Douglas E. Lumpkin, an

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

, was appointed as the director of the

Ohio Department of Job and Family Services The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) is the administrative department of the government of Ohio, Ohio state government responsible for supervising the state's public assistance, workforce development, unemployment compensation, ...

(ODJFS), Ohio's largest agency, and a member of the Ohio Governor's Cabinet, by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Ted Strickland on December 19, 2008. Lumpkin began his tenure as director of the ODJFS on January 12, 2009.

Background

Lumpkin has a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

from

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University (officially Wittenberg College) is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students drawn from 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical ...

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in Clark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in southwestern Ohio along the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, about west of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus and northeast of ...

. Douglas E. Lumpkin's father, Clarence Lumpkin, is a longtime community

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

and has been affectionately referred to as, "the mayor of Linden."

Public service

From 2003 to 2005, Lumpkin was chief operating and information officer for Ohio State Auditor Betty Montgomery. Lumpkin worked for the

Ohio Attorney General The Ohio attorney general is the chief legal officer of the state of Ohio in the United States. The office is filled by general election, held every four years. The Ohio attorney general is Republican Dave Yost. History The office of the att ...

, where he was director of administration, for 20 years. He has also worked for the

Secretary of State of Ohio The secretary of state of Ohio is an elected statewide official in the state of Ohio. The secretary of state is responsible for overseeing elections in the state; registering business entities (corporations, etc.) and granting them the autho ...

Ohio Department of Job and Family Services

Lumpkin was director of the Franklin County Department of Job and Family Services for three years. After the Controversial Ohio database searches of Joe Wurzelbacher, and Helen Jones-Kelley's resignation as director of the ODJFS on December 17, 2008, Douglas E. Lumpkin was chosen by Governor Ted Strickland to become director of the ODJFS.

Director of Franklin County Department of Job and Family Services

While director of the Franklin County Department of Job and Family Services, Lumpkin oversaw an agency with around 700 employees and with a budget exceeding 145 million dollars. During his tenure, the Franklin County Department of Job and Family Services served 24,000 people on public assistance, 130,000 people receiving food stamps, 184,000 enrolled in

Medicaid Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...

, and 12,000 depended on

child-care Child care, also known as day care, is the care and supervision of one or more children, typically ranging from three months to 18 years old. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), childcare typica ...

subsidies. Commenting on the responsibilities of his position, Lumpkin stated that in Ohio, "Franklin County is, by far, the largest county for handling

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s."

Appointment as director of ODJFS

Upon appointing Lumpkin as director of ODJFS, Governor Strickland stated that, “Doug's background in

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

and

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

, combined with his strong commitment to

public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...

make him an ideal

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

to lead the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Our state is facing historic economic challenges, and I am glad that Doug will be leading the agency that will provide critical services to those most in need at this time.” Joel Potts, the senior policy analyst for the Ohio Job and Family Services Directors' Association, commented on Lumpkin's appointments by stating that, "It is an outstanding choice for the governor. Doug has the experience and leadership necessary to help the state through one of the most difficult times we've seen in decades. He's the right man for the job." Lumpkin announced his resignation as Director on January 5, 2011.

References

External links

Ohio Department of Job & Family ServicesOhio Governor's website, "Strickland Appoints ODJFS Director"Ohio Governor's website, "Doug Lumpkin photo"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lumpkin, Doug Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Wittenberg University alumni State cabinet secretaries of Ohio Ohio Department of Job and Family Services