Audrey T. Haynes, SW

Audrey Tayse Haynes was appointed Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) by Governor Steve Beshear on April 16, 2012. Prior to her appointment at CHFS, Haynes served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Government Affairs Officer for the YMCA of the USA in Washington, D.C., a position she had held since August 2002.

Early in her career, Haynes worked in the field of mental health and substance abuse rehabilitation, serving as an alcohol and drug abuse counselor and later as a community education specialist. She has held prior appointments in the administrations of three previous Kentucky governors, including Executive Director of the Kentucky Literacy Commission; a Member of the Kentucky Board for Elementary and Secondary Education following Kentucky’s landmark education reform legislation; and as Deputy Secretary of the Cabinet for Health Services.

In 1991, Haynes was appointed by the President of the United States to serve on the Board of the National Institute of Literacy. Haynes began working in Washington, D.C. in 1993 as the National Executive Director of Business and Professional Women/USA and the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation. In 1997 she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve in the Clinton/Gore Administration as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach at the White House, and later was appointed to serve as Special Assistant to Vice President Al Gore and Chief of Staff to Tipper Gore.

A graduate of Spalding University in Louisville and the University of Kentucky, Secretary Haynes holds both bachelors and masters degrees in social work. She has received numerous state and national awards for her advocacy for mental health care, adult education and other issues impacting youth and families.