Governor Announces new Department of Children and Family Services Director

[June 26, 2017]  SPRINGFIELD – Governor Bruce Rauner today announced he has appointed Beverly (BJ) Walker as the Director of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) effective June 26, 2017. Walker has extensive experience in children’s services, human services, state and local government and education. Her leadership and management experience from more than 30 years in human services and education will be an asset to her role at the Department of Children and Family Services.

In Georgia from 2004 to 2011, she served as Commissioner for their Department of Human Resources where she was responsible for the state’s human services programs including child protection services, child care and child support. There she managed a massive state human services agency with a combined budget of $3.4B and 20,000 staff. In 2009, she played a key role in helping the State restructure health and human services, creating three new streamlined agencies.

She previously worked for the State of Illinois as Director of Community Operations for the Illinois Department of Human Services and was the Assistant to the Governor for Human Services Reform under Governor Jim Edgar. Walker also served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Human Infrastructure for the City of Chicago under Mayor Richard M. Daley and worked on Research & Development projects for the Chicago Public Schools and on education programming and policy with the North Central Regional Laboratory.

After her public-sector service, Walker spent a year working with Franklin Covey in their Four Disciplines of Execution practice and serving as a Senior Fellow with the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Walker recently retired from Deloitte Consulting LLP where she served for five years as a Director in their public-sector children’s services and human services practice.

Walker earned her bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and her master’s degree from Northwestern University. She has been a long-term resident of the Austin community and is returning there from Georgia.

[Office of the Governor Bruce Rauner]