DeWine's Cabinet

[March 21, 2019]

The new year brought new faces to the halls of state government (or at least new roles for many of them), including Gov. Mike DeWine and the majority of his cabinet, all statewide elected officials, two new Supreme Court justices, and more than 30 first-time legislators.

DeWine finalized his cabinet appointments last month when he named Amy Acton, MD, to lead the Ohio Department of Health. Acton has more than 30 years of experience in public health and preventive medicine. Most recently, she served as community research and grants management officer at the Columbus Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, Acton served as assistant professor at The Ohio State University College of Public Health. She attended medical school at Northeastern Ohio University College of Medicine and completed her internship and residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. She also completed residency training in preventive medicine at OSU where she earned a master’s degree in public health. As part of her residency training at OSU, Acton served at ODH from 1995 to 1996 in what was then known as the Division of Family and Community Health.

Maureen Corcoran leads the Department of Medicaid. She previously worked in state government as assistant deputy and acting deputy for Medicaid at the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services; policy advisor to Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste; and chief of the Office of Healthcare Cost Containment policy for the Ohio Department of Health. Before beginning in public service, Corcoran was assistant director of Nursing for University Hospitals in Cleveland and a clinical instructor for Case Western Reserve University. She earned a Master’s degree in Nursing and an MBA, both from Case Western.

Director of the Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services Lori Criss has more than 20 years of operations and leadership experience with addiction and trauma treatment. She has extensive experience in policy related to recovery housing, opiate addiction, and integrated physical and behavioral healthcare. Criss holds a Master’s degree from The Ohio State University College of Social Work.

DeWine appointed Ursel McElroy as director of the Department of Aging and Jillian Froment as director of the Department of Insurance.