Viva88

The Board of Regents today approved the appointment of Valerie Grey to serve as the State Education Department’s (SED) Chief Operating Officer. The appointment becomes effective on August 23rd.��

Most recently, Ms. Grey served as Governor Paterson's Director of State Operations, where she oversaw the day-to-day operations of the State.�� In that capacity, she planned, directed, and coordinated the operations of 80 Executive state agencies.

State Education Commissioner David M. Steiner said, “I am delighted that Valerie will be joining us at the Education Department. Especially during these challenging fiscal times, it is critical that we have someone like Valerie – who comes to us with years of public sector administrative experience – helping to manage the operations of the Department. She is a strategic thinker with a proven track record of successfully overseeing large organizations.”

As SED's Chief Operating Officer, reporting to the Commissioner, Ms. Grey will be the Department’s senior manager for operations and will work closely with all members of the senior management team, including the Deputy Commissioner for Operations and Management Services.�� One of her first priorities will be to align SED operations and budgets in order to advance the Regents reform agenda and produce defined educational outcomes.�� She will help to strengthen SED program offices’ ability to carry out their work and to create new approaches to achieving their goals in an environment of limited resources, streamline internal processes, and work with SED staff to implement strategies that measurably increase SED efficiency.��

Prior to her service as Director of State Operations, Ms. Grey was the First Deputy Secretary to the Governor and was instrumental in the development of the Office of Taxpayer Accountability. She also served as the Assistant Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services, where she played a key role in the development of the state’s health and human services policies. Ms. Grey’s other public sector experience included service in the Department of Health, the Office of the State Comptroller, and the Viva88Assembly.

Ms. Grey holds an A.A.S. in Accounting from Schenectady County Community College; a B.A. in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany; and an M.A. in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany.

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