Gov. Ned Lamont has announced plans for leadership for the Connecticut Department of Social Services and the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy for his second term, which starts early next year.
He plans to appoint Andrea Barton Reeves as commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Social Services and Dr. Deidre Gifford as executive director of the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy when his second term starts early next year.
Gifford serves as commissioner of the Department of Social Services.
Barton Reeves, who is CEO of the Connecticut Paid Leave Authority, will fill the position Gifford is leaving for her new position. Gifford will also serve as senior advisor to the governor for health and human services.
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“A well-coordinated, comprehensive approach to public health and healthcare access is vital to supporting the basic needs of the people of our state, and I am thrilled that we are assembling a team of the most dedicated, educated, and respected professionals in this field who will be able to hit the ground running as we begin our second term,” Lamont said in a statement.
Before leading the Connecticut Paid Leave Authority, Barton Reeves served from 2013 to 2020 as president and CEO of Harc Inc, a nonprofit organization in Hartford that provides services for people with intellectual and related disabilities and families, according to the governor’s office.
Barton Reeves has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Rutgers University and a Juris Doctorate from New York Law School, the governor’s office said.
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“I am honored to have been selected by Governor Lamont to lead the Department of Social Services and I am grateful for this opportunity,” Barton Reeves said in a statement. “It has been my pleasure to work with an extraordinary team of people to make paid family and medical leave a reality for Connecticut’s workers. I look forward to continuing to serve the governor and the people of Connecticut in an even larger capacity. I also must thank Commissioner Gifford, who has been a stellar leader during one of the most challenging times our state has faced, and I am humbled to be following her as the next commissioner of DSS.”
Gifford has been serving as the commissioner of the Department of Social Services since Lamont appointed her to the position shortly after beginning his first term in early 2019. From May 2020 until September 2021, she also served as acting commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health.
Gifford has a Bachelor of Science degree in public health from UCLA; an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in New York; and completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology and received an M.P.H. in epidemiology at UCLA, according to Lamont’s office, and she has held faculty appointments at the UCLA and Brown Schools of Public Health.
“I want to congratulate Andrea Barton Reeves on her appointment as DSS commissioner, and I am looking forward to working with her in the upcoming term,” Gifford said in a statement. “She joins an incredibly talented group of commissioners and I know the team at DSS will benefit from her experience and talents.”
Gifford added that she is excited to take on the challenge of leading the Office of Health Strategy.
Lamont will begin his second term on Jan. 4, 2023 and Barton Reeves’s nomination as DSS commissioner and Gifford’s nomination as OHS executive director will be forwarded to the General Assembly for its consideration at that time.
