Monday, March 7, 2005
Contact: Spence Jackson, (573)751-0290
Blunt Appoints Gary Sherman to Lead Department of Social Services
JEFFERSON CITY - Governor Matt Blunt today announced that he has appointed Gary Sherman to serve as director of the Missouri Department of Social Services.
Sherman, 55, is currently working as the chairman of the department of criminal justice at the University of Wyoming, a position he has held since 1995. Prior to joining the University in 1994, Sherman served as the director of the Wyoming Department of Family Services. In this position he oversaw a $200 million biennial budget and was responsible for managing 750 central office and field staff.
While Sherman was director, the Wyoming Department of Family Services was comprised of divisions overseeing child protective services, adult protective services, youth services and economic assistance.
Sherman also served as the director of the Wyoming Board of Charities and Reform from 1988 to 1991. In that role he supervised five secure prison facilities, three secure juvenile correction facilities and was responsible for all institutional services including education, psychiatric, psychological, nursing, residential care, and department planning and policy development.
Sherman is a Rolla, Mo., native and worked as the director of the Missouri Division of Aging from 1985 to 1988, as the director of the Missouri Division of Youth Services from 1983 to 1985 and held other management positions within the same division going back to 1974. Sherman holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of Missouri-Rolla and a Masters degree in Guidance and Counseling from Southwest Missouri State University.
"Gary Sherman is the right person at the right time to lead the Missouri Department of Social Services," Blunt said. "His previous experience will be instrumental as we work to reform our state’s social welfare programs to ensure their future sustainability. I am pleased that he has agreed to come home to Missouri to take on this special challenge, and I look forward to his contributions to our ongoing efforts to create a government that lives within the people's means."
The Missouri Department of Social Services is responsible for coordinating programs to provide public assistance to children and their parents, access to health care, child support enforcement assistance and to provide specialized training to troubled youth.
Sherman's appointment is subject to approval by the Missouri State Senate.