One of the people who played a prominent role in Kentucky’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic as the Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) will be retiring in August, while another leader during the pandemic has been named by Gov. Andy Beshear to serve as his successor.
CHFS Secretary Eric Friedlander says he will step down after 40 years in state government, most of which was spent at the Cabinet.
“It has been an honor to serve,” Friedlander said at the governor’s weekly press conference on Thursday. “How impossible would that job have been, if we didn’t have a governor that actually believed in science. If we didn’t have a Governor that believes in lifting people up, not tearing people down, that believes in the importance of government service and believes in our state motto, ‘United We Stand Divided We Fall.’ He is the embodiment of that. It has been an honor to serve you and the Commonwealth in that capacity.”
Beshear announced Dr. Steven Stack, the Commissioner of the Department for Public Health, will assume the role of CHFS Secretary upon Friedlander’s retirement.
Friedlander noted, “It is so wonderful to know that turning the Cabinet for Health and Family Services over to someone who has been such a tremendous leader, who has so much wisdom. Dr. Stack, it is such a relief to know that I am handing that off to someone with such good hands. Public service is a calling. Public service means the people who work for government, work to lift people and communities up when they face challenges.”
Stack responded, “You couldn’t have had someone who had more kindness and more wisdom in leading the Cabinet during particularly difficult times as we faced the COVID crisis, so Eric, thank you so much. It’s been wonderful to have you as a boss. I couldn’t have wished for better. It’s been a privilege to serve with you.”
Beshear said he will work with Stack to determine who his successor will be at DPH.
(Photo: Dr. Steven Stack)
By Tom Latek, Kentucky Today
