State human services secretary set to leave post

The secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Teresa Miller, has announced she will leave her position effective April 30.

Gov. Tom Wolf said he intends to nominate Meg Snead, a member of his staff, to the position.

Ms. Miller, who has been with the Wolf administration since January 2015, is “moving on to a new opportunity outside Pennsylvania,”a news release said.

“My time in Pennsylvania has afforded me opportunities to work on issues that are deeply close to my heart, and for that I am extremely honored and grateful,” Ms. Miller said. “Through all of this, the people of Pennsylvania have been at the forefront of this work and have driven our commitment to constant improvement and innovation in service delivery, and I know this focus and work will continue to grow, allowing DHS and our partners to help people in newways.”

She began her time with the Wolf administration as the Pennsylvania insurance commissioner and then in August 2017 took over her present role in the Departmentof Human Services.

“I want to thank Teresa for devoting her career in the commonwealth to its people,” said Mr. Wolf. “During her tenure, she was instrumental in ensuring Pennsylvanians had access to health care, designing programs to break generational poverty, and redesigned Pennsylvania’s employment and training programs for people who use public assistance.”

Ms. Snead has been the secretary of policy and planning, which oversees the Wolf administration’s development and implementation of policies, including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to that, she worked

in the nonprofit sector in

Denver and has a background in affordable housing, homelessness and health care policy.

“Meg Snead is an exceptional public servant whose background includes extensive experience in policy development for Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable citizens,” said Mr. Wolf. “She has dedicated her career to ensuring individuals have necessary social determinants of health, like adequate access to housing and healthcare.”