After months as interim secretary, Jenney Samuelson has been named Vermont’s permanent secretary of human services, effective immediately.
Gov. Phil Scott announced the appointment Monday, and also named Samuelson’s successor as deputy secretary: Todd Daloz.
Samuelson has been interim secretary since Mike Smith retired as head of the agency in January. Before that, she had been deputy secretary since June 2020.
Samuelson is taking charge of Vermont’s largest government agency, which spans six departments, 12 district offices and a network of community providers. Under the agency’s umbrella are the state’s Department of Health, correctional facilities, foster care system, mental health and disability services, and child care oversight.
Notably, the agency has also led the state’s pandemic response, and Samuelson has played a key role in those efforts.
In Monday’s press release, Samuelson said her work with the agency for nearly two years “has been the hardest work of my life — and the most inspiring.”
“As we move forward, we will be transparent about the gaps in the system the pandemic exposed, and accountable to those we serve,” Samuelson said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to harness the lessons we learned these last two years and make strategic investments in our communities. It is a privilege to work in this role with a dedicated, innovative and collaborative team to address the complex issues ahead of us.”
Samuelson fills big shoes. Her predecessor, Smith, had been dubbed Vermont’s “interim fixer-in-chief.” Scott appointed Smith in October 2019, and Smith led the agency through the height of the pandemic.
Before becoming deputy secretary, Samuelson was deputy commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access and worked on health care reform with the state’s Blueprint for Health. She holds a master’s degree in community health education from Southern Illinois University.
Daloz, who is replacing Samuelson as deputy secretary, has been general counsel for the agency since August 2020, and also spent much of the past two years working on the state’s pandemic response. Previously, he represented the Agency of Human Services in the Attorney General’s Office, and before that was counsel to the Vermont State Colleges.
In Monday’s release, Daloz said the state “is at a pivotal moment as we all begin to recover from the challenges of the past two years.”
“(T)here is much work to be done to revitalize our human services sector, and I am excited to take on this challenge with the AHS team,” he said.
Editor’s note: Shayla Livingston, who is married to VTDigger managing editor Paul Heintz, has been serving as policy director for the Agency of Human Services since Samuelson was appointed interim secretary in January. In keeping with VTDigger’s commitment to cover Vermont without fear or favor, it has developed protocols — including, when appropriate, disclosures and recusals — to address this and other potential conflicts of interest. Those with questions or concerns may contact editor-in-chief Anne Galloway at agalloway@vtdigger.org or deputy managing editor Maggie Cassidy at mcassidy@vtdigger.org.