Social and Health Services Secretary Susan Dreyfus this winter will become the latest top official to depart Gov. Chris Gregoire’s administration when she takes the helm of a nonprofit she once worked for in Wisconsin.
Dreyfus has led Washington’s largest state agency since May 2009 while racking up the phone minutes with her husband, Lee, who stayed in Wisconsin as a circuit court judge.
Gregoire announced Wednesday that Dreyfus would return there after the Legislature finishes an emergency budget session that starts Nov. 28. Among the options lawmakers will consider are cuts to human services that Dreyfus laid out but calls “unconscionable.”
“There will be an opportunity during the time I have left here to celebrate what we have been able to accomplish in the last two and a half years,” Dreyfus said in a statement that continued, “But right now we have some very important work to do during the special session.”
The Department of Social and Health Services has shed 14 percent of its 20,000 employees over the past three years, and more than 10 percent since Dreyfus arrived. That doesn’t mean its spending has shrunk by that amount. Cuts are made from anticipated spending levels, which take into account the increasing number of people needing services, especially in an economic downturn. The agency has a budget of just more than $11 billion, roughly unchanged from the budget written in 2009.
Some critics argue that management remains bloated, but Dreyfus says administrative costs have been cut 29 percent over three years, to $52 million. She reorganized the agency into three regions, down from six, and says she is consolidating the agency’s business functions.
“I asked Susan to join us as a change agent, a visionary and a leader,” Gregoire said in a statement. “She has repeatedly confirmed my confidence in her.”
Dreyfus, 54, will take over Jan. 2 as CEO and president of Milwaukee-based nonprofit Families International and leader of several of its subsidiaries, including the Alliance for Children and Families, a membership organization for human-service nonprofits across the country. She replaces Peter Goldberg, who died Aug. 12, Gregoire’s office said.
Dreyfus was senior vice president of the groups from 2003-07.
With Gregoire’s second and final term winding down, the Democrat has seen the departure in recent months of Chief of Staff Jay Manning, who became a partner at Cascadia Law Group in Seattle; Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail, who left after an interoffice affair became public; and of Department of Licensing director Liz Luce, who retired.
Jordan Schrader: 360-786-1826 jordan.schrader@thenews tribune.com
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