Department of Children and Families Leadership
The Department of Children and Families is led by Secretary Reggie Bicha, who was appointed by Governor Jim Doyle on November 27, 2007. Bicha, 38, was most recently the Administrator of the Division of Children and Family Services at the Department of Health and Family Services and also served as DHFS Deputy Secretary. As DHFS Deputy Secretary, Bicha led a comprehensive review of Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare cases, working with community leaders to improve the child welfare system in the city.
Bicha has 15 years of social work experience - 12 of those years were in leadership roles, including serving as the Pierce County Director of Human Services. He also served as Vice-President of the Wisconsin County Human Services Association and Chaired the West Central Wisconsin - Care Management Collaborative, which is a group of nine counties and three private organizations working to develop a public/private managed care system to expand Family Care and serve seniors and people with disabilities. Bicha also served on the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board in 2003, and was a foster parent from 1995 to 1998. Bicha and his wife, Becky have three children.
http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/journal_media_detail.asp?prid=3039&locid=19
Since January 2008, Henry Wilde, 32, has worked with Secretary Bicha to coordinate the creation of the new Department of Children and Families. Wilde joined Wisconsin state government in 2007 as a Division Administrator in the Department of Commerce, overseeing the State's business development programs. For the past ten years, beginning with his service as a Special Assistant to Marian Wright Edelman at the Children's Defense Fund, after graduating from Harvard University magna cum laude, his special passion has been the needs of children and families. From 2001 to 2007, Wilde helped manage the company he co-founded, Acelero Learning, which operates Head Start programs, serving more than 2,000 low income children and employing 450 people in multiple states. He has also been a management consultant for the Monitor Company, providing strategic management advice to Fortune 500 companies. A Beloit native, he earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School, where he focused on social entrepreneurship.
http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/journal_media_detail.asp?prid=3417&locid=19
Angela Russell, Executive Assistant
Angela Russell, 30, was named as the Department of Children and Family Services Executive Assistant by Governor Jim Doyle in July 2008. In this capacity, Russell will advise DCF Secretary Reggie Bicha and Governor Doyle on legislative and policy matters and will manage key agency activites such as agency outreach and communications. Prior to this appointment, Russell served on the transition team for the creation of the Department of Children and Families.
Before joining the Department, Russell served as Policy Advisor in the Office of Governor Jim Doyle for three years. In this capacity, Russell worked on public policy issues related to health care, workforce development, veterans, corrections, technical colleges, higher education financial aid, and community and faith based partnerships.
In 2001, Russell received her Master's of Science in Population Health with a focus on epidemiology and health policy from the University Of Wisconsin School Of Medicine and Public Health. In 1999, she received her Bachelor's of Science with a major in biochemistry and a minor in health care studies from Beloit College.
http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/journal_media_detail.asp?prid=3417&locid=19
Julie Kerksick, Administrator, Division of Family and Economic Security
Julie Kerksick, most recently served as the Executive Director of the New Hope Project. Kerksick has spent her entire professional career working with and on behalf of unemployed and low-income workers. She has helped design public policy, but has also shared in the responsibility of translating those policies into operating programs and procedures.
Kerksick also serves on the Steering Committee of the National Transitional Jobs Network. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from the University of St. Louis.
http://dhs.wisconsin.gov/News/PressReleases/2008/061708BichaAdmins.htm
Lisa Patrick, Administrator, Division of Prevention and Service Integration
Lisa Patrick has worked in state government for the past 4 years at the Office of Justice Assistance and Department of Corrections. Her focus has been on building infrastructures to support and sustain programs and enhancing the public's knowledge of individual, family, school, and community risk factors that contribute to neighborhood violence. She has served as the agency liaison to local, state, and federal government agencies, tribes, community and faith-based organizations, and advocacy groups. She has also been responsible for leading consultation efforts to integrate programs and policies for constituents who interact with multiple state and community based agencies to improve service coordination and outcomes.
Prior to joining public service, Patrick served as a Program Director for Wisconsin Community Services. As a social work practitioner, she understands how critical prevention and intervention services are to children and families in our communities. She has a Masters of Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Bachelors degree in criminal justice from Morris Brown College.
http://dhs.wisconsin.gov/News/PressReleases/2008/061708BichaAdmins.htm
Ron Hunt, Administrator, Division of Enterprise Solutions
Ron Hunt served as the Administrator in the Division of Family Supports in the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. His responsibilities included the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program, child care and child support.
Hunt has extensive experience on workforce related programs within Wisconsin state government that provide support to job seekers, workers, and employers. Hunt provided leadership on the development of Wisconsin's job center system, and provided oversight on employment and training programs in the state.
http://dhs.wisconsin.gov/News/PressReleases/2008/062008BichaAdminEarlyCare.htm
Cyrus Behroozi, Administrator, Division of Safety and Permanence
Cyrus served as the Director of Child Advocacy at the Task Force on Family Violence, specializing in the protection of children. His primary responsibility was to train and manage advocates as they provided child victims and parents with safety planning, resource referral, case management services, and advocacy. He has trained hundreds of attorneys, social workers and law enforcement officers on family violence, child abuse and the use of civil protective orders to safeguard children who are victims of physical and sexual assault.
Prior to his work with the Task Force on Family Violence, Cyrus worked as an attorney with Legal Action of Wisconsin where he litigated dozens of domestic violence and child abuse cases.
Cyrus also serves as a member of the Milwaukee County Child Abuse Review Team, Milwaukee County Child Fatality Review Committee, and the Milwaukee County Sexual Assault subcommittee of the Milwaukee Commission on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. In addition, he is a member of the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board. He was a former board member for the Wisconsin Court Appointed Special Advocate Association. Cyrus is a graduate of Marquette University Law School and Indiana University.
http://dcf.wisconsin.gov/press/2008/070308_administrator_safety_permanence.htm