There are lots of exciting things happening at the Center for Children and Families (CCF) these days including the upcoming celebration of our 10th anniversary at our annual conference this July. As we celebrate a decade of work, it gives me great pleasure to announce that as of July 1st, Kelly Whitener, who currently serves as the Director of the Division of State Coverage Programs (which includes CHIP) at federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will be joining our staff.

For those of you who don’t know Kelly, she is an incredibly talented and knowledgeable public servant on issues related to children’s health. Prior to overseeing the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Basic Health Program at CMS, Kelly served for many years as the Senate Finance Committee’s lead staffer on Medicaid and CHIP. Kelly worked on the Hill during a very critical period of time as both the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) and the Affordable Care Act were crafted.

Kelly’s deep knowledge of the key statutes that pertain to children’s health, as well as her political savvy and programmatic experience with CMS, will be a fantastic addition to our strong team of experts here at CCF. Her dedication to bringing about positive change for low-income children and families will find new outlets as she begins work with our amazing network of state and national partners. Kelly will work on a range of issues at CCF, some of which are yet to be determined, but will definitely include work on questions of oversight and accountability with respect to achieving high quality outcomes for children in Medicaid managed care.

As CCF’s Executive Director I feel incredibly fortunate to have such a strong team by my side. I know all of you will enjoy getting to know Kelly as much as I have over the past seven years. Join me in welcoming Kelly Whitener to our team.