LANSING — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Amy Epkey will serve as acting director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services starting July 1.
The announcement followed news that Director Elizabeth Hertel will leave the department, with her last day scheduled for June 30. Hertel has led the department since 2021.
“Amy Epkey brings decades of experience in state government and a proven record of leadership, and I am confident she will continue the important work of the Department of Health and Human Services,” Whitmer said. “I also want to thank Director Hertel for her dedicated service to our state. Under her leadership, MDHHS helped Michigan navigate unprecedented challenges, expanded access to health care, strengthened behavioral health services, and improved outcomes for families across our state.”
Epkey previously held the senior deputy director position for the Financial Operations Administration at MDHHS. In that role, she oversaw the department’s nearly $40 billion budget, contracts and grants, finance and accounting, audit functions and information technology financial support services.
Her state government career includes serving as senior deputy director for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. She also worked for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development as a policy advisor to the department director and as the department’s budget officer. Epkey holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Grand Valley State University.
Under Hertel’s leadership since 2021, the department built out the community behavioral health continuum of care, designed two state psychiatric hospitals and launched the Keep Kids Safe Action Agenda. The department also implemented substance use disorder programming that lowered the overdose death rate by 47% since 2021, protected access to Medicaid and SNAP, created healthcare workforce scholarships and recorded the lowest infant mortality rate in state history in 2025.