Gov. Tony Evers announced that Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) Secretary Emilie Amundson will be leaving the Evers administration, effective Sept. 11. Before being appointed DCF secretary, Secretary Amundson previously served as chief of staff to Gov. Evers as then-state superintendent of Public Instruction.
For more than five years, Secretary Amundson has led DCF in transforming the state’s child welfare system, stabilizing and growing the early care and education field, and building partnerships at the local, state, and federal levels.
The governor also announced that Jeff Pertl will succeed Secretary Amundson as secretary of DCF.
Pertl is currently deputy secretary at DCF and has served in the role since 2019. Prior to his current role, Pertl was the senior policy advisor for the Office of the State Superintendent at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction from 2009 to 2018, where he worked on issues around early childhood education, school finance, and closing the achievement gap. In this role, Pertl was the department’s liaison to DCF and worked collaboratively on early childhood and family policy issues.
Pertl was a longtime Dane County Supervisor and has experience in local government financial, personnel, and human services issues. Additionally, he served for several years on the Wisconsin Counties Association board of directors, working on statewide issues like youth justice reform, child welfare funding, and early childhood education access.
Pertl received his undergraduate degree from UW–Madison and his Master of Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley.
