PRESS RELEASE

Susan W. Sonnier Appointed Deputy Secretary of Louisiana Department of Social Services
Department of Social Services News Update
BATON ROUGE , La. (September 16, 2008) - Interim Secretary for the Department of Social Services Kristy Nichols has appointed Susan W. Sonnier as her Deputy Secretary. This comes after the resignation of Terri Porche Ricks who has served at DSS for the past five years.

Sonnier has served as the policy director for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals since April 2008. As the policy director, Sonnier provided leadership for strategic initiatives of the department to address issues regarding quality, health information technology, internal performance management, transparency, health systems planning and development, and system reforms.

From October 2006 to April 2008, Sonnier served as a research instructor at the Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at the Tulane University School of Medicine. There she served to coordinate the development of the statewide outreach campaign to support the implementation of the School Readiness Tax Credits.

From January 2006  to October 2006, Sonnier served as the director of service coordination at the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps where she let the coordination of humanitarian efforts after the 2 hurricanes that struck Louisiana in the fall of 2005. Sonnier served as a liaison to state and federal agencies, foundations, community-based non-profit organizations and faith-based organizations. At the Recovery Corps, Sonnier’s primary areas of focus include housing, transitional communities, education, job employment and training, health/behavioral health, transportation and services to children and youth.

From January 2002 to 2006, Sonnier served as the executive director of the Children’s Cabinet and the executive director of the Juvenile Justice Implementation Commission for the office of the Governor. There she served as the Governor’s senior advisor on children’s policy with a focus on early childhood, education, health, mental health, child welfare and juvenile justice and helped to monitor and track legislation impacting children and youth.

Sonnier has a bachelor of arts in communications from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and a masters of public administration from Louisiana State University. Sonnier was also a recipient of Citizen of the Year award for the National Association of Social Workers, Louisiana chapter.

###