Hawaii and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands. Ed Heidig is an experienced policy advisor and health care administrator who served as Chief Deputy Director and later Interim Director for the State of California Department of Managed Health Care. The Department is the only stand-alone agency regulating health insurance in the U.S. Ed Heidig played a key role in adopting timely-access regulations which assured the right care at the right time and proactively reached settlements with health maintenance organizations which expanded autism coverage. He also served on the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, which administered the SCHIP program for California. A graduate of Claremont McKenna College and Pepperdine University School of Law, he lives in Sacramento with his wife and has three daughters.

Bio, via ACU Official Website:

Prior to her return to her hometown of Philadelphia in 2012, she earned her Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was the A.L. Hobgood Fellow for Leadership, President of Christian Club and the Director of Education and Training for the Non-profit Board Fellows program. Earlier in her career, Julie spent time in Washington, DC at the US Department of Health and Human Services, working with public, private and nonprofit organizations to pair over 100,000 children with caring volunteers through the President’s Mentoring Children of Prisoners program. During her undergraduate studies at St Mary’s College of Maryland, Julie served as the national chairperson of HHS’s National Youth Summit Youth Committee and as intern to the First Lady at The White House. Currently a resident of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Julie continues to enjoy time with her friends and family and volunteering for organizations that promote leadership and development in youth with disabilities, as well as independence for low-income families.

Bio, via White House:

Lynn Johnson currently serves as the Executive Director of the Jefferson County Department of Human Services. Prior to this position, Mrs. Johnson ran a consulting firm that focused on mental health, high-risk youth, developmental disabilities, child welfare, and early childhood education. Previously, she served as Chief of Staff for former Colorado Lieutenant Governor Jane E. Norton. She also served as Deputy Director for Policy and as Human Services Policy Advisor for former Colorado Governor Bill Owens. Mrs. Johnson has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Northern Colorado and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Arizona State University. She is a graduate of the Federal Judicial Center’s National Leadership Development Program and the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at the Harvard Kennedy School for Executive Education.

Bio, via Department of Health and Human Services:

Dr. Robert Kadlec is the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). The ASPR serves as the Secretary's principal advisor on matters related to public health emergencies, including bioterrorism. The office leads the nation in preventing, responding to and recovering from the adverse health effects of manmade and naturally occurring disasters and public health emergencies. As such, the office coordinates interagency activities between HHS, other federal agencies, and state and local officials responsible for emergency preparedness and the protection of the civilian population from public health emergencies. Dr. Kadlec spent more than 20 years as a career officer and physician in the United States Air Force before retiring as a Colonel. Over the course of his career, he has held senior positions in the White House, the U.S. Senate, and the Department of Defense. Most recently, he served as the Deputy Staff Director to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Dr. Kadlec previously served as staff director for Senator Richard Burr’s subcommittee on bioterrorism and public health in the 109th Congress. In that capacity, he was instrumental in drafting the Pandemic and All-Hazard Preparedness Bill which was signed into law to improve the nation’s public health and medical preparedness and response capabilities for emergencies, whether deliberate, accidental, or natural. Dr. Kadlec also served at the White House from 2002 to 2005 as director for biodefense on the Homeland Security Council, where he was responsible for conducting the biodefense end-to-end assessment, which culminated in drafting the National Biodefense Policy for the 21st Century. He served as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush for Biodefense Policy from 2007 to 2009. Earlier in his career, he served as the Special Advisor for Counterproliferation Policy at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he assisted DOD efforts to counter chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats in the wake of 9/11 and contributed to the FBI investigation of the anthrax letter attacks. He began his career as a flight surgeon for the 16th Special Operations Wing and subsequently served as a surgeon for the 24th Special Tactics Squadron and as Special Assistant to J-2 for Chemical and Biological Warfare at the Joint Special Operations Command. He was named U.S. Air Force Flight Surgeon of the Year in 1986. Dr. Kadlec holds a bachelor’s degree from the United States Air Force Academy, a doctorate of medicine and a master’s degree in tropical medicine and hygiene from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, as well as a master’s degree in national security studies from Georgetown University.

Bio, via LinkedIn:

Charles N. W. Keckler, J.D., M.A., is a Presidential Scholar at the Schar School of Policy & Government, George Mason University. Since 2010, Mr. Keckler has also served on the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation, appointed and re-appointed as a Republican member by President Obama, and twice confirmed by the United States Senate. He chairs the Committee on Operations and Regulations, and provides oversight of the national system of civil legal aid for those in poverty. Prior to that appointment, he was a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy in the Department of Health and Human Services under George W. Bush. Mr. Keckler has also taught evidence, analytical methods, comparative law, and other subjects at the law schools of George Mason, Northwestern, Washington & Lee, and Penn State, and he practiced trial and appellate litigation in Chicago with the firm of Mayer Brown. Keckler’s current doctoral research focuses on partisanship, bipartisanship, and the role of independent agencies in the federal bureaucracy. He has contributed professional articles to Perspectives in Political Science and various law reviews, and chapters to Law Without Romance and Campaigns on the Cutting Edge. His political commentary may occasionally be found in The Hill and The American Thinker. Mr. Keckler is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. His law degree, also magna cum laude, and his master’s degree, are from the University of Michigan, where he was on the Editorial Board of the Michigan Law Review. He lived, taught (and skied) in New Mexico for four years, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow in evolutionary anthropology. He is a native of the small towns of rural Michigan, and lives today in Virginia with his wife and son.

Bio, via Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality:

Appointed in May 2017, Director Gopal Khanna leads AHRQ's efforts to meet the Agency's mission of producing evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and working within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other Federal, State, and local partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used. Mr. Khanna possesses a wealth of public-sector experience in Federal and State Government and specializes in data-driven strategies to improve organizational performance. He came to AHRQ from Illinois, where he was director of the FRAMEWORK Project that developed the vision for Illinois' Healthcare and Human Services Innovation Incubator (HHSi2), an initiative of Governor Bruce Rauner. Mr. Khanna led a cross-functional team to design the build out of a secure data platform to provide a 360-degree view of each person and family who receives state services. Earlier, Mr. Khanna was a member of Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's Cabinet and the State's first chief information officer. Prior to that, he served in the second Bush Administration in a number of senior policy positions, including chief information officer and chief financial officer for the Peace Corps, and chief financial officer of the Executive Office of the President's Office of Administration. Before Government service, Mr. Khanna held a variety of executive positions in the insurance industry. His private sector background also includes leadership positions in information technology, finance, operations, strategic planning, business development, consulting, and start-up ventures. Mr. Khanna earned a bachelor's degree in economics, mathematics, and political science from Christ Church College in Kanpur, India, and a master's of business administration from the University of Maine. Mr. Khanna served as president of the National Association of State CIOs from 2008 to 2009. He is a recipient of the prestigious 2018 FedHealthIT 100 Award and has been recognized for his innovative and transformational work in government in publications including Computerworld, Government Technology, Information Week and Twin Cities Business. Mr. Khanna was also named as a Doer, Dreamer, and Driver in Government Technology's listing of Top 25 public sector innovators.