Experience§ 01
President & CEO
Lead a consulting practice providing customized strategic planning, technical assistance, operational solution development, crisis management, leadership development, and coaching to public, private, and non-profit organizations and communities.
- Specialized expertise: child welfare; human services; early childhood development and education; juvenile and adult corrections; social-equity issues; community engagement; federal, state, and local government advocacy.
- Principal of Cagle Expert Witness Services — expert reports, deposition and trial testimony, and strategic advisory for courts, attorneys, and agencies nationwide.
Director
Board of Supervisors appointee and Chief Executive Officer of the largest child welfare agency in the United States — 9,300 staff, $3 billion annual budget, county population of 10.3 million.
- Directed all operations including personnel, programs, facilities, fiscal operations, and services for protective services, foster care, adoption, and treatment, in compliance with federal, state, and county law.
- Established Department vision, mission, and program priorities; formulated policy consistent with vision and mission.
- Led integrated child welfare activities across federal, state, and local governments, community-based nonprofits, and advocacy groups.
- Directed decentralized child welfare services through a network of geo-located regional offices and assured uniformity of standards, operations, and decision-making.
- Reported to the Board of Supervisors on operational needs, program plans, and outcomes in safety, well-being, permanence, and self-sufficiency.
- Created the Department's first Public & Media Relations division to ensure prompt, accurate response to inquiries.
- Directed establishment and monitoring of more than 400 performance-based services contracts.
- Established the first Office of Equity in Los Angeles County government (2018) to lead change around race, gender, and sexual orientation/gender identity.
Director
Gubernatorial appointee and Chief Executive Officer of the state agency responsible for child welfare and economic services (SNAP, TANF, CDBG) — $1.6B budget, 7,700 employees, state population of 10.2 million.
- Directed all programs in compliance with state and federal law, as prioritized by the Governor and General Assembly.
- Directed development and implementation of administrative rules, policy, and practice guidelines.
- Developed and implemented major new child welfare safety and permanency initiatives.
- Represented the organization in matters of high public and media interest.
Commissioner
Gubernatorial appointee and Chief Executive Officer of the state agency responsible for the child care and early-education needs of Georgia's children — $687M budget, ~400 employees.
- Administered the nationally recognized Georgia's Pre-K Program.
- Designed, implemented, and operated Quality Rated, Georgia's Tiered Quality Rating and Improvement System.
- Co-wrote the winning $51.7 million Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant.
- Directed licensing and monitoring of approximately 6,600 center- and home-based child care facilities.
- Directed federal CACFP, Summer Food, CCDF, and MIECHV grants.
- Raised in excess of $18 million from private business and philanthropy to extend agency impact.
Successive leadership roles
Director, Legislative & External Affairs · Family Services Director · Program Director II, Office of the Deputy Director for Programs and Policy.
Deputy Director, Youth and Family Services
Director
Judicial District Manager · Chief Probation/Parole Officer · Probation/Parole Officer
Children's Social Worker
Education§ 02
Master of Social Work
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — Concentration: Management, Planning & Community Practice
Bachelor of Arts
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — Political Science and Sociology