Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has appointed Mark White of Bryant as the next secretary of the state Department of Human Services.
White takes over Oct. 8 for Cindy Gillespie, who is stepping down after running the agency for more than six years. He currently serves as chief of staff and chief legislative and intergovernmental affairs officer.
White’s salary will be $201,700.
White joined the department in 2013. In his current role, he represents DHS before the Arkansas Legislature and serves as a primary point of contact for legislators, elected officials, lobbyists, and other state agencies.
He has also served on the Arkansas Health Services Permit Commission and the Governor’s Transformation Advisory Board, which helped lay the groundwork for the reorganization of state government in 2019.
“I have the utmost confidence in Mark to lead the Department of Human Services,” Hutchinson said in a statement. “His breadth of experience, working relationship with the legislature, and his close working relationship with transformation within DHS makes him the perfect fit to lead a department that provides critical services to children, senior citizens, and provides health care needs to the most vulnerable Arkansans.”
White is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University and the University of Arkansas School of Law.
“Secretary Cindy Gillespie has led DHS in making great strides to pursue this mission, and I look forward to working with the Governor and the Arkansas General Assembly in continuing that good work,” White said.
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